Gideon and Mmachukwu: Providing solutions to Nigeria’s malnutrition problem
Nigeria’s problems are multibillion naira opportunities. It is no surprise that malnutrition and obesity have created a boom as innovators and entrepreneurs jump in to address some of Nigeria’s biggest problems.
According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), malnutrition is a direct or underlying cause of 45 percent of all deaths of under-five children in Nigeria.
For Gideon Olanrewaju, co-founder of Bikeand Blend, malnutrition problem has a solution.
His firm provides Nigerians, especially children, their daily nutritional requirements through 100 percent organic fruit drink variants, at affordable prices.
He and his co-founder started the business small by raising money from their personal savings.
Olarewaju, who studied Nutritional Biochemistry at Ladoke Akintola University, says the business uses purely organic fruits sourced across the country to make its products.
The young entrepreneur is currently pushing to become a top brand in the country by leveraging technology and innovation to scale.
Given his meteoric rise over the past year, there is a chance that he could achieve this dream.
“Since starting, the business has grown and it now attracts various invitations to multiple events on weekly basis. We are managing to attract invitation to multiple events on weekly basis now and we are coping,” he says.
He has two full-time employees and two part-time employees.
He says that innovation has driven the continual existence of the business despite the tough economic environment in the country.
Flexible pricing strategy has made BikeAndblend remain in business.
The young entrepreneur says seasonality of fruits, inadequate storage facility and short shelf life remain biggest challenges facing the business.
“With huge volume of demand, refrigeration doesn’t prevent fruits from spoilage, as we often tend to buy in large quantities to save cost and stock up for subsequent events,” he explains.
Bikeandblend plans to secure partnerships with corporate organisations and government at all levels for implementation of wellness programmes to drive nutrition in the country. It also plans to launch a franchise model.
Olarenwaju is a serial entrepreneur and has been honoured with a 2015 YALI Tech Camp Alumnus, a 2016 Teaching Fellow of the African Leadership Academy and a 2018 UNESCO Young Leader Award.
Mmachukwu Orizu
Orizu is the founder and managing director of Mahauty Health Solutions, a start-up promoting infants and children’s health.
She is a passionate Nigerian using organic fruits and vegetables from the country to make food products for children while building a strong nutrition community.
Her Somma’s Yummies is a 100percent natural food brand that is produced using freshly harvested grains, nuts, roots and tubers, legumes and fruits and vegetables.
The young entrepreneur was inspired to establish her business owing to her experience as a mother.
“When I had my daughter, I started creating recipes and feeding her with it,” she recalls.
“When people observed how healthy my daughter was, family and friends who knew of the recipe I was using started making demand for it, and this led to the establishment of my company - Mahauty Health Solutions.”
Since starting, she has built a community of over 13,000 mothers across the continent and uses social media to provide regular advisory sessions for them to address the very problem of malnutrition in children.
Speaking on the business expansion plans, she says Mahauty wants to standardise its factory with an adjoining quality assurance laboratory.
Also, the business plans to get its products on the shelves of retail stores and outlets across major cities on the continent.
Orizu says that the constraints in getting licensing with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) are the greatest challenges facing the business.
She adds that procuring of advanced equipment and machinery for the factory is another major challenge, owing to the high cost and difficult clearing process at the seaport.
The business has won several awards both within and outside the country.
In 2018, it was named the top Health Innovation Company in Africa among 241 health businesses from 21 African countries by Amref Health Africa, an NGO based in Kenya.
On her advice to other entrepreneurs, she says, “Know everything there is to know about your business. Be resilient. Stay determined and committed to what you do. Make mistakes, learn from them and allow yourself to grow.”