Margaret Nyamumbo Transcript
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Hi, everyone. You're listening to The Future Of Food Is You. A production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. I'm your host, Abena Anim-Somuah, and each week I talk to emerging talents in the food world and they share what they're up to as well as their dreams and predictions for what's ahead. As for me, I'm the founder of The Eden Place, a community that's all about gathering people intentionally around food. I love this new generation of chefs, bakers, and creatives making their way in the world of food, drink, media, and tech.
Today's guest is Margaret Nyamumbo. Margaret is the founder and CEO of Kahawa 1893. A coffee company rooted in Kenya that supports female workers with every bag. We talk about her upbringing on her family's coffee farm, how her time in business school helped with entrepreneurship, the state of sustainability and coffee, and her dream recipients for a cup of Kahawa. That's coffee in Swahili. Stick around to hear about her time on “Shark Tank.”
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Now let's check in with today's guest. Margaret, thank you so much for joining us on The Future Food Is You podcast.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Thanks for having me.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Can you tell us where you grew up and how did food show up in your life?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
I grew up in Kenya on a coffee farm, my grandfather's coffee farm. It was the kind of household where we picked plants and food from the garden before making it. So food for me was about as fresh as possible. We didn't have a refrigerator, so nothing was staying overnight. Everything was fresh. You get your milk the same day was milked, you get your vegetables the same day they were picked. So essentially, food for me was about freshness and variety and as close to natural as possible. We didn't think about organic, but everything was really just organic and as pure as possible.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Where is your family's coffee farm?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
It's in a small village called Kisii, and this is in the northwest south of Kenya. The closest landmark is Lake Victoria.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Very cool. Very beautiful.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What are some traditional Kenyan meals that were at the table?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
So in Kenya, our traditional food is called Ugali. We call it almost like hard porridge. So it's a maze meal that hardens, and that's sort of the staple that you have. And you normally having that with some sort of stew and some sort of sauteed vegetable. So a stew, it's going to be a mixed stew. A stew that you'd make that's almost a soup, but very, very flavorful. And then you'd have it with some sauteed vegetable. Usually collard greens is the most accessible, but in my village we had all sorts of this natural herbs that we used to have, and they're very nutritious. I miss them because they don't really grow here. And so that's the traditional meal that we'd have every day. And outside of the home, the most popular thing that Kenya is known for is nyama choma, and that's essentially grilled goat meat. So goat meat is very popular, it's very delicious, very healthy, and so that's what you're going to get when you're going out to hang out with people. And also, there's actually a spot in Nairobi where you can have all sorts of meat. Because we have national parks and game parks. You can have any game meat that you'd want. And so that's another cool thing about Kenya. It's a lot of meat, but all sorts of meats.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, obviously you mentioned that you grew up on a coffee farm, which has been in your family for a few generations. What is coffee culture like, and can you give us a lesson on the history of coffee and particularly in Kenya?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
So coffee is originally from East Africa. This surprises people a lot. So it was discovered in Ethiopia, and the legend goes that there was this goat herder that was herding goats and the goats were eating this plant. And then they were very, very excited and they were jumping up and down. And then they realized that this plant had all this magical abilities. And then over time, as coffee was discovered as a stimulant, was exported to the Middle East to Europe, and eventually through the slave trade brought to Brazil in Latin America.
And right now Brazil is the largest coffee producer in the world, and it also received the highest number of slaves to do the labor. And then people ask, what does our name mean? Kahawa 1893. So Kahawa means coffee in Swahili, and 1893 is when coffee was brought back to Africa, coffee growing. So it was first commercially grown. So for a long time, coffee just grew wild. And when slavery ended in Brazil in 1888, that's when coffee production was brought back to Africa. And so with Kahawa 1893, we're celebrating that journey of coffee around the world. And one thing that's interesting when I tell people that I didn't grow up drinking coffee, because in Kenya we actually drink tea, we drink chai. So we grew up growing coffee and all the coffee was exported. And then when I moved to the US is when I found this amazing coffee drinking culture.
