Opportunity comes knocking in rural Kwale: The story of Nala Foods Africa Limited

Nala Foods Africa is a commercially active, woman-owned small agro-processing enterprise located in Mwabungo, Msambweni sub-county, Kwale County. Their products are derived from the value addition of coconut, ranging from virgin coconut oil to body butters and pre-order coconut biscuits.

The founder, 37-year-old Subira Suleiman Zingizi, a savvy entrepreneur with a background in banking, has been in business since 2019, but only formalized the registration process in 2021 after seeing an opportunity for generating income, sustaining livelihoods, and creating jobs with her coconut by-products.

“I took a risk, but it has paid off,” says Subira as she remembers her humble beginnings. She adds: “This is an industry that has remained small, and frankly, it is not easy to undertake and succeed.”  Seeing the abundance of coconuts all around her, she constantly wondered how to monetize their by-products and what it would take to set up a viable enterprise that could create jobs and sustain livelihoods. At the time, she had been buying small quantities of coconut oil to repackage and sell to friends and colleagues.

Her first encounter with the AECF was in 2023 when she came across a link to the Investing in Women in the Blue Economy in Kenya (IIW-BEK) funding window underwritten by Global Affairs Canada (GAC).  At the time, she had been looking for an opportunity to expand the business.

From a capital needs perspective, businesses like Subira’s point to why women-owned enterprises, more so those owned by young women, tend to be segmented between medium-sized and small enterprises, with the majority registered as sole proprietorships.  The project’s eligibility criteria for investees merges the small business window with funding limits for a medium-sized funding window, placing importance on the formal registration of women’s enterprises as private limited companies with the presentation of audited statements as a precontracting requirement over eligibility.

“I wasn’t even sure I qualified to make an application at the time,” says Subira.  The company was barely producing 20 liters of coconut oil per month using laborious methods.  “This is a labor-intensive enterprise,” she explains, “for every liter of oil, 25 to 30 coconuts are required.” To get 20 liters, over 500 coconuts must be processed in an end-to-end production completed on the same day, since coconuts are highly perishable. It involves aggregating the coconut pieces, grating, and oil extraction.

The funding has financed the expansion of Nala Foods Africa’s production capacity to 200 liters per month with a new oil expeller, solar dryer, and coconut chopper.  The company has also increased the off-take volumes of coconut from the local community, leading to the creation of jobs.

She has five permanent staff members, including herself, and up to 15 casuals during peak production periods.

“As I gained a deeper understanding of the value chain, I started to realize that there was money to be made here.”  However, other than Kentaste, a large-scale manufacturer and exporter of coconut products located in Kwale county, value addition to coconut has largely been in the hands of small-scale family businesses like Subira’s.

With Nala Foods Africa operating as a fully fledged processing facility, one of the challenges encountered is the unreliability of the electricity supply. Subira says she might need to either migrate fully to solar power or pay more to get a dedicated three-phase electricity supply to the facility.

As Subira works to streamline the processes at Nala Foods Africa, she has received requests from cosmetic companies looking for coconut oil as a base for their products.

“We are still trying to figure out our capacity,” she says. “Once we stabilize our processes, we will be ready to move into even bigger markets.”

Meanwhile, more women, especially younger women, are taking advantage of new opportunities for employment and business, and Subira, keenly aware of her mentorship role within the community in Mwabungo and further afield, takes pride in the gradual transformation as more women take up the challenge of venturing outside their homes to supplement their income. Subira wears her role as a business coach with pride.

The AECF’s Investing in Women in the Blue Economy in Kenya (IIW-BEK) project supports economic activity that boosts socio-economic inclusion, incomes and expands opportunities for job creation for the rural poor.