By For Sarah Nagawa Sekalala, food is simply more than feeding people. It is about belonging, and that idea sits at the heart of Siika Foods, the Canadian food company she founded and leads as CEO. The name Siika is derived from the Luganda phrase “kusiika enva”, reflecting the brand’s connection to cooking and its Ugandan roots. The word kusiika refers to frying in Luganda, while enva refers to vegetables or sauce. Established in 2021, the woman-owned business produces African-inspired cooking sauces designed to make preparing meals easier without sacrificing the flavours and traditions that make them meaningful.
But the story of Siika Foods began long before the first jar was produced.
Sekalala was born and raised in Uganda and emigrated to Canada with her family in 2001. Her early years in Canada brought an experience familiar to many immigrants: learning how to build a new life while trying to hold on to the things that made the old one feel like home.
For her, food became one of those anchors.
When her family arrived in Canada in December 2001, 15 people were living under one roof, including her family of five and a newborn. Between work, school, immigration paperwork and different schedules, preparing food for such a large household became increasingly difficult. Some evenings, dinner was not ready until after 10:00pm when the children were already too tired to eat.
Growing up in Uganda, Sekalala had watched women in her family and community prepare food, learning that cooking was about much more than putting a meal on the table. It was a way of caring, contributing and bringing people together.
That understanding eventually became the foundation for a business.
Sekalala began developing sauces that captured the flavours she remembered from home while addressing the realities of modern family life. The result was Siika Foods, a brand built around the idea that authentic African food should not have to be difficult or time-consuming to prepare.
Its sauces can be added to proteins, vegetables or carbohydrates to create meals in minutes. The company describes its products as natural, preservative-free, vegan and gluten-free, while emphasising fresh ingredients and partnerships with Canadian farmers and food producers.
That positioning has increasingly found an audience in Canada’s entrepreneurial and food communities. Siika Foods has participated in Foodpreneur Lab, a programme supporting food entrepreneurs, and Sekalala has appeared on panels discussing entrepreneurship, investment and the experiences of founders.
Her journey has also attracted recognition. In 2025, Sekalala won the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce’s Flip the Script: Beyond the Pitch competition, taking first place and a $7,500 prize for Siika Foods. The company also received the audience’s “fan favourite” award.
In 2026, her entrepreneurial journey was recognised again when she was named among the recipients of the PARO Era Awards’ PARO Canada Award, honouring women who built businesses, communities and networks across Canada between 2015 and 2025.
Her influence is increasingly extending beyond her own company, too. Sekalala has participated in mentorship initiatives for emerging entrepreneurs and continues to use her experience to encourage other founders.
Her professional background also reflects a breadth beyond food. Sekalala also studied interior design at Humber College and received the Steelcase Scholarship for Design Excellence in 2011. She has also spent years volunteering with Uganda Martyrs United Church of Canada, where she developed fundraising activities, coordinated large events, recruited and trained volunteers, and helped organise catering operations.
For a woman who began her Canadian journey as an immigrant navigating the demands of a new country, that evolution is significant.
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Siika Foods is more than a food business. It is a bridge between cultures, giving African immigrants a taste of ‘just like home’ while inviting people beyond the African diaspora to experience and enjoy the flavours of Africa.
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In April 2026, Siika Foods was featured on Global News Morning Toronto. Later that year, the company took part in the African Pavilion at Carabram in Brampton, an event celebrating African culture through music, food, business and heritage.
At the East African Experience in Toronto in June, Sekalala was photographed alongside Ontario MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam holding jars of Siika Sauce, an image that captured something larger than a product promotion, an African-founded Canadian business occupying space in the wider cultural and entrepreneurial landscape.
For Sekalala, however, the significance appears to remain rooted in something much more intimate. It is the memory of food prepared by family. The smell of indigenous ingredients coming together and the experience of tasting something familiar.
It is not simply about an entrepreneur who identified a gap in the market and built a company around it. It is the story of an immigrant who recognised that something deeply personal could also be commercially valuable, culturally important and widely shared.
And with every jar, she is inviting someone else to taste the journey.
