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When Wilana Oldham, a third generation Belizean living in Texas, met Howard in the nineties, he’d already fallen in love with her homeland seven years before, and after tying the knot, he convinced her to leave the Lone Star State for Belize.

He was an American investor.  Her family possessed a generations old secret recipe.  And together, they launched Hot Mama’s Belize , an agro processing company specializing in the production of high quality, premium habanero pepper products made with fresh vegetables, and without the use of artificial additives and chemicals.

The family recipe that inspired the business was a habanero pepper jelly, but while preparing to launch it, Wilana learned about a market trend in the food industry, and pivoted to capitalize on it.

The trend was for spicy foods, and while we moved to Belize with the intention of making the jelly, back in the US, everyone was asking us about the variety of peppers we were using, Wilana said.  So we did a little research and I ended up talking to a food broker in Miami who needed fresh peppers.  We started shipments into the US and eventually into Canada.

How Life’s Challenges Led Back to the Original Dream

Within a couple of years, the Oldhams were shipping a quarter million pounds of fresh  red habanero peppers out of Belize.

Unfortunately, two separate cancer scares forced Wilana’s return to the US for treatment, but after receiving the all-clear, she returned to Belize, this time determined to revive the original plan.  It was mango season, and the perfect time to get started with perfecting Manganero, the name they coined years before, when they first birthed the vision of producing the spicy-sweet mango and habanero pepper sauce.

It’s a particular variety of mangoes that we use, and the sauce is so delicious, Wilana shared.  It’s one of those unique sauces that is perfect from breakfast to dessert and everything in between.  You can put it on anything, she said. 

And she really does mean anything.  While the multi award-winning sauce really excels with seafood, Wilana shared that customers enjoy it on eggs, potatoes, rice, salads, even cheese cake.  And Wilana herself makes ice cream with it.  You just need to put it on whatever you are eating and it just makes it that much more delicious, she said.

The Product Failure that Birthed a Huge Success

Manganero’s success inspired Wilana to test another idea she had, but panic set in, when the double batch she created didn’t do what it was supposed to.

But her husband was the voice of reason, and his suggestion led to Hot Mama’s Belize number one selling product.

He stood there listening to me crying the blues for a while, and afterwards said are you finished?  I said yeah.  And he said what are you going to do.  I said I don’t know.  And he said well here’s what you need to do.  You need to put it into a bottle, call it sweet pepper sauce and I  think you are going to do very well.

Uplifting the Community is Foundational to this Social Enterprise

Hot and gourmet sauces, gift sets, jellies and specialty items, Hot Mama’s Belize growing product line is extensive, and as Wilana shares, the real success story here is not in how many award-winning products they have produced, or even how much they are earning in profits.  For Wilana and Howard, true success, happiness and motivation come from the people they are able to help.

People often say to me, Wilana, how come you don’t have your own pepper fields?  And I always respond the same way, because I believe in spreading the wealth, she said.  If I can get one farmer in a village to grow and produce for me, it not only affects him, but his family and his neighbours who become involved, because he need to hire people to assist with the harvesting. And so, that starts the rippling effects.

Future Plans for Hot Mama’s Belize

With over a decade of experience in manufacturing and producing finished foods, and even longer selling fresh, Wilana’s attention is now focused on expansion through export, including greater penetration into the US and entering European markets.

They are doing this with support from Women Empowered Through Export (WE-Xport) , a programme designed by the Caribbean Export Development Agency to support Caribbean women in business to start exporting or increase exports of their products and services.

Having a lab on site to do our own testing, aids in improving the quality which is further assisted by implementing [Hazard Analysis Critical Control Procedures] HACCP throughout the facility.  The application has been made and approval received for [Export Processing Zone] EPZ status, which allows for the import of supplies at a reduced rate. This is necessary to be more competitive for the export markets Wilana said.  It’s all falling into place now, and that’s due in part to the support we’ve received through WE-Xport.

View the Hot Mama’s Belize range at the We-Xport booth at Bmex in June 2019.

Find out more about Hot Mama’s and follow their journey toward realising their vision of becoming the world’s favourite pepper sauce, by following them on Instagram @hot_mamas_belize, Facebook @hotmamasbelize and visit their website at: https://www.hotmamasbelize.com/

Habanero Pepper Sauce Company Limited is a small family owned business operating out of Claxton Bay, Trinidad under the leadership of Sharon Chautilal.

