Let's talk marshmallows
We caught up with Ndahekelekwa ‘Beauty’ Paulus, winner of the Great #ADDventureNam2018, to find out about her journey and drive to start her own business.
Tunohole Mungoba
After winning the Great #ADDventureNam2018 on 8 March, owner and founder of Fluffy Mallows, Ndahekelekwa Paulus says she believed in her dream for the very start and now she has the results to show for it. Walking away with the grand prize of N$20 000 and a three-year lease of a stall from City of Windhoek, Paulus says her journey has not been easy. “I am currently working towards getting my products on the shelves of Pick ‘n Pay and one of their requirements is to have your own business space. My marshmallows are also available at Karla’s Market Place at the moment. I plan to have my products sold across the whole Namibia in the future,” she explains. Her marshmallows come in five flavours namely lemon, coconut, strawberries and cream, chocolate mint, and vanilla cinnamon.
Affectionately known as Beauty, the 25-year-old is a proud graduate of the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust). She graduated with her honours degree in software engineering in 2017. With her background knowledge of computers in high school, Paulus did not struggle to decide what to study after high school. “When I started with my course, I was confronted with three different fields. There were networking, business computing and software engineering. I chose software engineer as it was more practical and I enjoyed the technical side of the course,” she says.
Born and raised in Windhoek, Paulus is passionate about food, especially pastries. “I never really dreamed of owning my own business as I believed I was more comfortable working for someone,” she explains. However, she knew that if she were to embark on a journey of starting her own business that it would be focused on food and not software engineering. “During my high school career I was exposed to many situations that made me play around with the thought of starting my own business,” she said. In 2011, after Paulus received her first refund from her Namibia Students Assistance Fund (NSFAF), she used the money to have an oven installed in their kitchen. “My mom had already bought the oven, but it was just laying around and not being used because I could not install it. I used this money to have it installed so I could start baking at home,” she recalls.
She started baking cakes for her close family and friends and soon after that, her clientele increased. “During this time, I would experiment a lot. If I found something interesting, I would try it out. This resulted in me stumbling on Martha Stewart’s marshmallow recipe in 2013.” After playing around with the thought and reading about starting her own business online, she decided to take her business serious and decided on her company name, Fluffy Mallows. “I continued experimenting a lot until I found my feet and I decided to focus on sweet pastries,” she added. Fortunately for her, she got into the SME mentorship programme powered by Team Namibia in 2017. “This came at the right time, because I never did a business course and the support I received helped give me that extra push,” she said.
After attending different markets such as the Windhoek City Market, the Wernhill Christmas Market and The Great Pop up Festival, she wanted to sell and upgrade her kitchen equipment. Danny Motinga, one of her loyal customers, says Fluffy Mallows have a unique taste to them. “It has a long lasting taste and one can see it handcrafted. Her flavours are different from ordinary store-bought marshmallows which makes her product stand out even more,” he explains. According to Paulus, making marshmallows is an art. “The magic of making marshmallows requires you to get the sugar to the right temperature and then whipping it together with hydrated gelatine, flavour and colour if necessary. The mixture becomes a marshmallow when air and love is incorporated. Finally the marshmallow is poured into a mould to set. After several hours the marshmallow is ready for cutting, dusting and packaging,” she said.
She plans on using her prize money to invest in her business and to work towards setting up her own bossiness space to make sure her products will be given a green light by other commercial retailers. “I do not how much it will cost me exactly, but that is priority number one. If there is any change left, I plan to buy more kitchen equipment,” she explained.
Fast facts about Beauty:
What is your favourite dessert to prepare besides marshmallows? Tiramisu. It’s a popular coffee-flavoured
Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped
mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa.
·
What is your all-time favourite song? I do not have an all-time favourite song, but
right now I am loving ‘Dreams’ by Lioness
·
What is your favourite hangout spot in Namibia? The Swakopmund beach.
·
What is the motto you live by? I believe that whatever your mind can conceive and
believe, you can achieve.
·
Who is the one chef you look up to and why? Monica Galetti. She knows her craft
very well and executes it exceptionally. She is a judge on Master Chef
Professionals
·
If you could choose one superpower, what would it be? Power mimicry. It would
allow me to copy or absorb another’s powers or skills. I can be jack of all and
trades and master of all.
