The story begins in Gambia

Fatou (in blue) is pregnant with Kumba, in the kitchen with neighbours and two of her children (Kadi on her knees, Babu in the middle), Brikama 2007.

My journey starts in Gambia, West Africa. On 12 October 2007, a little girl called Kumba Lonneke Ceesay was born there with a caesarean section. Under normal circumstances, Kumba’s mother, Fatou, would have delivered in a local clinic in a small town. Both Kumba and Fatou may not have survived. Today, Kumba is a beautiful 16-year old girl. Her life story is connected to the baobab tree. 

When Kumba was born, I – Lonneke Craemers from The Netherlands – lived in Gambia to research the role of businesses in poverty alleviation. Fatou and I met on a market and quickly became friends. For her birthday, I gifted Fatou a scan in the national hospital, as Fatou was six months pregnant at the time. The scan concluded that the baby was in a stop position. A caesarean section was life saving for both Fatou and her baby. 

In gratitude, Fatou named her daughter Kumba Lonneke. In Gambia, when a baby is named after someone, that someone is called a ‘toma’. Beside the cultural beliefs that are associated with this, the toma also pays for the baby’s school fees. I was happy to do this, but I preferred to invest in a business that would enable Fatou to earn her own income to pay for Kumba’s needs. 

Kumba Lonneke Ceesay, 14 years.

The idea was to make juice from local fruits and sell this to tourists. The focus would be on the fruit of one of the most impressive trees in the world: the baobab. But Fatou’s baobab juice business never took off. With little kids at home and without schooling, Fatou needed more support in setting up and running this business.

For the last 16 years I worked as a business developer for social and environmental change in various other projects over the world. And I paid Kumba’s school fees. But the baobab never disappeared as an idea for a new venture. I now feel it is time to further explore the business potential of the baobab fruit to benefit local women and communities.