About ten months ago, Vlademiro Santos bet on self-employment with the Bifana na Hora project after returning to his home island. Despite the high unemployment rate in São Vicente, the entrepreneur says in an interview with Balai that the biggest difficulty so far has been finding employees.



Vlademiro Lenine Coelho dos Santos is 46 years old and originally from São Vicente, but for two decades he lived in Santiago. In 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, he returned to the city of Mindelo and took with him the taste and business idea of one of the delicacies of the country's capital - bifanas.



"I was extremely bold. I took the risk of starting a business in the middle of a pandemic. People advised me not to open, but I don't regret it. It hasn't been easy, but it's challenging," he says in an interview with Balai.



A lover of gastronomy, his life has always been linked to the restaurant business and for seven years he worked in restaurants in the cities of Praia and Santa Maria, where he headed in 2017 in search of work.



He stayed on the island of Sal for a year and, during this time, Vlademiro created a business idea called Bifana na Hora, but due to bureaucratic issues it was not possible to implement it.



"My idea was always to be a street vendor and not to have a static business, but I couldn't get a street vendor's license from Sal City Hall. I ended up giving up and returned to Praia in 2018," she says and adds that the following year she did training in the area of Bakery and Pastry at the Institute for Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP).



In 2020, after 20 years away from São Vicente, Vlademiro began to prepare for his return to his home island, which he realized in 2021. "I didn't want to go back looking for a job, so I adapted the idea of Bifana na Hora to create my own livelihood."



When he arrived in Mindelo, he started working on the project, but it wasn't until August 2022 that he managed to get it up and running, since it "wasn't easy" to get permission from São Vicente City Council. "I've been gradually seeing how I'm going to succeed in this market, which is a bit difficult. Bifana is not a common product in São Vicente. You don't find it on the streets like in Praia."



Finding employees, the biggest challenge in São Vicente



Vlademiro started the business with just one cart that he took from Praia and then invested in two more, but currently only works with one. According to the entrepreneur, despite the 15.4% unemployment rate in São Vicente (INE data in 2020), the biggest challenge is finding employees. He has had five so far and regrets that they are only men.



"It's hard to understand, especially with this level of unemployment in São Vicente. (...) People in Mindelo don't want to do this kind of work - street vending - they prefer to work in physical places. (...) I had employees until February this year and ended up taking over the business on my own to maintain the standard," he says and adds that on the island there is a lack of seriousness on the part of employees and that he is now more careful when it comes to hiring.



The bifana is made in the style of the city of Praia - with minced pork - and Vlademiro assures us that it excels in quality, taste and hygiene. "The feedback has been very positive in terms of taste (...) I'm very careful with hygiene. Because it's a street business, I have to build consumer confidence. (...) I work with a cap, gown, gloves and the cart is always clean and organized," he says and reveals that the cart only goes to neighbourhoods with tarmac streets to make it easier to transport it by bicycle.



Despite making the most profit at the end of last year, Vlademiro guarantees that the business is profitable. "From August to December it was more profitable and from January until now it's been weak, but it's a profitable business. I started with a price of 150 escudos and then I had to increase it to 200 escudos because of all the fluctuations in the price of the products I use. I think this has had some influence on sales. The variation of 50 escudos on a product in São Vicente is already considered high for many people. But given the rise in all the products I use, I had to adjust the price."



The entrepreneur also found that Mindeloans don't eat fast food like the locals - at any time of the day. "In Mindelo people only eat fast food at the end of the day and at night. We operate from 5pm to 10pm because that's the most positive time. I did some tests and found that it's not worth selling in the morning because there are practically no sales. I had to adapt completely to the island."



The entrepreneur's ambition is to establish the Bifana na Hora brand in São Vicente. "At the moment the project is better known on social media than among the population. I haven't managed to reach all the areas yet, but I've been winning over new customers. The ambition is to reach all the areas, to be a product recognized for its quality, to have a fixed location and to get people to work, which is the biggest challenge of all," he concludes.



Bifana, a pork steak on bread, is a typically Portuguese dish created in Vendas Novas and which is very popular in Santiago, specifically in Praia.



This article was originally published on the  Balai Cabo Verde - Balai platform on June 6, 2023.