But in Kenya, we grew up drinking chai, but that's changing. Currently, we're seeing a lot of new innovation and uptake of coffee as a preferred beverage in Kenya. So super, super exciting to see that change.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
When you were thinking about building kahawa, were there any countries or coffee cultures and countries that inspired you or kind of gave you or motivated you to understand that this was a good product to build?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah. Naturally, I was inspired by the original coffee culture, which is Ethiopian coffee culture. And as someone that's visited... I have a lot of friends from Ethiopia, so I've visited and really experienced that coffee culture and how authentic it's remained. The original baristas were Ethiopian. So the way that coffee is such an integral part of the culture, you wake up, you're drinking coffee, you go to visit someone, you're drinking coffee, there's a coffee ceremony.
When we go to someone's house at 2:00 PM, they have a coffee ceremony. And I remember when I'm in Addis, I'm always super energized and I'm wondering why, it's because I'm drinking so much coffee.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. You're caffeined up, yeah.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Very, very caffeinated. So I really like that culture. And another culture that I like is Middle Eastern, which is actually very similar to the culture that we have on the coastal part of Kenya, Mombasa. So Mombasa, because of its history of trade between the Middle East, India... Because it's on the Indian Ocean and Europe, it has this mixed culture of coffee. And one of the drinks that you drink when you go to Mombasa is called Kahawa Chungu. And this is a coffee that they've added spices to, because that's the original spice route. And so that's another culture that inspired how we want to bring coffee to the world. So we have a spiced coffee where we had cardamom, cinnamon to really kind of showcase that coffee culture to the world.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. And a lot of commonalities with tea too. A lot of spices and flavors coming in there as well, yeah. I want to talk to you a little bit about before Kahawa. You came to the U.S. for undergrad, you went to Smith College and then spent a little bit of time at London School of Economics, and you also went to graduate school and got your MBA at Harvard Business School. When you were in college, how did you start to think about the business and learn more about the business that was behind it?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
I actually didn't think much of coffee as a business when I was in college. It wasn't something that had crossed my mind as something that I could build as a business. And part of that was coming from coffee and seeing that a lot of the coffee growers were not really being compensated fairly. So coffee was not really a business that you wanted to be in. In fact, my parents wanted me as far away from coffee as possible. They sent me to school, go get an education, go get a job in an office. So building a business was something of a lost resort for them. It wasn't something that you did. I wasn't thinking about coffee, but I will say that my training in economics in general... And I worked at the World Bank before going to business school, and that experience really opened up my eyes to the global supply chains. And coffee is one of the most globalized supply chain. So it started to build this idea in my head about what is the best way to have impact. And one of the reasons I went to business school was to think about how can we use business to have impact in something as big as a country, something as small as a village?
And so for me, business school was really transitioning from a development type of approach to impact to sort of a more business oriented approach. And that training was very, very important because it gave me the confidence that I needed and also gave me a network and training in terms of how I'd be able to build a profitable business within an industry that's as old as coffee.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's talk about the coffee. So much to your parents chagrin, you decide to start a company in coffee. What did the first months look like for you when you were developing the brand?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
I actually started... So I was working on Wall Street at the time. So after my MBA, I started working on Wall Street and I started experimenting with coffee on the weekends. So the first couple of days were really learning. I was familiar with the growing side of the coffee, but I wasn't familiar with the roasting side and the packaging side, the trading side, even just brewing and figuring out how do you create a profile for coffee.
I didn't know that. How do you taste coffee? The first couple months over the weekends was me learning, going to coffee shops, learning about what are people offering, and for a while I actually couldn't find Kenyan coffee in coffee shops as easily as I thought I would. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Were you mostly finding blends or nothing-
Margaret Nyamumbo:
I was finding Ethiopian coffee, so that was the most popular African origin. I was surprised that Kenyan coffee wasn't as available as I would've liked it to be. So that really popped in my head. It's like, oh, my God, we need to bring more Kenyan coffee to coffee shops in the U.S. I was over the weekend going to coffee shops learning, and then I found a mentor who had been in the industry for 30 years and they took me under their wing and really showed me the ropes of essentially what happens, how you roast coffee, how you taste for it.
