Zamzam Haji was gone for almost 18 years, and when she returned home, she discovered her mother was raising camels.
She noted that she could not understand the concept of maintaining camels because her parents raised cattle.
“She looked at me and told me, ‘you don’t know the value, you’ll know the value one day’. Years later what she told me came true,” she noted.
Haji revealed that her mother started camel farming after being diagnosed with diabetes.
She mentioned that her mother once needed camel milk to control her diabetes, but people who possessed it were reluctant to sell it.
“She wanted one cup of camel milk but the lady whom she was buying from refused to sell it. She called my sister who sent her money and she bought six of her own camels,” she explained.
Zamzam and her business partners started their business with their savings, avoiding loans because they were unsure of the return.
“We didn’t want to take big loans because we did not know where this was taking us. It was like gambling,” she said.
However, after a while in business, they discovered they couldn’t satisfy demand on time and requested for a loan.
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They also appeared on the KCB Lions’ Den Show, where they were seeking Ksh 7.5 million for 23% equity. Haji further mentioned that starting a business was not easy.
She stated that while introducing camel milk into the market, they needed to invest more in marketing because most people were unfamiliar with it.
“We had to go out there and aggressively market to the locals, to make people understand the benefits of the camel milk,” she said.
They supply in different parts of Nairobi and Bungoma and internationally to Rwanda and parts of Tanzania.
“The reason why we are doing this is to make the milk accessible to all Kenyans,” she said.
The most well-known benefit of camel milk is its ability to help manage diabetes since it includes lower glycemic index, which controls blood sugar levels.
The milk also contains probiotics, which can aid with gut health and digestion.
It also contains lactoferrin, which strengthens the immune system and fights infections.
Camel milk has been shown in studies to be beneficial for children with autism, probably due to its high levels of immunoglobulins and other substances that help reduce inflammation.
