Content Writer
CEO and founder of Snackin’ Africa Foluso Salami who left Shell Oil, Nigeria less than a year ago to New York launches an amazing startup that produces Nigerian snacks.
Foluso stopped working as a law attorney for Shell Oil in Nigeria and moved to the United States to start her own firm. “I loved being an attorney, I was passionate about it, but I always wanted to own my own business” she said.
Speaking with Forbes Africa Foluso Salami admitted that she missed the Nigerian snack, chinchin, when she moved to the U.S. So, she made her own chinchin and launched a business.
She started Snackin’ African, a new startup just under one year old, to specialize in one product, chinchin. These crunchy little squares are comparable to shortbread, but slightly less sweet and a touch more buttery.
In Nigeria chinchin is deep fried, but Salami makes hers baked with all natural ingredients. Snackin’ African chinchin sells in individual 4 oz pouches for approximately $4 to $5, contingent on quantity.
Some of her U.S. customers put chinchin on top of salads, a bowl of yogurt or ice cream, soups and chowders; a friend of Salami’s even made a cheesecake crust with mashed Snackin’ African chinchin.
Salami hopes that Snackin’ African chinchin be the African product that breaks through to mainstream U.S. consumers. There have only been a handful of food products and dishes from west, south and east Africa that have had relative mainstream success in the U.S.
With a clear passion and drive for success Foluso’s startup is growing at an amazing pace.
