Food lover and mocktail expert, Fehmida Osman-Latib aka ‘Fehmz’ has never blended in with the crowd.
Describing herself as somewhat unconventional, Fehmz used her passion for food and creativity and created the ‘Original Fehmz Mocktails’ – the cocktail with zero per cent alcohol.
Founder of the Halaal Goods Market as well, she just concluded the first one for 2020. A great success, she is already planning the special one-day-only Moonlight Edition Market which takes place next month in Rosebank.
Her journey in this creative business started off with some tough times.
“My husband had lost his job and so it became a situation where I was the breadwinner in the house as I was working. We were super broke and I still loved eating of course and cooking, so I started posting the things I was making. When we hit dead broke my cousin suggested that since I love cooking and I do it well, why not give classes?”
It was in 2011 and 2012 when Fehmz took her cousin’s advice. “I started with drinks because I love making mocktails and so I advertised it and I did the first one.
“I put all my money into test flavours and how to teach it and I said ‘If I’m going to do something, I want to do it properly’ and so I put together these classes and they just took off. I was soon doing it all over the country.”
Between becoming a wife, businesswoman and mother, holding these classes helped rekindle her passion and realise her five-year plan.
“I want to see my bottle of mocktails on a shelf in maybe SPAR or Pick n Pay and that’s my plan and that’s how it happened. A friend of mine called me up and told me that she wanted my mocktails in her store and I stalled. Eventually, I was forced to get it out there, which was actually the push I needed!”
It was launched and it was a hit. Using social media she grew her brand and now Original Fehmz Mocktails are available in over 20 stores nationwide.
A former south-sider and now a Kelvin resident, Fehmz said that through the inception of the Halaal Goods Market she gets to live her dream every day. With many markets on the table, she would like to see more variety in the people who visit the space.
“We would like to do one out of Joburg but most of all we’d like to get a variety of people coming and experiencing the food and learning about different cultures and religions. I want it to help people to understand that Halaal is not a bad thing and it doesn’t taste different. It’s interesting because there is that misunderstanding.”
On a mission to dispel that, with her personal touch and her design expertise, we’re excited to see what’s next for the creative Fehmz.
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