The resilience OF MavWay
How A Health Worker Turned A Nutrition Solution Into A Growing Business
When Mary Ali arrived in Tamale in 2008 as a newly posted Community Health Officer, she had little to rely on and no clear idea of what the future held. But during her outreach work with mothers and newborn babies, she began noticing a troubling pattern; many children were underweight or stunted. What started as a concern during her health visits would eventually grow into a thriving nutrition business.
As the firstborn of seven siblings, Mary had always carried responsibility. Moving to the Northern Region meant starting life far from home, and with no salary expected for nearly a year, resilience quickly became a necessity.
Mary’s work as a health officer meant caring for pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children under six months. During outreach and growth monitoring sessions, she began to see a worrying trend.
Many children were underweight or stunted. The weighing cards told the story clearly: babies struggling to gain weight and mothers who wanted to do more but did not always know how.
During her training in health school, Mary had learned how to prepare tombrown, a nutritious local weaning porridge made from maize and legumes. It was designed for infants transitioning from exclusive breastfeeding to complementary feeding at six months.
Determined to help, Mary decided to take a practical step. She bought four bowls of maize, added legumes, and had the mixture ground at a local commercial mill to prepare tombrown.
She packaged the porridge in small plastic bags and began sharing it within the community- selling to mothers who could afford it and giving some away to families who struggled to feed their babies.
What began as a small effort to support mothers gradually grew into something bigger. Her business was about to be born too!
A turning point came when Mary walked into a supermarket in Tamale to introduce her product. Impressed by the quality of the tombrown, the shop owner agreed to stock it.
That single relationship opened the door to a wider supply chain. Today, MARVMAY Ltd supplies many major supermarkets in Tamale and has expanded into other regions of Ghana.
As the business expanded, new challenges began to emerge. Demand for MAVMAY’s products was growing, but securing consistent raw materials became increasingly difficult.
It was at this stage that Innohub’s support through the MTN SME Support Programme became critical.
The funding enabled Mary to bulk-buy raw materials during harvest when prices are at their lowest and stockpile enough to keep the facility running at full capacity throughout the year. Additionally, MavMay has purchased a stainless-steel machinery which churns out one tonne of tombrown an hour when previously, it could take a week for the same amount to be produced.
She can now meet client orders, and this translates to better profit margins for sustainability and expansion. Currently, MavMay has expanded her range of products to include Soya kebabs and Soya spice.
What began with four bowls of maize and a desire to help mothers feed their babies has grown into MAVMAY Ltd- a business that now employs 21 people and supplies supermarkets across Tamale.
Reflecting on her journey, Mary often encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to start with what they have: “Don’t wait to have everything before starting a business. You don’t need millions to begin. Start small, stay resilient, and give what you can knowledge, service, or effort. In giving, you will gain.”