To shape an ecosystem for sustainable growth, one pinch of salt at a time.
To produce the first Swahili Coast harvested salt that is mindful of the environment, appreciates and celebrates differences, empowers communities and enhances flavors and people.
Zalt was born out of many things; friendship, determination and enthusiasm, but most importantly, out of purpose. Our 3 co-founders spent many days and nights, sitting together, exploring the idea of how Zalt could and would become a reality. They realised early on in this process that if they were to pursue Zalt, they would want it to have a purpose. That purpose was to build the salt industry in Zanzibar and to change the lives of its existing salt farmers.
What if they could disrupt the salt industry by selling salt, whilst simultaneously improving the lives of the people of Pemba? And so Swahili Coast Salt Company was born, with its two brands, ZALT and MAWIMBI.
Our co-founder and COO, Lise, first discovered the sea salt being sold in the market in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. She brought a sample back home to Dar es Salaam, and together with Rachel and Stephi, they instantly recognised the potential of this local, naturally harvested product.
They traced the salt back to the island of Pemba and discovered a community of artisanal salt farmers, producing a pure (all natural) hand harvested solar evaporated sea salt.
Over the next weeks and months they engaged with these farmers, other stakeholders, scientists and the Zanzibar Government to learn all they could about the local production of sea salt. What they discovered was an industry with great potential, constrained only by the current quality of the salt and a lack of a sustainable route to market.
It was immediately apparent to the three women that with investment in two key areas – production quality and improved route to market, together with the engagement and support of the Government of Zanzibar, the sea salt industry in Pemba could not only compete on a global scale in terms of quality, but would meet domestic consumption demands.
Passionate about the Zanzibar archipelago and its diversity disrupt the salt industry with
hand harvested salt produced by the farmers of Pemba Island.
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Stephi first landed on the shores of Zanzibar with the SIT Coastal Ecology program in 1996. After graduating with a BS in Environmental Studies and Conservation Biology, she moved permanently to Zanzibar from the US in 2000. Stephi has built several successful businesses in Zanzibar and Tanzania over the past 18 years. She is now the owner and managing director of two successful businesses based in Zanzibar. ZMMI, a beverage distribution company supplying hotels and restaurants across the Zanzibar archipelago, and Six Degrees South, one of Stone Town’s premier restaurants. Stephi is a member of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation (EO) Tanzania, the Zanzibar Warden for the US Embassy of Dar es Salaam, a long-standing board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Tanzania and the founder of the Rotary Club of Zanzibar Stone Town.
Stephi has now come full circle in combining her business acumen and passion for the environment.
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Lise, a trained chef from South Africa, came to Tanzania in 2004. She arrived with little more than a backpack. Now after almost 16 years living in Tanzania, Lise is more at home than ever with her husband and 3 daughters. Lise founded two successful businesses based in Dar es Salaam; Baobab Kitchen, a catering company and Baobab Baby, a food production company specialising in baby and infant nutrition. As a chef Lise is committed to the provenance of the ingredients she uses, promoting natural, local and sustainable food.
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Rachel read Law and Criminology at university and following her graduation worked for over a decade with the British government as an intelligence analyst and latterly as an investigator. She first arrived in Tanzania in 2003 where she spent 3 months travelling through the south of the country, where her partner was conducting his PHD research in the field of Anthropology. Rachel returned to Tanzania in 2012, with her family, where she spent the next 6 years. Rachel’s passion lies in food and its authenticity and during her years in Tanzania, she enjoyed exploring the country and discovering its local produce. Rachel is now based in Manila, Philippines.
