African food market brings more cultural access to Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — When Nancy Lusemo arrived to the Corridor from the Congo in 2015, she quickly learned how tricky it would be to make the foods that reminded her of home.

Her favorite thing to cook is Fumbwa, a Congolese wild spinach stew with fish, peanut butter and red palm oil. Red palm oil, not likely to be found at most Hy-Vee stores, requires a trip to specialty African markets.

When she moved to the area, there was only one she could get to from her home. She drove long distances for the kinds of fish she liked.

Finding culturally appropriate food was the first taste of realizing how difficult it would be to rebuild her life here after winning a U.S. Diversity Visa through the lottery system. In the Congo, she said many don’t realize the work it takes to make it as an immigrant in America.

Defining their dream

This kind of business isn’t necessarily what they had envisioned as “the dream” in the United States.

“We thought here that life was easy,” she said. “Easy to find money, easy to live. The government takes care of people.”

But after several years of working for others, she has defined her version of the American dream with sister Iphie Basampuka by opening their new venture: Sisters’ African Food Market. The market is similar to the boutique and pharmacy they ran in the Congo for 12 years. With the market, they hope to expand access to culturally appropriate food and become another community center not just for Africans, but Latinos and Asians as well.

For them, the American dream isn’t wealth — it’s independence. After working for other companies for years, working for themselves is an essential part of their freedom.

But another part of freedom for many immigrants is being able to cook foods they know. At the market, Africans will be able to find Red Palm Oil in bulk and several varieties of cassava, or fufu flour, carried for the many taste preferences that span the African continent.

Through interactions with other African immigrants and careful studies of what sells at other African stores, they’ve made it a point to carry the right variety of products.

Their business strategy

Though they had more than a decade of experience running a business, it took the sisters over a year and more business education to overcome the regulations and challenges of running a business in Iowa. Stores like theirs bring food and Afro-centric products in from Chicago as a valuable middleman for the growing African community in Cedar Rapids.

“Almost everything that African people can eat, they can find here,” said Basampuka.

The sisters, who opened the market May 28, entered their new space at 2210 Edgewood Rd. SW with a strategy to stand out from at least half a dozen other African markets in Cedar Rapids. As with real estate, it’s all about location.

Their 1,800-square-foot location, formerly a Coldstone Creamery, is strategically located next to Cricket Wireless, a popular service for immigrants, and Little Caesar’s, which they report is popular with African residents. Sister’s African Food Market also will offer pan-Asian and Latino groceries alongside services that appeal to a wide variety of immigrants, such as money transfer services.

An African salon is expected to open next door in the coming months, making the strip mall even more of a center for their target audience.

A difficult journey here

Basampuka followed her sister to Cedar Rapids after Lusemo was critically injured in a car crash that claimed her husband’s life as well as two others. Doctors expected Lusemo to be paralyzed for the rest of her life.

Basampuka, a nurse in the Congo, was granted entry to the United States to be her sister’s caregiver. Several months after she arrived, Lusemo started to make miraculous strides in her recovery.

While Basampuka worked at Whirlpool in Amana and Lusemo worked at Nordstrom and Heinz, they managed to build a business on the side, too. Selling cassava fufu dough out of their homes, they’ve built a steady customer base for their larger business.

Now, Lusemo unloads the deliveries and stocks the shelves with food alongside her sister. Her sister concedes that she is the better cook.

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