And they encouraged me to start a brand because at the beginning I thought I'd do export, import type of supply chain. This mentor of mine was very keen on me having a brand because he said... He was a white male and he said, "We actually don't have voices like you that talk about the coffee directly. We have a third party. We have people talking about on behalf of farmers, on behalf of African producers, and I think you'd have a unique voice in the market." So I thought that was very, very kind of them, but they planted me in this idea that if I was going to do this, I had to be front and center in having a voice as opposed to being behind the scenes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. And you are one of the first black female coffee producing owners in the country? That is-
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yes. We're the first black woman on coffee brand to be nationally distributed in America, which is crazy when you think about it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What does your production cycle look like?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
So coffee goes through such a long process. So the traditional supply chain has about 20 people attaching the product before it gets to you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
The most rigorous part of the process actually happens near the farm. So first it takes a whole year. So coffee's harvested once a year. In some parts of the world twice a year, but in our part of the world once a year, and so it grows and blooms the whole year. Usually November, December is harvest a season. And so when you harvested... Essentially our farmers handpick, which is very different from larger farms, let's say in Brazil where they use machinery to actually harvest. So its hand harvested. The farmers actually handpick one berry at a time and they only pick the red ones. So that's why quality is really, really important, especially for these farmers.
And then once you pick it, you have to process it the same day, it starts to ferment. It's a fruit. You start to ferment. And one thing that a lot of people don't know, and even at the beginning I was really excited to find out about was, so coffee is a fruit. It's almost like a cherry. What we use is the seed inside of it, not the fruit, which is funny because we call it a bean.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah. So you get the seed and the coffee starts to ferment immediately, which starts to affect the quality. So you want to make sure you extract the seed exactly the same day and then start the fermentation process, which is actually complicated because that's where you develop the flavor. So in Kenya we have this process called double fermentation. It's why Kenyan coffee is one of the most desired coffees in the world it's because the fermentation process gives it a lot of clarity, so it's fermented.
And then once it's fermented and washed, you dry it out in the sun. You actually dry it for about three to four weeks, and you're turning it, making sure it doesn't rot because that's another place where you can lose quality. And then from there, it's processed for export, and then by the time it gets here... It's about a couple month or two to get from Africa to here, and then we roast it. So it's such a long journey to get it from farm to cup.
And when we think about sustainability, that is such a broad term in coffee, and there's a lot of greenwashing that happens, right? When we think about coffee, the future of coffee is still African. And the reason for that is because by 2050, because of climate change, half of the land that's currently grows coffee will not be suitable for growing coffee.
And that's not even it. We're going to need double the amount of coffee we have right now because we're going to have double the population. So we're going to have to figure out how to double coffee production to meet this demand of people. And even more, coffee is becoming more popular, especially in Asia, which is traditionally a tea drinking continent. So we have this huge demand coming, but less and less land is going to be suitable for growing coffee because our current species is not really suitable with warmer climate. So because coffee is originally from Africa and it grows wild, we have a lot of other species of coffees that are going to be better suited for the future. So one of the really interesting things is the farmers are practicing traditional growing techniques to make sure that we're protecting the species of coffee so that they're available for the future.
