Entrepreneurship Zone: 04 February 2025 : From Nigeria to Zambia: Making money from African superfoods
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Entrepreneurship Zone: 04 February 2025 : From Nigeria to Zambia: Making
money from African superfoods
<https://www.firstcapitalbank.co.zw/>
Moringa Initiative grows moringa on a farm outside Lusaka, Zambia.
(Supplied to How we made it in Africa by Moringa Initiative)
Entrepreneurs across Africa are turning superfoods like fonio, moringa,
baobab, hibiscus, and teff into thriving businesses, tapping into global
demand while creating opportunities for local farmers.
1. Ghana’s Amaati scales up fonio production for local and global buyers
Fonio, a gluten-free grain with numerous nutritional benefits, has been
cultivated as a subsistence crop in West Africa for thousands of years.
Recognising its potential, Ghanaian company Amaati began working with
smallholder farmers to grow fonio on abandoned farmland in the north of the
country. After facing initial challenges in selling raw fonio, the company
established a processing plant to produce packaged fonio cereal and flour,
ready for end-user consumption.
Amaati’s products, branded as DIM Fonio, are sold nationwide and supplied
to customers in the hospitality industry. The company also exports to Italy,
the Netherlands, France, the US, and Canada. Approximately 70% of its
production is sold in the local market, with the remaining 30% destined for
export.
2. Zambian moringa business taps into US and EU demand
Zambia-based farmers Evan and Bernice Kilburn first came across moringa in
2012. Intrigued by its nutritional benefits, they began cultivating the crop
on part of their farm. Moringa, a hardy tree that thrives in hot, dry
climates, is well-suited to Zambia’s environment.
Their venture, Moringa Initiative, now produces branded moringa products
such as seed oil, tea, powder, and capsules, which are sold in supermarkets
and pharmacies in Zambia and South Africa and exported internationally.
While Moringa Initiative was initially focused on building a retail brand,
the company has found significant success in the wholesale market, which now
generates the majority of its revenue. “Putting a product into retail does
come with significant costs: packaging, distribution, advertising and
marketing. It helped once we shifted to wholesale where these costs are
lower and the income could supplement spend on the retail end,” explains
director Lloyd Abernethy. “The Zambian and South African markets are only so
big. We’ve now established good partnerships for wholesale in the US and
EU.”
3. Turning Zimbabwe’s baobab fruit into an export business
Baobab powder, derived from the fruit of the baobab tree, contains nearly
four times the vitamin C of oranges and is rich in essential minerals such
as potassium and magnesium. Zimbabwe-based entrepreneur Gus Le Breton
co-founded B’Ayoba, a company that produces baobab powder for export to
international markets.
Today, B’Ayoba’s supply chain engages over 5,000 rural harvesters. “They
all thought I was completely nuts,” Le Breton recalls. “I’d say to rural
people, ‘You know, there’s these trees – you have eaten the fruit your whole
life – what about selling it?’ And they would just laugh at me and it was
like, ‘Who’s ever going to buy this? I mean, they’re free. You can pick them
up off the ground. Why would anyone pay money for that?’”.
4. Nigerian hibiscus flowers find global buyers through AgroEknor
Timi Oke is the co-founder and CEO of AgroEknor, a company exporting dried
hibiscus flowers grown in Nigeria to global markets, including the US,
Mexico, and Europe. He secured his first agricultural trading deal through
LinkedIn while still working at a bank in the UK.
Hibiscus, often touted as a superfood, is a flowering plant known for its
vibrant, trumpet-shaped blooms. Its dried petals are used to make hibiscus
tea, a ruby-red drink prized for its refreshing taste and potential health
benefits, including its ability to lower blood pressure. Beyond beverages,
hibiscus has applications as a natural food colouring and an ingredient in
jams, syrups, and desserts. It is also valued in the pharmaceutical sector
for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and in the personal
care industry for products like facial scrubs, masks, and hair care
treatments.
“We tend to look at commodities where there is no major player already,”
Oke explains. “So our priority is niche markets where the market leadership
is for the taking.”
5. London banker builds Ethiopian food company
Teff, a tiny grass seed native to Ethiopia, is one of the world’s oldest
cultivated crops. Celebrated as a superfood, it is gluten-free and packed
with nutrients, including iron, magnesium, manganese, calcium, zinc, and
vitamins B and C. Ethiopian elite runner Haile Gebrselassie has even
credited teff as a contributor to his athletic success.
Yonas Alemu, a former investment banker turned entrepreneur, is the founder
and managing director of Lovegrass Ethiopia, a health food company
specialising in products made from teff and other Ethiopian grains. The
company’s offerings include pasta, breakfast cereals, pancake mixes,
powdered beverages, and snacks. With a factory on the outskirts of Addis
Ababa, Lovegrass sells its products both locally and to international
markets.
—Howwemadeitinafrica
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