LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Paradise Saudável, a business focused on providing healthy and flavoursome eating experiences in Angola
Nara Cardoso Nunes is the founder of Paradise Saudável, one of the first healthy food bars, located in the heart of the Angolan Capital in Luanda. Nara is a leading entrepreneur in Angola when it comes to offering fast, healthy, natural flavoursome juices, smoothies and a variety of healthy dishes to suit all consumer needs. Nara’s business is focused on using locally produced fruits and vegetables to create tasty and healthy 100% fruit juices, smoothies, detox drinks, salads, soups, burgers, dried fruits foods, all freshly produced in-house.
Nara founded the business 3 years ago right at the beginning of COVID with several lock downs and the living restrictions we are all very well familiar with today. Nonetheless she was driven by her desire to offer a healthy eating option to a community who could improve their health by simply adopting a healthier flavoursome and nutritional food choice. Her employees, now a team of 20 all taught and trained by her, encouraged her to continue and with that her business thrived. She overcame the many challenges the pandemic presented her business with, and the smart intuitive, intelligent decisions paid off as today she moves towards opening her second bar/restaurant in a well populated area in Luanda. Nara has 10 years of corporate business experience having been a legal counsel in a major oil & gas corporation, and has currently joined the company’s Health, Safety and Environment Department as the Regulatory Compliance Specialist.
Lioness Weekender spoke to Nara Cardoso Nunes about her passion for healthy eating and living, and her mission to introduce healthier options to her customers and community.
What does your company do?
We offer healthy fruit juices, smoothies, detoxes, dried fruit, burgers, parfaits, pancakes, soup, salads and many more choices to our customers.
What inspired you to start your company?
I love fruit and vegetables and I always heard that if you want to start a business it’s a good idea to do so with something you love. So, I wanted to share a bit of me with my community. When I saw someone else open the exact same business, someone I didn’t know, I felt the pressure. I knew I was slacking. It was a wake-up call, and a reminder that if you don’t do it, someone else will.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
We offer flavoursome, locally produced, healthy products.
Tell us a little about your team
Our team is composed of 20 individuals, which includes a person dedicated for public relations, the chefs, shopper, security, 2 managers, shop floor assistants, and delivery bike guys. Most of the team are young individuals with a drive to learn and be financially independent.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
I do not come from an entrepreneurial background at all. I studied sociology when I was in college and I remember one class we did was on probabilities and statistics and I remember it said that children born from parents who did not attend university were likely not to either. In some ways I feel like I’ve broken all those statistics because although both of my parents never went to university my brother and I did and I went as far as obtaining a masters. Plus, I’ve also opened a business, something which is not common in my background.
I always felt like I could do more so I did. At the time I was in a deadbeat relationship which I was saving some money for the wedding and when I realized that the wedding would never come, I invested the wedding savings into opening the business. Thank God I did. Just to say that I finally moved on and I’m now happily married with my high school sweetheart as the Americans call it! Though we never went to high school together, he is my first love of our teenage days.
A lot of the entrepreneur lessons you learn as you go along and you need to be ready to adapt with the flow and not be static.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
Oh man, huge. I want to have investors and I wish to have a more technologically innovative way of offering my products to my customers. I also see us going global. However, firstly I want to spread across Angola, and after that move to Europe, USA and wherever else possible.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Employing people. Knowing people depend on the success of the business to feed their families. Teaching people something new, allowing them to see a woman successfully lead and run a successful business. Also, seeing my customers enjoy the combinations I single handily created although I’m no chef. Seeing my customers return year after year and bringing new customers tells me they enjoy my products. It’s all very satisfying.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Just do it. Just get on with it. Every week do something. Even if it takes you 1-2 years to fully roll with it, no matter what just start with small steps. Don’t wait to have it all figured out. To this day I’ve never done a business plan. Some people spend a lot of time on paper work and don’t move from the paper. I did it the other way round, I firstly got on with it, and now I’m getting it on paper.
To find out more about Nara’s business, Paradise Saudável, send an email to nara.snunes@hotmail.com or visit the company’s website and social media platforms: http://Www.paradisesaudavel.co.ao or https://www.facebook.com/paradisesaudavelangola or https://www.instagram.com/paradise_saudavel/
