Mozambique innovates with banana flour that takes advantage of the whole fruit

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Mozambique innovates with banana flour that takes advantage of the whole fruit

4:39 CAT | 17 Dec 2018

Noticias ao Minuto

A Mozambican entrepreneur has created a company that produces banana flour and uses 100% of the fruit, enhancing the nutritional quality of the food and eliminating waste.

Finana was created three years ago by Filomena Matimbe, who decided to create additional value from one of Mozambique’s favourite foods.

“The banana is a good fruit and people should continue to eat it, but I found another alternative to eating bananas, with more nutrients and better use of the fruit,” the 54-year-old businesswoman told Lusa.

After graduating in Business Administration and Management in Chimoio, one of Mozambique’s premium banana-producing regions, Filomena returned to Maputo, bought a banana plantation and started to develop her idea.

Transforming the fruit into flour increases shelf life – bananas last only nine days, but the flour lasts two years – and even the peel, normally used for animal feed, can be used.

“This year I started producing banana flour with peel that has more nutrients, and I can make the most of the fruit,” eliminating what would be considered cast-offs, Filomena says.

To produce plain flour, the banana peel is separated, dried and ground, while the whole-meal line incorporates the banana peel, increasing the level of nutrients and antioxidants, making the foodstuff “a strong ally in the fight against cancer”, Filomena boasts.

Finana employs 13 workers and purchases 95% of its banana from local farmers. The remaining 5% comes from Filomena’s own farm. It currently produces 500 kilograms of flour per day, but Filomena is looking for investors to grow the business

“I needed about 300,000 dollars to triple the daily production and I would like to build a factory of my own in the future,” Filomena, who has invested $ 110,000 in the company so far, says.

The flour is sold mainly to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that distribute food in schools and hospitals, but is also available in about 30 supermarkets in Manhiça and Maputo.

The Finana range currently consists of four products (banana flour with nuts, whole-meal, plain and cookies), but Filomena continues to innovate.

“We can make everything from this flour, from cakes to spaghetti,” she says, adding that this experiment has already been tried in Italy, with excellent results.