My name is Sarah Sekalala and I founded Siika Foods, which makes small-batch, African-inspired simmer sauces that turn everyday ingredients into a meal full of real heritage flavour, without a long night at the stove.
About me
Food has meant belonging to me for as long as I can remember. I lost my father when I was eleven, and my family scattered. I grew up in the homes of relatives, where I learned young that security was never guaranteed and that being useful was how you kept your place. Cooking became mine. A delicious meal made me wanted and it made me loved. That lesson never left me. Food is how I hold onto who I am, and it is how I want other families to hold onto who they are.
Coming to Canada was a culture shock in a way I did not expect. Back home, life came with a village. Relatives and neighbours chipped in with the cooking and with raising the children. When we arrived here, all of that fell away. We were doing everything ourselves. Food was the hardest part. The meals that raised me took the kind of time and community we no longer had. I could not find the bold flavours I grew up on anywhere on the shelves. So I began making batches of my own sauces at home, and that was the moment it clicked. If my family needed this to keep our flavours alive, so did every other family living the same story. That was when I knew I had to build Siika.
Having built businesses before this one, I know what it takes to start from nothing and see it through. Siika did not appear overnight. I began selling my sauces to my church community in 2008, then at community events, one jar at a time. In 2022, we incorporated the company and committed to it fully.
My Purpose
Our purpose at Siika Foods is to help two kinds of people, those who miss the taste of home and those who are curious to discover it. Before they find us, dinner is often either a long evening of cooking or a compromise that does not taste like the real thing.
We make it simple, and we make it flexible. Our two flavourful sauces are both gluten-free, vegan, and preservative-free. These sauces do the hard work of layering spices and building depth, so all you bring is your protein and carbohydrate and about twenty minutes. Pour, simmer, serve. They stretch well beyond dinner to a wing glaze, a spread or a dip.
The deeper purpose of Siika is to keep heritage alive across generations. I want the flavours that shaped me to reach my children too. Beyond my family, I want to see generational wealth take root in our community, so that families like mine can thrive rather than watch opportunities pass by for lack of resources.
What makes Siika Foods different
The difference starts with respect for the food itself. Many sauces on the shelf borrow African names and flavours and water them down. We refuse to. Our flavour is bold and unmistakable, rooted in the dishes that raised me. Our name carries that promise, since “siika” means to fry or to flavour in Luganda, my mother tongue. We craft our sauces to live in two cultures at once, the one we come from and the one we are raising our children in, so they adapt to whatever is on your table. Convenience, for us, never means giving up authenticity or quality.
What’s your win!
The wins that move me most come straight from customers. A recent message stopped me in my tracks. A mother wrote to say she stirred our sauce into her peas and her kids ate everything on their plates, then thanked me for saving her so much time and making her life easier. Reading that, I felt the whole purpose of Siika in a single note. It was never about a jar of sauce. It was about a parent getting her evening back and her children asking for more.
Today we are in several specialty stores and pitching to the mainstream. In almost four years we have sold more than twenty thousand jars. Recognition has come alongside that growth. We have been featured in several magazines and at the African Pavilion in Brampton. I have received several entrepreneurial awards from PARO, CanWCC, and others. Those milestones open doors. Still, it is a mother telling me her kids cleaned their plates that tells me this is working.
What I wish more founders knew about pitching
I wish more founders knew the power of restraint. Before working with Brenda, I used to build my pitch by cramming in every point I wanted to make, thinking more was safer. Brenda taught me to play three cards, to choose three clear messages and build everything around them.
That one shift made me far more organized and helped my point land instead of getting lost in the noise.
I have learned to say less and mean more, trusting that three strong ideas will carry further than ten crowded ones.
To find out more
If, like Sarah, you believe that good food builds community, reach out to her at Siika Foods, by going here:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/siikafoods/home/
• Website: https://siikafoods.com
• Email: sarah@siikafoods.com