Cameroonian Couple Promotes African Foods in the U.S. Market

Albert and Julie Ndjee say AGOA has helped their business expand

Julie and Albert Ndjee, originally from Cameroon, have combined their interest in food and their qualifications in law and information technology into a profitable business in the United States. In 2005, their company, Ultimate Seasonings, grossed more than $500,000.

Julie, 33, from the English-speaking part of Cameroon, is an information technology specialist; her husband Albert, 35, from French-speaking Cameroon, graduated in law from George Washington University in Washington, after first obtaining a law degree in his country.

Their seasonings, sold widely on the U.S. East Coast and fast expanding southward, into the central states and to the West, are the basis of dense, spicy vegetable-based sauces for making such African staple dishes as n'dolé. They also have started producing ready-to-eat entrées, Neilly's Ultimate, named after their daughter. Albert Ndjee says, without hesitation, "The American market is very ready for African products, especially in the food industry."

The spices, whose ingredients come from Africa and the United States, are manufactured in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. "Ginseng we bring from back home, and a lot of different herbs like bitter leaf. You can add that to any recipe or do a complete dish with it. Other things like tomato, garlic, onions we can get here," Albert said.

He says they are helped by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a U.S. trade preference program enacted in 2000 that is reducing barriers to trade, increasing exports, and expanding opportunities for Africans to build better lives. Under AGOA, eligible countries receive duty-free access to the U.S. market for most of their products, a measure that offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue efforts to open their economies and build free markets. The original act has been amended twice. (See African Growth and Opportunity Act.)

"The people we work with in Africa use it. We just have the network in place and put these products into the hands of one shipper and that shipper is the one who sends the products through [the mechanism of] AGOA," he said.

As a lawyer, Albert was instrumental in setting up their distribution system.

Julie has a political science background, so was familiar with research methods, and with her husband's law background they were "able to come up with a strategy on how to really penetrate the market with very few resources."

Asked to describe the taste of their spices, Julie Ndjee said: "They're a combination of a lot of different things. Africa is a huge continent, so food from West Africa is very different from [food from] East Africa. And there's a lot of influence like Indian and Mediterranean, and some of that colonial influence, too." In short, she said, "they're the basis of fresh vegetable dishes, with some zing to them."

Their goal, the Ndjees said, is trying to get African food known across mainstream America and promoting its healthy aspects.

"There's a lot of organic food in Africa," says Julie. "People eat natural foods, unprocessed." So the Ndjees say they are intent on getting healthy food, with flavor, out into the marketplace.

Albert says he and Julie launched Ultimate Seasonings in 2003 while he was at George Washington University.

His law degree helped with getting a fair contract with distributors and in other business matters. "Right now we're trying to bring a lot more African products into the U.S.," he said. "For that, we're trying to use all that the federal government has put in place to help African companies to come here. Through AGOA, we're working with the IESC [International Executive Service Corps] on Africa Fast Track Trade." The Africa Fast Track Trade (AFTT) program provides technical and trade support to companies in more than 50 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

They are affiliated with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), he said, and "have antennae [contacts] all over Africa, specifically within the food industry.

"When the IESC locates a company that has viable products, they usually send the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to look at the plant, and we work with them, because after they have vetted products [found them suitable for the U.S. market] they give us those contacts."

For example, he said, if he is looking for a specific item in South Africa, "and I've never been there, I'll ask them if they have companies in South Africa and they may guide me. They say: 'We have this company, that company, etc.' They're very helpful. Also, we're working with the Corporate Council on Africa [CCA]."

Source: U.S. Department of State

judythpiazza@gmail.com

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