And one of the things that I really like about the farms there is because they're in the forest, so they're very natural. They're not monoculture in the sun, they have shade and they're also intercropped. So for example, in my village, one of the things we're known for is bananas. We grow very delicious bananas, very different species, not the bananas that we eat here.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Like the small ones.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
The small ones. Yeah, the small sweet one, I know, so cute. But what happens is you intercrop them with a coffee and the coffee actually starts to taste similar.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No way.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
I know. Yeah, because they influence each other. It influences the soil, preserves the soil, so you don't need as much chemicals as well. So it's a very natural way that over time, really we need that to be the standard for what sustainable coffee looks like in the future. So we think we're going to see more of the conversation around sustainability moving towards Africa's role in that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Don't miss the new holiday issue of Cherry Bombe's print magazine, Host with the most. It features Culinary superstar Molly Baz on the cover. Inside the issue, you'll find recipes perfect for gatherings, hosting tips from the chicest food folks around, and a fun gift guide. You can get a copy or subscribe at cherrybombe.com, or you can find a copy at one of our amazing retailers like Kitchen Arts & Letters in New York City, Smoke Signals in San Francisco and Matriarch in Newport, Rhode Island. You can check cherrybombe.com for our complete list of retailers,
Kenyan coffee or the coffee that you have in most of your packaging. What are some of the notes or undertones that are in there for those coffee nerds out there?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
It's a very interesting location. So coffee usually grows best around the equator and the equator passes through Kenya. It also has the mountains. We also have Mount Kenya. You have this high altitude, right? But at the same time you have the equator, which is very hot. So you have this very hot days, and then you have very chili nights, right? And that stresses the crop. The crop is under a lot of stress, and that's why it takes a little bit longer to grow and mature. And because of that, the flavor intensity is there. So you get a lot of flavor intensity and you get very, very unique berry. A lot of fruit notes that come from Kenyan coffee just because of, again, the influence of what's naturally growing in the country, which is a lot of fruit. So you get a lot of fruit notes from it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What does a coffee berry taste like?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Oh.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Have you had one before?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah. Yeah. I used to eat them. I remember growing up we'd just be running around the farm and eat them. It tastes like a cherry.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I want to talk to you about building a CPG brand. We have a lot of aspirational listeners who are eager to create CPG brands and they're not easy. You're also creating a CPG brand, but also one that involves a lot of production across continents, across oceans. How did your time in business school and also at the World Bank help build the business acumen and the skills that you had to have the confidence as an entrepreneur?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Oh, wow. Honestly, I didn't have an intention of building a CPG brand. It was one of those things where I wanted to have an impact on farmers and that could have taken a different form, could have taken doing export, import supply chain. The brand part was something that sort of came to me and just made sense, but it wasn't something that I premeditated that I'd always wanted to build a brand.
That's one thing I wish I had known before because I would've been better prepared. I wasn't prepared on the brand side, but I was prepared on the business element. So I knew what it takes to build a profitable company, to grow a profitable company, how to think about distribution, how to think about marketing, how to think about getting customers and all the financial stuff that goes with it. And because of my time at the World Bank, I had an idea of supply chains and globally and also my own experience, obviously being on the growing side, I had experience knowing what actually happens at the farm. And when I started the brand, initially I didn't even have the packaging in mind. We were putting the coffee in Mason jars. That was when Mason Jar were kind of a big deal.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, that was a phase.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You could do anything in the Mason jar. The sky was the limit.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
For me, CPG brand, the advice I would give someone starting out is build your personal brand. So building a CPG brand, it's always best if your personal brand and your personal story that this is a problem you're solving for yourself. It's much easier when you can marry your personal brand and personal experience with something because it's a long road and it's something that you're going to have to fit into your life. I'm glad that I love coffee and I love what I do. It feels very natural. So to me, it feels like an extension of my personal brand and personal things I would really do around women's empowerment. It prepared me on the technical element, but I would say for CPG, you want to be prepared on the brand side and make sure that you can really tell a story about why your product is unique, why the market needs it, and then also at the same time, have a conversation with someone that understands economics of selling to the grocery stores, of selling the product online to make sure that the economics make sense so that you are sustainable in the long run.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You went on “Shark Tank” and pitched the brand, and that's such an incredible experience and you crushed it. No spoilers, but you were able to get some investment from the show. What motivated you to go on “Shark Tank?”
Margaret Nyamumbo:
I'd done it a year before. “Shark Tank” is not something I ever thought I wanted to do because I am terrified of pitching in public. I've never pitched in public, and this is the most public stage you'd ever pitch on. I think growing up as a shy kid, it was something that I had to overcome and I think this is a testimony that it can be done. I didn't think about it because I'd watched the season and I was like, "Oh, my God, I don't know if I can do that." My friend had done it the year before and she said, "Oh, I think your product would be perfect for it. Why don't you just apply?"
