By Mary Mwendwa
Nairobi, Kenya: “In 2015 when I gave birth to my first child, I realized that there was a gap in foods that were being supplied to wean babies after six months of exclusive breastfeeding.” A happy Sharon Ndegwa, founder of Nature’s Bowl begins. Natures Bowl is a company that produces indigenous flavor flour mixes for babies and markets through social media platforms.
She narrates how her baby had stomach upsets and would constipate at times because she had just introduced other foods and the system was not prepared. She then started thinking of other options and also her family was part of this especially her mother in law. “My mother-in-law was also part of this journey. She used to bring me different flour mixes from the village. I could share with my friends and they were happy to have their babies drink the porridge from the mixes. This made me start thinking of how I could help mothers with such problems and leave their babies comfortable and nutritionally taken care of.”
Ndegwa then embarked on researching the types of baby porridge that were being sold on retail shops and realized that the ingredients were not satisfactory.” I realized that the products on the shelves were not good for babies, for example, you cannot start winning a child with porridge that has soya as it is a strong protein that needs a baby above 8 months.”
According to a recent report on the status of nutrition in Kenya, it is estimated that 2 million stunted children are found in Kenya. This means that these children were not well feed right from the time of conception and therefore they lack the necessary nutrients to help them grow to the desired heights.
Natures Bowl comes in handy for Kenyan mothers because they now have a product that suits their babies’ needs once they start winning. They can now enjoy different types of baby flour that comes with a different nutritional composition that is not always available on the shelves.
Ndegwa is an agricultural economist by training from Moi University, and her passion for indigenous porridge mixes overpowered her employment work as a program officer at an international NGO. She narrates how she started her journey, “ I could do my porridge flour mixes as a side hustle and with time it started overpowering my main job. I gave it serious thinking and decided to quit my job and follow my passion in 2017.”
I did not regret the step I took. Interacting with mothers on social media about their baby food gave me the greatest satisfaction that I have dreamt of in life. Every mother out there needs a good product that will leave their baby comfortable and this translates to them to be efficient in whatever they are doing. This is what Natures Bowl strives to achieve.’
In 2018, a friend sends her a link about a call for applications for the women in technology Incubation seed funding offered by Standard Chartered and Strathmore University. She never thought twice about it. “I always have an optimistic nature and anything that relates to Natures Bowl is always at my fingertips. I quickly did my application and was shortlisted for the pitching session which I entered together with my business partners Grace Ezra and Nathan Magambo, it was not difficult for me apart from the Video part which I did use my phone.”
Technology through WhatsApp, Facebook and website is their main contact base for our customers. They get clients from many regions in Kenya and because and are in the process of being accredited by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) they still have not put them on supermarket shelves. Once they get cleared by KEBS will put the product on the shelves for customers to buy.
Natures Bowl customers are growing steadily, “We have a customer base of 600 mothers who access our product online and 700 followers on our facebook page. These numbers are growing tremendously because we do not just sell the flour but we build a relationship based on their experiences with the product. ” Mothers have found friendship in us and that is what is most important in this business. It helps us understand their needs and improve the product based on their feedback.” Ndegwa confirms.
They use several ingredients for the flour mix that suits babies of different age groups. The first product for baby winning is flour that comes in 1kg pack and retails for 350 ksh. This is a mixture of rice and sweet potatoes best suited for babies who are winning. The next one is made from millet, sorghum, and Amaranth and sells for 250 ksh for the I kg pack , then there is one for Millet, Sorghum and Omena (Sardines) that goes for 250 Ksh for 1 kg pack and lastly one for millet and sorghum that sells at 200 Ksh for the I kg respectively. These ones can be used for babies for over 8 months but mothers can give them as they alternate to avoid boredom also to widen the nutritional value.
Ndegwa believes that mentorship in business is critical, “We have been going through mentorship and I appreciate the fact that I have met business people that I will never have interacted with if I did not get a chance to be part of this program. Mentorship is very key in any business. You get to learn from the mistakes that others did and you avoid them. This is exactly what I get at the incubator program.”
She says that there is a gap in terms of young businesspeople being mentored, “I have come to learn that we do not have structures for mentorship in business in our county. Maybe this is why some startups get to fail because they have no one to get advice from. Our future plans are to own a factory of 20 staff and incorporate housewives in the business model as we are operating on a digital space that can be accessed by anyone at any place they are.”
They have learned that without knowledge in any business you are set to fail. “Money is good but without Knowledge on how to use in business that business is as good as dead.” Ndegwa signs off.
