Mum’s the Chef: Empowering BME women

What a brilliant way to build your confidence, start a career , and ensure your clientele positively talk about you long after they’ve been served the last delicious dish.

Restauranter and friend of OBV, Iqbal Wahhab, invited me and few others to his home to sample the cuisine from one of the small teams that make up ‘Mum’s the Chef’.

Mum’s the Chef, is a social entrepreneurial project which was set up by Saraha Quli. She recognised just how difficult it was for many BME women to successfully get into the workplace with a career that gave more than ‘Zero hour’ contracts.

She told me during the dinner that one occurring factor she found out about her friends and their friends was that they really know how to cook great food. But of course, she continued, their dishes never went beyond their homes. Saraha’s brilliance was to say to these women that "not only could you earn a living from making such tasty dishes, but I’ll make sure you also get a qualification in the bargain too"

So every woman on Saraha’s team is cooking up treats for business executives whilst attending college to get their NQV qualification.

The business model for ‘Mum’s the chef’ is ideal for corporate lunches, dinner parties and weekly meal deliveries.

Sarah’s team mostly, but not exclusively are mums from around the world who specialise in an array of international cuisines. It’s clear from the food they serve, the way that it’s explained and presented these women are passionate about their food.

Our meal was from Sierra Leone, which was colourful, spicy, and truly wholesome.

The experience was a real treat, not just because the food presented made us feel like royal guests, but also because of the back story or context that was so uplifting: Strong women, using the skills from back home for an entrepreneurial project which gives them empowerment and the guest/clients culinary joy. How brilliant is that!

So, for your business lunch, your organisation’s annual dinner or at home for that very special dinner party, you’d find it difficult to beat ‘Mums the chef’.

Good luck.

Simon Woolley