So I applied with a one-minute application, just put my hat in, and then I heard back from the show and I started the whole process and it seemed like, okay, things are moving along. It's one of those things that keeps going. And then before I knew it, I was on stage pitching. It was kind of knowing someone that had done it and encouraged me to do it, and I loved it. It's something that I'll do again. I'm so glad that I did it. It's been such a rewarding experience.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Can you tell us who was the lucky investor in Kahawa?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yes. So the “Shark Tank” panel obviously has the traditional judges there, and we were lucky enough to have a lot of interest from the judges, and I ultimately went with a guest judge.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Very cool.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
So Emma Grede, who is a fellow black woman, which was incredible. She's also the first black woman to be on Shark Tank as a judge.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Very nice.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yes. And it was a surprise. I actually didn't know she was going to be there. And so it was a pleasant surprise to have her. And I picked her because she has amazing track record in building some of the most recognizable brands on the planet, Skims, Good American, a whole portfolio of brands. And I thought that she'd be a perfect addition to the brand and essentially what we were building. And she's been great to work with.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so awesome. Congratulations. I think it's beautiful seeing black women supporting each other. And you are someone that has experienced black culture on both sides of the diaspora here in the U.S. and in Africa. How has community helped you build this brand and helped shape the brand? Because you're a solo founder.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
It's been a key part of essentially building the brand. There's a saying in Africa, it's an African Proverb, if I may tap into that. It's saying, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, you have to go together." Yeah, bring someone. And for me, I think growing up in a very collective community, community has always been about a big part of making sure that you bring everyone along. And sharing is such a natural part of me, and I found that culture to be true in Africa and to be true in America. And so I've joined a growing group of women founders, people of color founders as well. And I have been so surprised that every time I reach out to someone, they're so willing and ready to help. And same, I'm just like, I want to be able to support any upcoming founders as well.
So I think there's this natural culture of community and helping that it doesn't feel like it's a burden. It feels like it's a privilege to grow this community. And I think that's one of the things I'm very proud of, is our culture is just very communal and collective, and I just want to make sure we keep growing and bringing more people into the circle.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Are there any CPG founders that you're really inspired by or people that you look up to for the most part?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Oh, there's been some incredible brands, especially that are building in bringing this idea of bringing African ingredients and branding them. Because for a long time, what happened was we took the raw ingredients and we sold them to an international brand. And then the face of the international brand. Some people think coffee's from Italy or France because of the French roast or the Italian roast.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's just the espresso machines, guys.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yes. Yeah. What I'm saying is this growing brands of growing, I think roast style portfolio of brands. I think there's one that's doing spices very big on Amazon and in distribution. We have another one that's doing boxed meals, so you can get Nigerian, frozen-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, very cool.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Meals. And out of Houston, there's one out of Massachusetts as well. And then we're seeing, another really cool thing is, for example, locally New York, we have Ginjan. I don't know if you know the Cafe Ginjan. They've taken ginger, which is a very celebrated ingredient in West Africa and really made this ginger drink, which I love, and it's super healthy. So we have that. And then there's another ginger drink as well. I just always love seeing this new African branded products on the shelf and just being able to be accessible and that we don't need an international org to put a brand on them. They can be African.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. We have the agency to tell our own stories.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How do you think about Kahawa changing the landscape of coffee, not just for America, but just globally? What's your vision in the next few years for that?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
When the episode aired, “Shark Tank,” it was heartwarming to see the reception that it got globally, and especially because I'm the first Kenyan actually go on “Shark Tank.”
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Way to go.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah. So the whole country was very excited. I got a lot of calls just to celebrate this moment. And I think for the first time, seeing a product, a brand on the global stage was a very, very exciting, because we don't usually see ourselves at that level being celebrated. And I saw Africans from all over the world, diaspora, just really excited about this moment. And I realized there's a hunger, this desire to have products that reflect our own stories.
And so for me, my personal goal is to have Kahawa on every block, in the world where you can have access to it. And another thing is, you know how chai is become a verb? Because everyone knows chai is tea or their learning. Some people still want a chai tea-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Chai tea. Oh, man.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Because Kahawa is coffee, and that's sort the original. When you think about coffee, the original word was qahwah. In the Middle East, it's called qahwah. Ethiopia, it's similar. So Kahawa is sort of the original name for coffee-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, in Swahili.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah. My hope is over time that coffee and Kahawa becomes synonymous.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The best way to wake up is a cup of Kahawa, right?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yes. And people know how to pronounce it as well.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes, yes. And not Kahawa coffee. Yeah.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
We don't want that.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Just Kahawa.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And you talked a lot about your personal brand, and obviously it seems like you found a lot of joy and a lot of fulfillment in building this company. If we were to be back in the studio, having a cup of Kahawa in the next few years, where do you hope to see yourself in terms of the food landscape too?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
I would want to be having a totally different conversation. I hope there will be more black owned, African owned brands in the market, in coffee. The world is becoming more African. So I want to see that reflected in a few years. It's not going to be an anomaly. It's going to be we're represented in the market as much as the population. That's one thing. And another thing is I hope that the representation of women in particular in the industry is more mainstream. One of the things that I found interesting was when I started out my career in coffee and I went to conferences, people assumed that I was a barista, that that could be the only thing I could be.
