Stephi: Giving the world a glimpse of Zanzibar

For quite a long time, I have always been attracted to visiting places by the beach especially cafes and restaurants. The idea of sitting at one angle, sipping an iced coffee while gazing into the never ending ocean is is always a thrill. Whenever I am in Zanzibar, I find myself seeking temporary refuge in such places during midday and evenings.

Of the few places I have stepped in, 6 Degrees South restaurant was never one of them until recently. The grill and wine restaurant is situated in Stone town facing the famous waterfront.

The designs, the views, the colour alignment, the food, drinks and everything it offers is breath-taking. On the entrance that is highlighted by a huge number 6, stood a person who welcomed every guest that passed through.

Behind the table which serves as the reception areas sat one waitress who was taking orders from another. Next to the reception was a small corridor that extended to another entrance to the part which is known as the South in the restaurant.

The Southern wing is divided into two; an outdoor restaurant which is decorated by fresh flowers hanging from their carriers as well as the crafty chairs and tables.

The indoor part is even more beautiful with the colour mix; from pink to yellow and green soft sofas, art hanging on the walls above the cushions. A variety of wines are placed on the transparent shelves which face the glass staircase in the middle, leading to the northern part of the restaurant.

6 Degrees North wing is where the party is at. It’s a rooftop dance floor with a view. This is where the bar is located and from live shows to karaoke and clubbing; this is the wing to be. The bar is enhanced by a variety of drinks. Besides it, is spot where DJs, live singers and other people showcase their talents.

Their menu is not only friendly, the food variety aims at alluring every person in spite of the cultural and societal differences with rather reasonable prices.

I first ordered a ginger and mint cocktail out of curiosity and thirst and when it arrived I was captivated by the creative presentation of the drink alone. The rest is history.

According to Siddharth Ashok, a regular customer at 6 Degrees South one of the things he was intrigued by when he first visited the restaurant is the familiarity of the food as well as its affordability.

“I moved from India to Mainland Tanzania in 2018 and in Mid-2021, I relocated to Zanzibar. A month after my relocation, I visited 6 Degrees and I was struck by their evolving menu; food there tasted like a home cooked cuisine. In a restaurant built on a tourist island, you would expect their prices to be over the roof, but the affordability was also another reason I loved it. I also loved their customer service and how they are attentive to detail of service. Since then I became one of their regular customers to date,” Siddharth details.

One of the forces behind 6 Degrees restaurant and bar is Stephi Said, a serial entrepreneur based in Zanzibar. Before she set foot in Zanzibar, she had never thought of starting a business, let alone a multitude, all based on the Island.

Stephi is now the co-founder of 6 Degrees South restaurant, Swahili Coast Salt Company (SCSC) and ZMMI, a Zanzibari beverage distribution company. She co-built these businesses on the island after she saw opportunities in the business industry.

The first time she experienced Zanzibar was in 1996 when she was a student studying International Training in history, she went back to the US and got her degree in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College.

After she graduated, Stephi decided to travel the world with three girlfriends to see and experience life outside the US. They started with Australia, New Zealand, Southern Asia and then came to Africa.

“The aim of travelling the world was to just to see it up close. Our parents had only paid for our flight tickets but we had worked part time jobs and saved enough money seven months prior to travelling,” she narrates.

By the time they decided to explore Africa, the plan in place was to travel from Kenya down to South Africa over land. After Stephi and her two girlfriends landed in Kenya, they explored it up to Mombasa, but they figured out that they were all worn out from the consistent travelling which by then had lasted about nine months.

“I decided to settle for a bit in Zanzibar and let my friends continue with travelling. I chose Zanzibar because I spoke and understood the language (Kiswahili) which I learned during my days as a student but I also decided to temporarily settle in the island due to the familiarity of the place, the culture and the people, it felt like another home to me,” Stephi recalls.

She had made plans to live in Zanzibar for a period of three months before getting back on the road but little did she know that the small island would capture her heart and make her want to stay and make her home on it.

“I loved the small town feel of it and how the locals made me feel like I am part of the community. I knew people and they knew me and then figured out that I wanted to stay,” Stephi says.

After three months in Zanzibar, she travelled to South Africa and stayed for a while before flying to the US where she worked and made money for six months before journeying back to Zanzibar.

“I told my parents that I am moving to Zanzibar and that if I do not find something to do then I would move back. When I got here, I started working as a librarian in primary schools then I became a teacher at the International School of Zanzibar where I was paid about 500 dollars a month, life felt exciting!,” she recalls.

After a while, Stephi bought a night club in Stone Town named ‘Garage Club’ making it her very first business.

“I chose a night club as my first ever business because at the time I was just looking for an opportunity to have something of my own. I also love a good dance floor!,” she explains. She then met Saleh Said, who is now her business partner in ZMMI and 6 Degrees South.

“While the club was operating on the side, Saleh and I started a food supply company. I was nicknamed ‘Mama Mayai’ then because the company was also supplying yellow yolk eggs from the mainland to different hotels in Zanzibar. We then opened a supermarket that sold a variety of products including wines and spirits that had their own section,” she details.

As this business thrived, Stephi and Saleh noticed that wines and spirits were a good business avenue that deserved to be explored separately. This influenced them to open ZMMI in 2009 which specifically deals with distribution of a variety of beverages.

As the businesses were growing, Stephi gave birth to two boys who are 16 months apart. She then started juggling between motherhood and work.

“I was grateful to be surrounded by a supportive family and team. Saleh’s mother was a hero, she would help taking care of the kids and that gave me time to work the businesses,” she narrates.

In 2013, Stephi and Saleh opened 6 Degrees South restaurant which is now one of the most famous restaurants and bar in Zanzibar.

Stephi also had a life coach who offered her guidance and advice whenever she needed. The coach one day asked her what she really wanted to do with her life after amassing what she had at the time. As Stephi pondered to respond to this, she unveiled her now growing salt business.

“I told her that I wanted to own a business with women because I wished to have female energy around me. With ZMMI, I got to work with more men than women. I yearned for a company where I would make decisions with women whilst leaving a positive impact in the society, and that’s exactly how SCSC happened,” she explains.

Alongside Rachel Cocker and Lise Wienand, Stephi co-founded the salt making company whose story is rooted in Pemba. The three were in a group of mothers who all led busy lives as they all tried to spend weekends with their children doing things that brought them happiness and true meanings of being mothers. Lise was a chef and Rachel was a private investigator at the time.

We knew with the spices in Zanzibar, we could do so much to the salt while at the same time uplifting the lives of the salt farmers in Pemba and giving people especially tourists a taste of Zanzibar to reminisce on,” Stephi recalls.

She afterward decided to see the salt farms with her own eyes. Right after her first glance at the salt farms, Stephi was persuaded that the salt business was ‘it’.

“The farms were beautiful. I learned that the salt was hand harvested and salt production in Pemba started mid 1990’s. I was then told that there was 75 salt farms at the time. I was shocked that I had been living in Zanzibar all that time and I had been unaware of salt getting made there!” she says.

She hinted that the company will soon start to export the salts to the US, before expanding to other countries, giving the world a glimpse of Zanzibar through the spiced as well as the fresh salt made in Pemba.

“It has been a challenging yet beautiful journey, one started from being an idea to where it currently is. The aim is to make people create memories through their experiences in Zanzibar through what I do, whether it is through the salt business, the wine business or at 6 Degree South,” Stephi says.