·
What is the last book you read? ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho
·
Chocolate or vanilla? Definitely chocolate.
After winning the Great #ADDventureNam2018 on 8 March, owner and founder of Fluffy Mallows, Ndahekelekwa Paulus says she believed in her dream for the very start and now she has the results to show for it. Walking away with the grand prize of N$20 000 and a three-year lease of a stall from City of Windhoek, Paulus says her journey has not been easy. “I am currently working towards getting my products on the shelves of Pick ‘n Pay and one of their requirements is to have your own business space. My marshmallows are also available at Karla’s Market Place at the moment. I plan to have my products sold across the whole Namibia in the future,” she explains. Her marshmallows come in five flavours namely lemon, coconut, strawberries and cream, chocolate mint, and vanilla cinnamon.
Affectionately known as Beauty, the 25-year-old is a proud graduate of the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust). She graduated with her honours degree in software engineering in 2017. With her background knowledge of computers in high school, Paulus did not struggle to decide what to study after high school. “When I started with my course, I was confronted with three different fields. There were networking, business computing and software engineering. I chose software engineer as it was more practical and I enjoyed the technical side of the course,” she says.
Born and raised in Windhoek, Paulus is passionate about food, especially pastries. “I never really dreamed of owning my own business as I believed I was more comfortable working for someone,” she explains. However, she knew that if she were to embark on a journey of starting her own business that it would be focused on food and not software engineering. “During my high school career I was exposed to many situations that made me play around with the thought of starting my own business,” she said. In 2011, after Paulus received her first refund from her Namibia Students Assistance Fund (NSFAF), she used the money to have an oven installed in their kitchen. “My mom had already bought the oven, but it was just laying around and not being used because I could not install it. I used this money to have it installed so I could start baking at home,” she recalls.
She started baking cakes for her close family and friends and soon after that, her clientele increased. “During this time, I would experiment a lot. If I found something interesting, I would try it out. This resulted in me stumbling on Martha Stewart’s marshmallow recipe in 2013.” After playing around with the thought and reading about starting her own business online, she decided to take her business serious and decided on her company name, Fluffy Mallows. “I continued experimenting a lot until I found my feet and I decided to focus on sweet pastries,” she added. Fortunately for her, she got into the SME mentorship programme powered by Team Namibia in 2017. “This came at the right time, because I never did a business course and the support I received helped give me that extra push,” she said.
After attending different markets such as the Windhoek City Market, the Wernhill Christmas Market and The Great Pop up Festival, she wanted to sell and upgrade her kitchen equipment. Danny Motinga, one of her loyal customers, says Fluffy Mallows have a unique taste to them. “It has a long lasting taste and one can see it handcrafted. Her flavours are different from ordinary store-bought marshmallows which makes her product stand out even more,” he explains. According to Paulus, making marshmallows is an art. “The magic of making marshmallows requires you to get the sugar to the right temperature and then whipping it together with hydrated gelatine, flavour and colour if necessary. The mixture becomes a marshmallow when air and love is incorporated. Finally the marshmallow is poured into a mould to set. After several hours the marshmallow is ready for cutting, dusting and packaging,” she said.
She plans on using her prize money to invest in her business and to work towards setting up her own bossiness space to make sure her products will be given a green light by other commercial retailers. “I do not how much it will cost me exactly, but that is priority number one. If there is any change left, I plan to buy more kitchen equipment,” she explained.
Fast facts about Beauty:
What is your favourite dessert to prepare besides marshmallows? Tiramisu. It’s a popular coffee-flavoured
Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped
mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa.
·
What is your all-time favourite song? I do not have an all-time favourite song, but
right now I am loving ‘Dreams’ by Lioness
·
What is your favourite hangout spot in Namibia? The Swakopmund beach.
·
What is the motto you live by? I believe that whatever your mind can conceive and
believe, you can achieve.
·
Who is the one chef you look up to and why? Monica Galetti. She knows her craft
very well and executes it exceptionally. She is a judge on Master Chef
Professionals
·
If you could choose one superpower, what would it be? Power mimicry. It would
allow me to copy or absorb another’s powers or skills. I can be jack of all and
trades and master of all.
·
What is the last book you read? ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho
·
Chocolate or vanilla? Definitely chocolate.
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