We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ebonie Mbeteni a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ebonie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

The name of my company has taken some interesting twist and turns. We started off as First Class Africa. A company name that I wanted to embody the level of service that we provide in a country that unfortunately doesn’t always have the reputation of 5 star service and accomodations. However, as the company progressed and the vision of the company did not align with all the partners, I had to make the hard decision to start over and create a company that I could fully execute the vision, operations, management and financial investment without feeling like I was making all these sacrifices alone.

The birth of DuTeni was born. After many long days and nights brainstorming, I decided to create a name and company that not only told the story of who I am but had the legacy of family in the name for generations to come. DuTeni is a combination of my maiden name and my married name in one. Our slogan, Elite Service* Premier Solutions, captures the level of service that we provide and the stress free environment that we offer when a client chooses to do business with us.

The transition was emotional, disappointing, challenging and at times felt so defeating but the outcome was such a blessing that I now see was worth it. I was meant to go through that process to get to where I am now with my business.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I was a stay at home Mom for 13 years. Although, it was my choice to stay home with my 3 children, there was always a sense of loss from my professional life. I knew that at some point I wanted to start a business and make a difference in not only my life but the lives of others. While at home with my children, one fo the things we did as a family was travel the world. Exposure was just as important as education in our household. We are a bi-cultural family. My husband is from Tanzania and I am American. Therefore, we always wanted our children to not only visit and know their father’s culture in Tanzania, we also wanted them to see the world and other people cultures. I began to record our travels and post them on social media. This was a fun way to keep a virtual scrapbook of all the memories we were making as a family of 5, traveling to some amazing places. What I didn’t expect was the high level of interest people had in our travels. I started to receive request from people asking if I could help them plan an international family trip. They especially loved the way we traveled and the fact that I was a Mom of 3 who understood the challanges of travelling with children internationally. They also knew that as an American I understood the level of service that was expected.

As a result of my travels, I created my company that started with offering 5 star service to clients (mainly from America) who wanted to go on Safari and tropical beach vacations to Tanzania, Zanzibar and Kenya. The foundation of my company was tourism. I was able to turn my passion for travel and new experiences into a business that I can offer to others. I love helping people and families create lifelong memories in a foreign land. A foreign land where they walk away making friends in another country for life.

DuTeni is headquartered in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. A country located along the Indian Ocean in East Africa. Tanzania is a large country geographically and is home to about 60 million people. Their national language is Kiswahili. Tanzania has been called the next Singapore with regards to their economic growth and potential. What makes Tanzania so unique is my connection to this country. Our family is Tanzanian-American. It was a natural process to start a business there because of our connection to the country both professionally and personally.

Tanzania is home to some of the world’s best attractions such as Mt. Kilimanjaro (highest free-standing mountain in the world), The Great Migration in the Serengeti, Lake Victoria (2nd largest lake in the world), Lake Tanganyika (2nd deepest lake in the world), Ol Duvai Gorge where the oldest human bones in the world have been found, the Ngorongoro Crater and the beautiful Coastal Islands of Zanzibar. My business offers services for anyone who wants to visit, tour and move to the beautiful country of Tanzania. We customize our services to fit our customers’ needs while in a foreign country. Our network of business connections, resources and knowledge allows us to ensure our clients have a smooth transition when exploring foreign land. We pride ourselves in offering piece of mind to our clients while under our care.

In the past two years my business has gone through many changes and many times that we’ve had to pivot the strategy and vision to stay afloat and keep our staff employed. We are tiny but we are mighty. All our employees are local Tanzanians. Our mission is to not only create a company that will last for generations but to also make a difference while we are doing that.

We have changed names and created a new company that can fully service all the needs of our clients. While we were accepting and servicing our tourism clients, many of them would ask for assistance in other areas of business. We began to help with business consultation, real estate, property management, corporate training, importing and much more. Tourism and Safaris is the foundation of our company. It’s the reason we have grown to where we are now. We will always offer Tourism services and share the beautiful country of Tanzania and Kenya with the world, but we have grown to a point that our clients need more. Our clients rely on our honest, transparent, efficient and elite service that we provide in all aspects of business. We pride ourselves in the premier solutions that we provide and the amazing memories that we curate. It took a lot of twist and turns, tears and cheers, sacrifice and blessings to get here, but we are here and we are here to stay. DuTeni, Elite Service* Premier Solutions.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Communicate, communicate, communicate. When you are building your brand often times clients don’t know how trustworthy you are and if the money they are spending with you is safe. Verbalizing your purpose, vision and intention is key. When you are building a brand, clients need reassurance, consistency and transparency. They need to see that the products or sevices that you are offering not only work but are reliable and real. They need to hear from you often and they need to see results. You need to be humble and patient because mistakes will happen. However, when that does happen, own up to it and make it right. Often times those are the clients that will support your brand for years. And, remember to reward those loyal clients. The one who supported you through all the transitons and growth and changes. Send them a thank you and a reward from time to time. They are the reason you have a product or service to offer.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I built my reputation mainly from social media and word of mouth. I spent countless hours joining groups and answering questions to build my expertise in my industry. I spent a lot of time on social media platforms posting my services, showing clients I was currently servicing and sharing how my comapany could work for them. Social media was a huge part of my growth and it still is. I did all my social media management. I ran all the accounts and edited all the vlogs, reels and post. It was a ton of work but it did pay off. I honestly could not afford to hire a social media manager so I became my own. I spent money on ads and campaigns and I created a YouTube channel. Once I started to get clients, I humbly asked them to share their experience with us to give us some credibility so potential clients would take the risk and book with us. It is a lot of ground work but it does work and you have to be consistent, no matter what.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.duteni.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Duteni-101431652651344
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzES17pgMGIDLJnF2hQiQcQ

Image Credits
Photgraphy by Emmanuel Gidamis Set Director: Tersem Hussein