Today we’d like to introduce you to Janet Digber-Williams.
Hi Janet, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Saucy African really started as a solution to a problem in our own home. My husband, James, and I are both Ghanaian, and food has always been an important connection to home, family, and culture for us. But as a physician working long hours, I often didn’t have the time to start dinner from scratch.
I began preparing the most time-consuming part ahead of time—slow-cooking tomatoes, onions, garlic, spices, and other ingredients into a flavorful base that I could use throughout the week. With that ready, I could come home and turn chicken, rice, vegetables, pasta, or whatever we had into dinner without sacrificing the depth of flavor I grew up with.
Eventually, I told James, “I think we should sell this.” And in 2024, The Saucy African was born.
We started very small—friends and family, online orders, local events and farmers markets—and learned a lot by putting the products directly in front of customers. One of our biggest lessons was that people loved the flavor, but many didn’t know how African-inspired products fit into the food they already cooked. They would ask us, “Is it spicy?” or “What do I make with this?”
That changed how we thought about the company. We realized our job wasn’t to make the products less African; it was to make the entry point more approachable. Today, our simmer sauces and seasoning blends are designed to bring bold, West African-inspired flavor to everyday cooking without requiring someone to learn an entirely new cuisine.
What began as a kitchen shortcut has grown into a brand carried by independent retailers across multiple states, sold online and at markets, and supported by a small team. We’re now approaching six figures in annual revenue, which still feels surreal considering we started with no background in the food industry and have largely bootstrapped the business as we learned.
Through all of that growth, the idea at the center hasn’t really changed: African food is heritage, connection, and incredible flavor. We want to make it easier for more people to bring some of that flavor to their own tables.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. We started The Saucy African with a product we believed in, but neither of us came from the food industry. That meant learning almost everything as we went—manufacturing, packaging, labeling, wholesale, shipping, food regulations, inventory planning, marketing, and eventually managing a team.
One of our biggest challenges has been learning how to grow responsibly when you are bootstrapping. In a food business, growth costs money before it makes money. Larger production runs can lower your cost per unit, but they also require more cash upfront. Getting into more stores sounds exciting, but you have to be able to manufacture enough inventory, ship it, market it, and sometimes wait to get paid. We have learned that getting an opportunity and being financially ready for that opportunity are two very different things.
We have also made expensive mistakes. Early on, we spent heavily on influencer marketing because we thought visibility would automatically translate into sales. It didn’t. We eventually realized that before we could spend money getting more people to see the brand, we needed to make sure people immediately understood what we were selling and how it fit into their lives.
For me personally, another challenge has been building a company while maintaining a full-time career as a physician. There are days when I move from caring for patients or working with residents to reviewing packaging, answering emails, looking at sales numbers, or making business decisions at night. James has taken on an increasingly large role in the day-to-day operations of the company, and learning how to divide responsibilities and build a team around us has been essential.
Probably the biggest lesson has been that growth is not always about saying yes. Sometimes the responsible decision is to turn down an opportunity, delay a new product, or stay smaller a little longer while you build the infrastructure to support the next stage. We are still learning that balance.
The road has been messy, expensive, and full of trial and error, but every stage has taught us something that has made the business stronger.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My professional life has taken a path I never could have predicted. I am a pediatric hospitalist and medical educator, and I currently serve as an Associate Program Director for a pediatric residency program. Much of my career in medicine has centered on caring for hospitalized children, teaching physicians in training, and helping residents navigate the transition from medical school to independent practice.
At the same time, I am the co-founder of The Saucy African, a food company my husband, James, and I started in 2024. The company actually grew out of my life as a physician. Working long hours meant that I was constantly trying to figure out how to make flavorful meals without starting from scratch every evening. I began preparing the tomato, onion, garlic and spice base common to many of the foods I grew up eating ahead of time. Eventually, that kitchen shortcut became the foundation for our simmer sauces.
Today, The Saucy African makes West African-inspired simmer sauces and seasoning blends designed for the foods people already cook. Our goal is not to ask someone to learn an entirely new cuisine before they can experience African flavors. You can use our products with chicken, pasta, vegetables, rice, eggs, soups, pizza and countless other everyday foods.
I think what sets our company apart is that we have been very intentional about making African flavors approachable without diluting what makes them special. African food is often reduced to being “spicy” or treated as something unfamiliar that requires explanation. We want to broaden that perception. Our products are about layered flavor, seasoning and depth—and most of our products are not spicy at all.
I am especially proud of how much we have built with very little prior knowledge of the food industry. We started as two people with an idea, bootstrapped the company, learned as we went, and built a growing brand that now sells online, at farmers markets and through independent retailers.
Medicine and entrepreneurship may seem like two completely different worlds, but I have realized that much of what drives me in both is the same: solving problems, teaching, building systems and finding ways to make complicated things more accessible to people. I’m proud that I haven’t had to choose just one version of myself to do meaningful work.
What matters most to you?
What matters most to us is building a life that is purposeful—one rooted in faith, family, service, and creating something that matters beyond ourselves.
Our faith is the foundation of how we approach both life and work. It reminds us that success is not simply about what we accomplish, but about what we do with the opportunities, abilities, and influence we have been given.
Family and heritage are also incredibly important to us. We are both Ghanaian, and although our families come from different parts of Ghana and have their own food traditions, food has always been a source of connection. The Saucy African grew from that. What started as a practical way to make the flavors we loved easier to fit into our busy lives has grown into something that allows us to share a piece of home with other people.
Service is another value we share, even though it shows up differently in our lives. For Janet, that includes caring for children, teaching residents, and helping train the next generation of physicians. Through The Saucy African, it means building something together that creates opportunities for others while helping African flavors become a more familiar part of everyday American kitchens.
Ultimately, we want the things we build to matter beyond us. We want to build a strong marriage and family, serve the communities around us, create opportunities for other people, and grow a company that celebrates where we come from while inviting more people to the table. If we can do those things while staying grounded in who we are and why we started, that is the kind of success that matters most to us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thesaucyafrican.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesaucy_african
