A restaurant in the rainforest
While business opportunities are scarce in small villages of northern Congo, determination, skill, and support from her community helped Maman Saida to open her own restaurant in Bomassa, at the entrance of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. An amazing story of success that deserves to be highlighted on this International Women Day.
Maman Saida and Bomassa’s first restaurant ©N.Radford/WCS
A new sound can be heard ringing out across the Sangha River in the rainforests of northern Congo – the clinking of cups and cutlery at Saida Nola’s new restaurant. ‘Maman Saida’ as she is affectionately known in Bomassa village started her restaurant, ‘La Main de Dieu’, on the banks of the river in January 2019. At the time, it was the first real place that people could find a meal in the village outside of their homes. “I noticed that the fishermen who travel up and down the river would stop for the night in the village, but they would struggle to find something to eat – I saw an opportunity and decided to innovate”, she remembers. Two years later and people are queuing out the door to get a seat in the cozy 12-seat restaurant. “Often, I’m so busy that as soon as one customer finishes his food, another one is right there waiting to take his seat!”.
Maman Saida can count on loyal clients: Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park staff, who work at the Park’s headquarters, a short walk outside of the village. For the last 27 years, more and more people have been needed to contribute to the conservation of over 4,000km2 of intact tropical forest. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012, the Park is a remarkable refuge for endangered rainforest species, such as lowland gorillas and forest elephants, in a region plagued by the threats of poaching and habitat loss.
“I used to bake bread, but it was hard to grow my business”, Saida recounts. “I started the restaurant slowly. At first, I just offered grilled chicken from a barbecue, with outdoor seating”. Then in mid-2020, as a member of the ‘Association of Women United for Biodiversity in Bomassa’, she was approached by the Park with a new capacity-building opportunity. The Park had just embarked on a venture to create new sources of sustainable revenue, by starting a tourism development program. Under this program, two-weeks of hospitality training was organized at a restaurant and hotel in a nearby provincial town – improving local people’s capacity to capitalize on the future expansion of the tourism sector.
“The training opened my eyes to new possibilities. I thought, why can’t I do this in Bomassa? It gave me the confidence to expand and improve my restaurant”, says Saida. The Women’s Association played a key role in supporting her, especially through access to a savings scheme that released enough money to build a proper building for her customers. Her neighbors pitched in to help her with tables, chairs, and cutlery, and in August 2020 the refurbished restaurant reopened to acclaim from the village.
“The restaurant has become more than just somewhere to eat, people come here from all across the village to sit and talk, it’s become a real meeting place for the community”, Saida says. In a culture where women are often constrained by traditional gender roles, she is a role model for a better future, “This restaurant has given me a name. I now have status in the community.”
Lunch break for Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park’s employees ©N.Radford/WCS
The ‘Association of Women United for Biodiversity in Bomassa’ was created in 2017 by a group of local women. It has become the driving force of success for local women. “It has created a real ‘can-do’ attitude in the village”, explains Parfait Bakabana, the Park’s Head of Community Development. “The structure of the association enables women to provide a lot of support to each other, sharing ideas, projects, and even their finances through a Likelemba savings group”. ‘Likelemba’ is a Lingala word that describes a communal savings group concept – each group comprises anything between 3 and 50 people, deposits are made by each member each month, and members take it in turns to make withdrawals. In a culture where many people manage their finances day-to-day, it can provide essential injections of capital at critical moments in people’s lives.
Now Saida’s restaurant is providing delicious meals for dozens of satisfied clients each day. But it has also brought her family a long-sought sense of financial security. “The restaurant is busy all the time and so money is coming in regularly. This helps us manage our finances throughout the month”. She and her husband, a Park employee, now feel much more secure about the future of their eight children, half of whom are still students.
Saida’s story is one of empowerment and sustainable change. And Saida’s journey may be far from over as the Park works to attract more and more tourists in the next few years. Community-run tourism accommodation, as well as two high-end lodges will soon be built at the entrance of the Park, the latter by the Congo Conservation Company. “I would love to sign a contract to provide catering services for the Park, or even at the new tourism lodge they are planning to build at Mombongo”, says Saida. She first plans to expand the restaurant – she wants to invest in a refrigerator so she can offer a wider range of dishes, as well as increasing the number of tables.Her big ambition is to take on a member of staff for her growing business – and for that she can count on her perseverance, her new skills, and the support of her community.