From baking to building: Esther’s transformational seed-driven agri-food venture
Esther Majija transformed her Babati-based bakery in Tanzania into a seed-driven agri-food enterprise between 2022 and 2025, using training and partnerships to process nutritious flours from improved crops, strengthening farmer markets and nutrition.
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From baking to building: Esther’s transformational seed-driven agri-food venture
Esther Majija transformed her Babati-based bakery in Tanzania into a seed-driven agri-food enterprise between 2022 and 2025, using training and partnerships to process nutritious flours from improved crops, strengthening farmer markets and nutrition.
When Esther Majija launched Fortlene Bakery Ltd in Babati township in 2022, her vision was simple but purposeful: to produce nutritious bread and cookies using locally available ingredients. She worked with wheat flour, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP) and OFSP chips, roasted cashew nuts, roasted peanuts, and peanut butter. Her commitment to wholesome, locally sourced foods quickly caught the attention of customers across Babati. Yet from the beginning, Esther believed her idea could grow far beyond baking.
As her business expanded, Esther recognized the need to diversify and deepen her knowledge of food processing. A turning point came when she received hands-on training at Babati SDA church through a program delivered by BIVAC Tanzania Company, a food processor based in Arusha. BIVAC specializes in producing nutritious flours from biofortified crops to combat malnutrition among women and children.
During the training, Esther learned how to process biofortified common beans into flour and how to formulate nutritious composite blends combining common beans, maize, and sorghum. The experience broadened her skills beyond baking bread and revealed the vast potential of agro-processing, particularly the production of nutritious flours using biofortified bean varieties such as TARI Bean 6 and JESCA.