Startup Story
For many people, when they travel they look for places to stay that remind them of the comforts of home, and in Mozambique, entrepreneur Rachida Melo has just what they need. Her business venture, Wonna Bay Vila, provides accommodation and restaurant facilities that make guests and visitors truly feel they are home.
LoA learned more about the inspirational Rachida Melo and her business this month.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Rachida Melo, I am 56 years old, born on July 28, 1964, in Luabo-Zambézia province. I am married and the mother of four children and grandmother of three grandchildren. I come from a family of 26 siblings, where from a young age we were given the values of sharing, a spirit of mutual help, responsibility, and respect for others. I did five years of higher studies in clinical psychology, worked thirty-two years in formal employment, 28 years dedicated to health NGOs. From 2018, now retired, I embraced my entrepreneurial career, founding the Wonna Bay Vila, with indispensable support from my husband and children, always present in this adventure.
What does your company do?
We offer two services that complement each other:
Accommodation - 9 rooms, free Wi-Fi, CCTV, and security 24 hours a day. The rooms are comfortable, decorated neutral, yet modern, with all the amenities of a small but customized hotel.
Restaurant - outdoor/indoor adapted for family comfort, including a pool, spacious gardens, and a playground.
“The valuable experiences of early childhood served as a driving force to never abandon my dream, which was the dream of creating my own business.”
What inspired you to start your company?
My roots are based on a family history with a commercial vocation whose business collapsed due to the 16-year civil war in Mozambique. My first contact in the business environment is very tender. Indeed, I remember that when I was 7 years old, I was behind a counter serving customers. I loved, for example, weighing the products, the magic of balancing the weights of the plate scales, dismantling the woven roll… I did it all at my father’s retail store. Sometimes, I would accompany my older brothers to sell fresh fish and sweet potatoes at the market in my small village - Luabo.
The art of sweets was also a family tradition, passed on by my mother, a humble and brave woman with an incredible inner strength who during her childhood worked in cotton fields. My mother sold coconut candies that sparkled like the sun and leaf tobacco that I loved to measure and cut for customers who came to buy!
I remember, in high school, during the holidays, I worked as a volunteer in adult literacy and in the children's registry office. I felt very happy and useful, as I ended up becoming the godmother of many newborns. I was always given a lot for work, and saw myself going somewhere. Always inventing tasks, and when I had nothing else to do at home, I would help the neighbors. These examples of strength and discipline at work supported me in many moments during my life in overcoming difficulties that often crossed my path. The valuable experiences of early childhood served as a driving force to never abandon my dream, which was the dream of creating my own business.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Wonna Bay Vila is located on the main thoroughfare of Catembe, seven minutes from Maputo, crossing the Maputo-Catembe Bridge. Enjoying a splendid view of the bay. WONNA, is a term inspired by the Bantu language whose meaning is: “to look, to see, to contemplate…” the bay! The welcoming place, the surrounding atmosphere, and personalized treatment make the WBV a suitable place for leisure and relaxation. Our focus is to provide family environments, work meetings and retreats for different purposes, such as personalized events.
We have a spacious flagstone balcony with chairs and sofas arranged for a relaxing view of the bay. In this space buffets and other personalized events can also be served. The quiet, calm, and serene environment, the green spaces, the charming singing of birds, reinforce the professional and selective brand that we propose to carry out.
All the rooms are clean, spacious, and air-conditioned suites, equipped with a flat-screen TV with national and international cable channels. The beds are comfortable and delicately selected to provide absolute comfort for guests, giving a real feeling of being at home. A bottle of mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, and an electric kettle are always available in each room.
All bathrooms have hot water showers, except for some of the rooms considered a master, which also offers a bathtub. They are masters because in addition to being more spacious, they are delicately facing the bay, through large windows that allow the guest to enjoy the blue visual horizon.
Regarding gastronomy, we offer a menu selected from fresh dishes of seafood, (different combos), and diversity of meats, one of which is a special dish, the Wonna Bay style lombo steak, made with a typical flavor. Zambezian chicken, mucapata (prepared from rice and lentils), mucuane (prepared with cassava leaves and coconut milk), shrimp curry with coconut, typically Wonna Bay, because it combines locally available condiments and mixed according to the concepts of flavors with its own identity. Finally, we also offer gluten / dairy-free dishes and vegetarian food, pastries, and typical homemade sweets.
Earlier this year, from Booking.com, we were presented with a “Traveler Review Awards 2020”, with a score 9,4. We feel grateful, because behind all guests review scores are real human experiences. Real smiles, real connections, and real lifelong memories.
