Africa’s Leading Baby Food Brand
THE MUMTRITIONIST
PROFILE
Hi, my name is Mmachukwu Orizu, You can call me Mma. I am a Medical Biochemist, a UNICEF-certified Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselor, a UK-CPD-certified Child Nutrition Advisor and Baby Food Entrepreneur. I am popularly known as “The Mumtritionist” among Nigerian mothers, a name I earned by being not just a Nutritionist but a Mum as well. My undergraduate degree was in Basic Medical Sciences from University of Benin while I acquired my other professional/certificate degrees in Nutrition from Shaw Academy, Dublin, Ireland.
I am the Founder and Managing Director of Mahauty Health Solutions, a Health Promotion company for infants and young children. Using Africa’s most nutritious ingredients, we create organic blends of baby foods and beverages under the brand name Somma’s Yummies.
HOW IT ALL STARTED (2013)
As a Clinical biochemist working with a hospital laboratory, I was increasingly alarmed by the number of patients who came to the hospital presenting with conditions easily resolved through better nutrition – the right food.
I saw several cases that couldn’t be managed which eventually led to death. Each preventable death brought tears to my heart but none broke my heart like times I saw mothers lose their children, vice versa. It got to a point where I lost fulfillment in my job and needed to search for a career option that would avert nutritionally-preventable diseases, especially among women and children. I resigned from my job.
The answer revealed itself when I had my daughter in 2015. I learnt that at 6 months, right after exclusive breast feeding, Nigerian babies were fed with complementary foods that are pre-packaged, full of artificial additives and nutritionally-imbalanced. I found out that 100% of baby food in Nigerian market for Nigerian babies are imported! I thought to myself, why don’t we value our local resources? Why can’t we take our local resources, transform them and give our babies products adapted to their nutritional needs? How can Africa with its vast number of nutritious staples be dependent on other nations for the sustenance of its little ones?
I knew I had to do something! Right there and then, I made up my mind to do something to impact the world of my time. I thought to myself, “I’m going to give African children access to High-Energy Nutritious African foods, made with love by an African Mum”.
Using my strong basic medical science foundation (Medical Biochemistry major), and further nutritional trainings, I began researching, experimenting, developing recipes and blending natural food options for my daughter. I started talking to other parents about this as well. Surprisingly, I faced resistance from older mothers who disagreed with my approach due to traditional feeding practices, but I, true to my persistent nature, chose to press on. This spurred me into first establishing a nutrition-centered health promotion company for infants & young children – Mahauty Health Solutions.
I kept on creating recipes and feeding my daughter nutrient-dense meals which I made from locally-grown food ingredients. Then, I put together a virtual community using Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram where I educated over 1000 mothers of the importance of infant and young child feeding and sustainable ways to improve the nutritional value of their children’s meals.
Over time, demand started coming from the virtual community members, friends and family which led to the establishment of my baby food brand. I went further to do professional courses and trainings in Food production and safety and Business management. Today, I’m currently a UNICEF-certified Infant & YoungChild Feeding Counselor, a UK-CPD-certified Child Nutrition Advisor and a member of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria.
HOW IT'S GOING (2021)
My flair for developing preservative-free and nutritionally-balanced foods for infants and young children aged 6 months to 5 years formed my company’s first product line. My company, Mahauty Heath Solutions, manufactures and packages the baby food products under the brand name “Somma’s Yummies”, named after my daughter – Somma!
Somma’s Yummies was founded on April 26th, 2016. We have since then been giving children access to High Energy Nutritious Foods made from Africa’s most nutritious ingredients.
While creating products, we make sure to use only the best of nutrient-dense ingredients in our food products to ensure that every child who eats it gets a completely-balanced meal containing essential nutrients for growth and development. Also, all products go through natural processes that will enhance nutrient absorption by the body system.
I am motivated to do all of these because I watched my daughter grow healthily without the frequent hospital visits that’s obtainable with children of her age. This truly shows that malnutrition can be eradicated in children and this will help to reduce child mortality in Africa.
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS
Today, Somma’s Yummies are sold across Nigeria through a distribution network of mothers and a growing number of retail outlets and health stores. Meanwhile, Mahauty Health Solutions connects over 100,000 mothers via social media and provides regular advisory sessions using Facebook and Instagram live videos to creatively address the very real problem of malnutrition in children.
My team and I have also gathered many media attention, awards and recognitions. Recently, we were selected as one of top 3 African Health Innovators among over 241 applicants from 21 countries by Amref Health Africa for their Innovate for Life Fund Accelerator Programme. We have been featured on one of Nigeria’s prestigious newspaper – Business Day Newspaper.