Nancy Iraba

Africa is the 3rd largest producer of seaweed (sea moss) being led by Zanzibar which comprises about 25,000 seaweed farmers in which 80% are women. Despite the enormous health benefits that seaweed contains, there is a high dependence on external markets such as the USA and Netherlands while its value locally is not recognized. Furthermore, out of 11,000 tonnes of seaweed produced annually, 99% is being used for export and only less than 1% is being used for value addition locally. In 2020, I co-founded Healthy Seaweed Cafe to increase local seaweed consumption for healthy living while improving the livelihoods of women seaweed farmers in Zanzibar. Seaweed Cafe buys and processes seaweed through low-tech value-addition that converts seaweed to diverse seaweed products for food of high nutritional value. We currently sell 4 products of seaweed-based foods that include: Seaweed Gel, Seaweed Lettuce, Seaweed Powder and Processed Raw Seaweed.