Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Ali Dhanji, Group CEO of Aqua Cool Ltd, located in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We manufacture and distribute premium quality bottled water from plastic granules up to the final returnable bottles delivered to your doorstep. We serve businesses, retail outlets, and homes. We also provide Coffee & Tea vending machines for offices and distribute instant coffee as well as other packaged foods to retail. Finally, we are now building a brighter future by setting up mini water purification retail units where end consumers can purchase premium quality water at 1/5 the cost of bottled water and reuse their own plastic containers. In addition, we are also setting up mini purification dispensing units in businesses.
Tell us about yourself
Since I was in my teens, I used to sell mobile phones at school, which then evolved to selling cars to my peers. After completing my studies in Canada and the UK, it intrigued me that my father was running a water bottling company as a "side hustle" focused on B2B. However, I truly believed the good work, the hard work, and the big work was to serve the masses in Tanzania who do not have easy access to pure drinking water. So after he accepted that I join his business, I made it my life's work to bring our premium quality drinking water to a much larger audience. I am motivated by an ideal I have, which is Win-Win. In fact, our new purification business is called Win Win Water Solutions! I truly believe we can sell a necessity (water) at an affordable price by serving businesses and upper-class homes (at a slightly higher price) in order to subsidize the cost to the masses, who can buy the product in shops. Furthermore, our new strategy to entirely reduce plastic and transport from the equation will allow us to do this to a much higher degree! I live and work to serve the community, and I expect a fair profit in order to sustain the organization and myself! "When you work for the good, you will be around for good."
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Surviving 25 years in an industry with players 30x our size. We compete with the likes of Coca-Cola in our water business and Nestle in our Coffee Business; however, our localized and customer-centric approach always leaves a nice niche for us to serve.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Being an owner or a CEO practically means you sit at the bottom of the funnel of problems. The easy ones get solved at the top, and the most difficult ones pour onto your head! You must have tenacity, perseverance, and a positive attitude. One of the most difficult traits to find in employees (even the most senior management) is ownership, yet you must always have ownership and deal with the consequences of every decision made (or not made!) in your organization. The buck truly stops at you!
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Make sure there is a long runway (or addressable market) in your line of business. Or there are many paths to expand horizontally in the future. So you can scale when you are ready.
- The customer is always right. Keep your customers very close; in fact, use them as advisors.
- It's always worth starting or running a business v/s being employed forever. If your business fails, you can go back to employment.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://kisimawater.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ali.dhanji.7
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alidhanji87/?next=%2F
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-dhanji-11842716/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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