How a small business can build a life

At first glance you will probably never know from the looks of her house and her simple lifestyle that it was from making and selling black pudding that she was able to provide for three children and build a house. Donna Fordyce is a resident of Friendship Village, East Bank Demerara and the mother of three. She is well-known for her tasty and delicious black pudding among other home-made snacks she makes three days per week to sell at her small roadside stand on Friendship Public Road.

The 56-year-old has been preparing from scratch black pudding for the past 25 years after she was encouraged by her mother to start her own small business when things became difficult financially. “I was then living in Linden and things were not easy with three children and my mother told me to come down and start a business, she was versed in it so I learned and started to make black pudding and sell,” she said. Fordyce added that the small business has given her so much over the years and she is contented.

“Making and selling black pudding mind me, my children and gave me a house and for that, I am very happy. You must start somewhere and work your way up and it was a humble start for me and today I can say I worked hard to achieve what I have,” she said. Fordyce told the Pepperpot Magazine that she would only sell on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and the young girls in the village would come out to assist her in selling. Although the roadside shop isn’t at her house she would ensure she gets out there early to start selling since her customers expect her to be there.

“When I look back to what the business was then to now from buying only five yards of runners [cow intestines] to 75 yards now weekly is something to think of and makes you realise that there is hope once you have the will to make a start,” she said. In addition, Fordyce would also make chicken foot and cow face souse, pholurie, boiled and fried channa, egg balls with mango sour. The mother of three related that she would make the commute to the city, at the abattoir to buy her meat and other ingredients for the black pudding while, the chicken foot is sourced from a poultry farm at Garden of Eden, also on the East Bank Demerara.

Fordyce stated that she would make the order on Wednesdays and 75 pounds of chicken foot will be delivered to her house on Thursdays. The black pudding lady reported that she would be opened on those three days from 14:30hrs up until everything is sold out. “The black pudding is what people come for, they like the flavour and taste and they would order, come and collect it so the black pudding is the fastest seller among the other things I make,” she said. Fordyce added that being in the kitchen takes some planning and it is time-consuming to prepare from scratch all the snacks she would sell and it also entails hard work. Even though it is a lot of work, she disclosed that it is beneficial for her because she doesn’t have to work with anyone and she does her preparations at a time that is fitting for her.

Fordyce pointed out that no matter how hard and impossible things may seem at times, there is a way and somewhat you have to make a start and then everything will fall into place, so did her business. She explained that when she first started it was challenging to cope but eventually she got the hang of things and she became good at black pudding making and her own small business was established. Today, Fordyce has her daughter, Kadene and her granddaughter to assist her in the kitchen while a neighbour would also come over to help. With the golden years on the horizon, she realises that she should pass on the art of black pudding making to her children or grandchildren and is willing to undertake that task. “The young girls don’t want to learn because they say the sight of the blood gets to them and they are not up for the challenge so I do it anyway,” she said.