Sharon worked in an equipment company for eighteen (18) years as the Administrative Manager before leaving the corporate world to pursue her passion as well as life balance through flexible hours that can allow for more quality time with family and other personal interests.

Her family always had a little rum shop in Claxton Bay Village that sold appetizers with a home-made pepper sauce that her mother made, which became a favourite condiment. the favorite condiment always being the home-made pepper sauce that her mother made. During this time, Sharon has fond memories of helping her mother in making the pepper sauce. “My mom would go to the market and individually handpick select the best peppers. She would then make a small batch of pepper sauce with freshly prepared ingredients resulting in a flavor that was always on point. It was also something that she loved doing and I truly believe that she channeled her positive energy and love into the product as with everything else that she put her energies in.

The growing demand from customers, their friends and their family whom they had shared the pepper sauce with could not be ignored. With her mother’s blessing and a promise to always be true to the recipe and the quality, Sharon set out on her journey of making Habanero Trinidad Pepper Sauce, the first traditionally made pepper sauce to enter the market.

Sharon took some time away from Trinidad to develop her business plan, drawing inspiration from great companies such as John Deere, Honda, Yanmar and others such as Heinz, Tabasco, Coca Cola, Cadbury, Levi, etc. that she always admired. “I read business books from people I admired, Richard Branson, Sam Waltons of Walmart and Elon Musk. I saw no reason why a bottle of pepper sauce could not be marketed the same way, for example, as the best bottle of perfume in the world. As long as you remained true to quality, the sky is the limit.

With the help of an advertising firm, Silverpin Design Concepts, who understood her vision of wanting to add flavour to life in every way possible, they set out together to design a simple but effective label that would showcase the main star of the show, the pepper sauce. The consumer had to be drawn to the product itself and come up with their own relationship with the pepper sauce. She did not want a distraction such as a mascot, cartoon or anything too artistic to take the attention away from the sauce itself. In Sharon’s words “we are going to revolutionize the pepper sauce industry and build a strong brand.

At the time, there was no premium pepper sauce in the local market. “We were the first to introduce gift editions. It was the perfectly packaged gift to give to employees, visitors, friends and families for Christmas. Since then, we have tried to have something innovative each year as customers are excited to see what we come up with.

This journey also led her to develop a strong supply chain by working with Farmers in developing good agricultural practices to consistently harvest first grade peppers for the best quality pepper sauces.

Thus, remaining true to her promise. The peppers are still hand selected and sorted, sun- ripened and only fresh ingredients are used. “We absolutely do not use any coloring, artificial preservatives such as sodium benzoate, artificial flavours or thickeners. We make small batches and maintain a good positive energy while we work, always conscious of the end user. It’s all garden fresh and they have remained true also to the company’s mission statement of Adding Flavour to Life!

After six years in business, and the many challenges including a downturn in the economy and financial constraints, Sharon has remained focused on her dream of making the best tasting pepper sauces possible and marketing them internationally. She has taken some baby steps in achieving this already as the products are available on the company’s e-commerce website and orders have been shipped all over the world, including the USA, South America, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Her latest achievement has been a collaboration between Habanero Trinidad and the iconic Calypso Rose to launch a Calypso Rose Fire Fire Scorpion Pepper Sauce which was successfully launched for Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival 2019. Calypso Rose would also be performing at Coachella 2019, one of the biggest Music Festival in the USA where she would be giving away some of the products so who knows where this dream may take her.

She has also been collaborating with a New York Chef Jonathan Scinto, who has appeared on the Food Network series Chopped. Habanero Trinidad is one of the sponsors of Chef Jonathan who is participating in the World Food Championship, the largest food festival in the USA sponsored by Walmart in Dallas this year.

What’s next for Habanero Trinidad
With the assistance of Women Empowered Through Export (WE-Xport) programme, Sharon hopes to fully leverage their expertise and assistance to strengthen her marketing and export strategy in establishing a global presence.

WE-Xport is designed to support Caribbean women in business to start exporting or increase the exports of their products and services.
Sharon’s attitude in life, is you either win or learn. To the other aspiring female entrepreneurs who are letting fear hold them back from pursuing their dreams, she said boldly, Do it scared! Fear is there to make you cautious, not stop you.

Visit the We-Xport booth at Bmex in June 2019 to learn more about Habanero Trinidad.

Find out more about Habanero Trinidad by visiting their website, www.habanerotrinidad.com and follow them on Facebook and Instagram at habanerotrinidad