Fanny Fiteli, Founder of Mama’s Mushrooms.

The yher Pacific Islands team spoke with the founder of Mama’s Mushrooms, Fanny Fiteli, about the impact of the pandemic and cyclones on her venture, how Mama’s Mushrooms is continuing to upskill single mothers in mushroom farming by developing a new product line, as well as Fanny’s vision for a world beyond COVID-19. 

How has Covid-19 affected Mama’s Mushrooms?

With national travel restrictions and curfews in place, scheduled training to increase farms and production has been postponed. And with Mama’s Mushrooms headquartered in the city of Lautoka, a temporary lockdown zone with no travel in or out, distribution has been severely disrupted – they are only able to supply customers within the area. And with tourism at a standstill, orders from hotels and restaurants have dried up significantly. 

Compounding these challenges have been Fiji’s cyclone season, with January’s training postponed due to Cyclones Sarai and Toni. The recent wrath of Tropical Cyclone Harold has left their internal grow house severely damaged.

What support is Mama’s Mushrooms providing in response to COVID-19?

However there is good news – domestic demand is still strong and by developing a new product line, Mama’s Mushrooms is pivoting to meet the market.

Since February, they have been working with Naitasiri farmers to produce dried mushrooms, using natural sun drying methods. Originally released to their domestic consumer base as a retail product, the line garnered welcome interest. 

Now, with the short shelf-life of fresh mushrooms struggling with COVID-19’s disrupted supply chain, Mama’s Mushrooms has doubled-down on the development and marketing of this line. Working with supermarkets, they are exploring a bulk, wholesale provision. And market research suggests strong potential as an import replacement for Fiji’s vegan/vegetarian market, who previously purchased overseas goods from local supermarkets. 

What have been the challenges you’ve faced?

When we received the word of our first COVID 19 positive case – we were worried and first thought of our safety and the safety of our children. We were also placed on lockdown and could not move out of the region we operate in called Lautoka for 2 weeks which made doing business very difficult. What resulted was that we used our 2 supplementary indoor farms to supply within the lockdown area and our Naitasiri farms to supply our Nadi market. Even this was really difficult to manage. Because crops were growing in Naitasiri, we decided to try dried mushrooms as an alternative product but also as an alternative to storage and product longevity and tested this. It was a hit. Our Naitasiri farms are now selling dried oyster Mushrooms for $40/kg. The challenge was trying to market this while on lockdown. We got creative and invited our repeat customers to give it a try. Now, 40% of them are repeat dried mushroom fans.

What are the key ingredients for overcoming challenges?

Always trusting and believing in yourself and knowing that you have the power to make all the important decisions and that every step needs peer support, positivity and ability. Never say that something is impossible.

How have you been able to adapt so fast in the face of a pandemic?

Aligned to their overall strategy, Mama’s Mushrooms were already trialing production and market testing dried mushrooms as means to diversify risk and capture market share. This foundation in place created an opportunity to scale and commercialise relatively quickly.

What does a post covid-19 world look like for Mama’s Mushrooms?

Beyond COVID-19, we envision a business growth spurt with the increasing demand for mushrooms as a vegan protein option. Already we are being inundated with orders for a weekly supply and delivery for individuals who have a vegan/vegetarian diet and who previously accessed their mushroom supplies through supermarket imports. We also expect to see an increase in our business customers. 

We want to help establish 2000 Mama’s Farms within the country over the next three years, spanning across three islands. They also intend to replicate the Mama’s Mushroom model in other regional countries like PNG, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Mama’s Mushrooms is a for-profit social enterprise helping women to improve their finances and access quality healthcare and education through micro-farming in mushrooms. To find out more information about Mama’s Mushrooms, visit their website here. 

Founded by Fanny Fiteli, Mama’s Mushrooms participated in the 2019 yher Pacific Islands program.