Catering service equals office work – Pauline Mengot

She is popularly known as Aunty P by many, but our Sun Woman’s real name is Pauline Mengot. For close to twenty years, this woman who is now in her mid-fifties has been engaged in the fufu and eru business, and the success she has achieved has brought her to the limelight and thus caused The Sun to project her as her Woman of the month of October.

Brief profile Aunty P was born and bred in New town Limbe, and attended Baptist Primary School CBC, after which she went to the prestigious Saker Baptist College for five years and obtained GCE O/L.An indigene of Bachou Ntai village in Manyu division, South West region, she is a widow with four grown-up children, (three girls and a boy).

Business, Customers and Profit After obtaining her O/L, Aunty P struggled to get a job for a while without success, but due to her hardwork, she decided to start her own business, cooking and selling fufu and eru. Not knowing, this little business was what was going to hand her a living for the rest of her life.

Aunty P sells daily for six days, Mondays to Saturdays, and on her normal day, she gets up and prepares the fufu, and then go to the market to get stuff for the eru. On her return she prepares the eru and everything is ready by 2pm, at what time, her customers are already waiting to “eat it hot”. Within two hours, she finishes everything, clean her dishes, and rest, as she waits for the next day.

She serves at least a hundred customers daily and according to our woman, the good and friendly relationship with her customers, has been a major factor to her success. “I am friendly and do not frown at them, and I do my best to ensure that the food is good, reason why they can’t help but patronise my food”, she laughs, as she explains to The Sun.

Another secret which The Sun woman has is the fact that although her goal is profit making as it’s the case with every business, she is very concerned with how sweet and tasty her food is, thus she is never stingy with the quantity of fish, crayfish, and other ingredients she puts in her pot of eru.

Also, though Aunty P has her principle of “no credit”, her customers who range from bike riders, taxi drivers, teachers, students, passersby who sometimes come miles away. Even customers from Bota Limbe, are not discouraged, as she sells a plate of fufu and eru with meat or 'canda' at FCFA 300, unlike in most places where such a plate is sold at FCFA 500.

While her real difficulty, she explains is the preparation of fufu, which requires a lot of energy, as she does it herself daily, the profit from the business has kept her going, as she makes a daily profit of at least FCFA 5,000. This constant daily profit is the financial background of her family live in. She disclosed that it had been the main source of funding for her children' education.

Social life With her daily busy schedule, Aunty P says she does not really have time, but she has fitted herself to a few social groups like 'ex-sakerettes' meeting and she is also a member of the temple choir in the Presbyterian Church as she enjoys singing. She also loves sports.

After being in the business for close to two decades, our October Woman is now planning to retire soon as she says she's aging and her energy is declining at this point in her life. Her gratitude, she says goes to God Almighty for giving her strength from the time she started this business till date, and also to her mother who always encouraged her and taught her the secrets of good cooking.

Message “When you want to engage in a business like this, make it in a way that when somebody eats it, they will want to come back. Make the food tasty, be clean, no sand, limit your salt and ensure that there isn't too much pepper. When am cooking, I ensure that my things are clean and neat. My customers never complain about my food.

Anyone who wants to engage in this business should not be scared, it is difficult, but there is profit. Cooking and selling food is the same as working in the office-at the end of the day, it’s all about having financial power”.

We hope The Sun in our October Woman brightens your month!!!