Essie Bartels worked several odd jobs she hated before opening a company selling mouth-watering spices and sentiments to the world.
A handful of spices and condiments can whet a person’s appetite for business and keep the cash registers ringing, as Ghanaian food entrepreneur Essie Bartels has proven.
For as long as the New Jersey-based Bartels can remember, she has lived a life around food. From an early age, she was the only one of five siblings tasked with cooking for the entire family.
“I started cooking around the age of seven! I am the first daughter so my mother wouldn’t let me out of her sight when she was cooking. At the time, I hated it because when you are that young you don’t want to be in the kitchen, you want to be playing with your friends but that was what she wanted me to do at the time so that is what I did,” says Bartels.
Those early culinary lessons would eventually prepare her to launch Essie Spice, a flavorful journey that has led to a whole foods brand featured in TIME magazine and now stocked in over 13 stores across the United States and Africa. Her love affair with spices was ignited in Ghana.
“My mum used to travel to London and buy spice racks which were very pretty but she would only use like five or six spices out of a rack of 15, so all the other spices would be left unused because they were not traditional spices and as a result they would go bad and be thrown away. So I would take them and figure out what to use all those spices for and I would come up with ideas.”
Her childhood dream was to become the CEO of a large corporate organization; but her first passion was science.
This story is from the June-July 2017 edition of Forbes Woman Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June-July 2017 edition of Forbes Woman Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Well-Grounded
Coco Cachalia, whose mother Amina was among the 20,000 in the Women’s March of August 1956, made a decision to stay away from politics – and succeed in business instead.
Art Becomes Her
A celebrated international fine artist, Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi overcame the struggles of apartheid, and her work is grounded in her past.
'Not Just Pro-Women But Pro-Progress'
South Africa’s Minister of Women Susan Shabangu on the significance of the 61st anniversary of Women’s Day, and the role men can play in ending gender violence in South Africa and creating an equal society.
Diversity And Inclusion Are Part Of Baker Mckenzie's DNA
According to Law360’s 2017 Glass Ceiling Report, women make up around one-third of the attorneys in private legal practice. Among the law firms surveyed, just below 23% of partners are female.
We, Men For Women
South Africa still has a long way to go for gender justice in business and in life, but with more men openly stepping forward to be a part of the discourse, FORBES WOMAN AFRICA speaks to two male entrepreneurs, a CEO and a social activist. They acknowledge diversity makes smart social and economic sense that will benefit all.
What, After All, Does Feminism Have To Do With Men?
According to the seminal African-American writer bell hooks (her name is not capitalized), feminism is for everybody.
Blood, Setbacks And Tears
Two sisters with common failures and a dream to eventually succeed.
Fighting To The End
In May, 82 more Chibok girls were released in exchange for Boko Haram prisoners. Oby Ezekwesili, a strong advocate in the campaign to bring them back, has vowed to never stop fighting.
Not Just Hard Work, But Heart Work
As incidents of gender-based violence increase in Africa, those like Nigeria’s Kemi Dasilva-Ibru, are trying to bring relief to stigmatized victims.
Going Down The Spice Route
Essie Bartels worked several odd jobs she hated before opening a company selling mouth-watering spices and sentiments to the world.
