The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

AS the country counts down to the anniversary of Independence, several local businesses are keeping Bahamian culture alive through jewelry making, straw work, and Bahamian cuisine.

Monique Whymns, owner of Monifa Unjinga, said she’s been making jewelry for 22 years. The single mother, who's in her 50s, said she officially launched her sand jewelry business in 2018. Initially, Ms Whymns said she started making jewelry because she needed extra money to survive and take care of her children. 

Ms Whymns said her business began to grow, noting she went from struggling to survive to now thriving. She added she is now fully self-employed with her home-based jewelry business.

“As a single mother, what happened was I got evicted out of a house I was in, and had nowhere to go. I prayed that night and I asked the Lord to give me something that I can do to take care of my sons. He took me into a vision and showed me exactly how to do the sand jewelry,” she said. 

Ms Whyms added her jewelry is handmade from sand. She uses sand from local beaches in Nassau, pink sand from Harbour Island, natural sand, and brown sand. Ms Whymns said she uses an ingredient she calls her “secret sauce” that allows the sand to harden and to be worn in the water. 

The owner of Monifa Unjinga said none of her family were jewelry makers. However, she said her grandmother was a fashion designer. Ms Whymns added she’s now working on launching her clothing brand.

Ms Whymns offers necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings in a variety of styles she can.

Shantell Ferguson, owner of Da’ Goat, said she started creating goat pepper products during the pandemic. Ms Ferguson, who is also the owner of Ferguson’s Funeral Home Directors said she always wanted to start another business. 

Her home-based business was inspired one day when she was making stewfish. She said she made a special goat pepper sauce that she used when making the stew fish. She explained her brother had tasted the sauce she made and then encouraged her to sell it.

But Ms Ferguson decided to think outside of the box rather than only making a hot sauce. So she started researching to create a 100 per cent goat pepper powder.

“At the end of the day, goat pepper is ours a lot of people are moving away from what is ours to other things. It's uniquely Bahamian, I also did some research on goat pepper and you can’t find goat pepper nowhere else in the world unless you get it from The Bahamas.”

The owner of Da’ Goat also sells hot sauces, infused cooking oils, marmalade, pepper jelly, goat pepper, lime & pepper seasoning, and other seasonings. 

In the beginning, Ms Ferguson said business was slow because it started during the pandemic. She noted when she tried to introduce the goat pepper powder, she thought it would be an instant hit for fishermen, conch salad shacks, and other places. But over the last three years, she said business has grown. 

“I think it really started to pick up pick up last year. So right now I barely can even keep it in in stock because it's doing very well,” Ms Ferguson said. 

Ms Ferguson aka Da’ Goat can be contacted at 242 466-6822 or locate her at 23 Pepper Road, Eastwood Estates. The owner of Monifa Unjinga, Ms Whymns can be contacted at 242-447-2931 or follow Monifa Unjinga on Facebook/Instagram.