The present moment and in the prevailing period of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a phase of great challenges as it compels us to reinvent a new way of being in business. With the paralysis of the tourist environment that includes the restaurant area, our focus has shifted to the exploration of pastry, using new products based on local materials, which have aroused much interest in the responsible and demanding clientele. Our bet is on sweets and pastries, mostly based on local products, such as our traditional cassava dumplings, patanikua (sweet coconut or matoritori), mabûracha (coconut milk rolls), coconut pastries, appetizers, pastries of manioc stuffed with shrimp, meat or vegetables, chamussa, pumpkin pastries, croquettes, pies, croquettes, among others, delicately prepared. Natural and locally accessible products are the basis of our cuisine, dispensing some pre-made spices, and contributing in a certain way to a healthy environment.
“Our focus is to provide family environments, work meetings and retreats for different purposes, such as personalized events.”
“It is our desire to expand our brand and see our products recognized and exported across borders.”
Tell us a little about your team
The Wonna Bay Vila Team is very motivated and committed, composed of 1 Supervisor, 2 Cooks, 1 Chambermaid, 2 Servants, 1 Maintenance and Logistics Technician, 2 Security Supervisors, 1 Gardener, all of them duly trained and with professional experience ranging between 10-35 years of work. In addition, we have 4 casual employees (used as support during special events, weekends and holidays), all of them resident of Catembe and currently studying in different pre-university, university and medium level technical training institutions; they are all over 18 years of age and eager to gain experience. The internship is paid, thus contributing to the source of complementary income for their families in the purchase of equipment, school supplies, and others.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
At 17, for reasons of force majeure, pregnant with my oldest daughter I had to abandon my studies and open my own small business selling coconut candies and rings (typical Mozambican pastry). The sweets were sold in wooden boxes lined with a net; at dusk, I would make the sweets and in the early morning I would sell them on the street opposite to my parents’ house. I started trading products, for example the capulana for basic food and hygiene products, selling bread to the community in my neighborhood. The bread was baked in a pan seated on a charcoal stove, which was a difficult process; however, the needs were greater, and the bread was indispensable for the neighboring families and my own family.
My workday starts at 06.00 in the morning and ends in the early evening. I witness the passage and rotation of shifts, I oversee the preparation and reception of guests in the breakfast room ... as a whole team, we prepare the day’s itinerary for places of cultural and other interest.
Along with my team, a brief analysis of the day’s recap is made; I oversee guests’ check out, meal preparation and customers’ lunch reception.
I love to research about current affairs and the world where I learn and discover new communication tools useful and indispensable for business; these tools have helped me to improve and perfect our products; in parallel, I supervise the company's bureaucratic matters, contact with suppliers and check the logistical aspects. Mention should be made of daily and repeated interaction with digital tourist platforms with which we maintain permanent contact, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, TripAdvisor and Bookings.com.
The weekends have been quite interesting, as we use these moments to make group dynamics interspersed with physical exercises, games, and lectures to ensure good mood and awaken healthy habits for the team.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
It is our desire to expand our brand and see our products recognized and exported across borders. We aim to be a strong reference in the hotel market and in the production of pastry based on local inputs.
“What gives me the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur is sharing interesting life and business experiences of great value to our society, opening doors for the improvement of the well-being of many Mozambican families.”
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Autonomy and Independence. I allowed myself to design my own plans, as well as to have time to take care of the business, with the possibility of better reconciling work and family.
Building relationships and networking, the opportunity to meet incredible people, to know overcoming life’s challenges, sharing interesting life and business experiences of great value to our society, opening doors for the improvement of the well-being of many Mozambican families.
In this field, sharing frustration allowed me to discover that my problem is common to my female business partners.
It has been a great pleasure to build my own work team and to plan and discuss daily tasks with them. Every moment has served as a great learning experience.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Never give up on your dreams. If you have already thought about exploring something, you have already done 50% of the path to be taken. “Desire” is the lever for the business. Challenges are huge and present themselves every minute, so, materialize your desire. Correctly identify the idea, the business, and its potential. Know the target public that you are going to serve, dedicating all your energies to the focus. Be patient, and do not be afraid of making mistakes and much less of the competition, find the thread of your skills as an entrepreneur, start, and allow yourself to make mistakes and very calmly, accept mistakes. Be cool, as you always have the possibility to start again with better dexterity. Be humble and resilient. Pay attention to the socio-economic variables, to have time for feedback. Read and listen carefully to the signs, all the words, above all, even those that we would not like to hear, as these will allow you to grow in the business environment. Do not compare your achievements with those of others and do not seek to pursue success as a goal. Persistence and consistency are what make us resilient women and successful citizens.
Contact or follow Wonna Bay Vila
FACEBOOK | EMAIL info@wonnabay.co.mz
Why LoA loves it….
There is always something truly uplifting about seeing a woman entrepreneur fulfilling a life-long ambition to launch a business. Rachida Melo had to wait until she had retired from a successful 32 year career in order to launch her hospitality business, but it was worth the wait. Today, she is creating a business that allows her to do what she loves, and now in response to the Covid pandemic, she is pivoting her business to tap into new opportunities within the sector. Rachida is a wonderful example of a woman entrepreneur who is determined to see her business building dream become a success story, and one that brings her personal fulfillment. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo of Lionesses of Africa