So I hope to see more faces of founders to become synonymous with building brands as opposed to just being a small part of the industry.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
So in a few years, I hope there's 50 of me that have sprung up.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's talk about your coffee setup at home. I'm very intrigued. You own a coffee company.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What is the breakdown look like in your kitchen? Can you break it down for us?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
My setup is very simple, but that makes it really easy for me to be able to have fresh cup of coffee every day. So I grind my coffee fresh. I have the grinder set up. I weigh my coffee, I still weigh it. It's the most accurate way. I'm still very, very particular about that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. That's the secret.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
So I weigh the coffee and I am a French press girly. I had a pour over season, so I actually go through season. So I had a pour over season. Currently, I'm a pour over girly. And then sometimes I'll go into espresso season. So currently it's French press, very, very easy, grind it to the French press, which is a bit of a course grind. Then boil my water in a kettle, steep it for four minutes exactly. And then serve it. And I usually drink it black, but sometimes I will add some creamer to it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, nice. Do you just do a cream oat milk, regular milk? What's your-
Margaret Nyamumbo:
I don't discriminate. I love all the milks. So I'll do your regular creamer. And then, although I do have... I want to shout out my favorite oat milk. It's called Ghost Town, which is also owned by another black woman.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Michelle Johnson?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Michelle Johnson, yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. And she's a former barista or-
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
She's a former barista.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah. That is my favorite.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's awesome. I guess, this is a perfect segue into a question. There's so many components of coffee culture too. There's the beans, the machines, the places. Are there any places you would love to collaborate with to make Kahawa feel like it was part of this really awesome group project? Because I feel like there's so much collaborations in CPG or anything.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah. So I think one of the things I want... I do want to collaborate with is, I want to make a ready to drink. So coffee that-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Canned coffee?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yeah. Coffee in a can.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Cute.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
And I would love to coffee collaborate with a milk company or an oat milk company to just make this delicious coffee. Because right now, when we sell our coffee, we have no control over how it's going to taste, because a lot of it is about how you brew it, right? But the beauty of having it in the can, ready to drink is that we can control what you're going to taste, and then you can drink it in the morning, or you can drink it in the afternoon.
You can drink it at any time, and you can add it to stuff. You can add it to a martini, right?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Yeah.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
So that's my dream collab for next year. I definitely want to make a really sweet, delicious, ready to drink.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Is there a dream recipient or someone that if you woke up one day and saw that they had your bag of your coffee, it would just make your whole year? If there's anyone on the planet right now?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Oh, yeah. We've been fortunate enough to have celebrities drink our coffee. My dream recipient would be to meet two people that have Kenyan adjacent roots. So it would be like Michelle Obama, no big deal. It would be cool, just her achievements through the years. I think she would be such a dream recipient. And another one would be Lupita Nyong'o, because she's also a Kenyan. We can manifest as well. Our vice president, our first black woman, vice president.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes. Kamala Harris. Yeah. For sure.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Yes. Drinking it as well. I think it'll be great to have it in the White House as well.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, she'll need it with that job. It's a very stressful job. Maggie, we are going to do our Future Flash Five. Here we go. The future of coffee culture.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Flavorful.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future for black female founders.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Expansive.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of economical opportunities.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Broad.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future for CPG products.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
On the shelf.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And finally, the future of Africa.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Is female.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Margaret, thank you so much for joining us on the show. If we want to continue to support you, where are the best places to find you?
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Our Instagram is @Kahawa1893. Twitter, all social media, and also our website is kahawa1893.com.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Awesome. Thank you so much.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Thanks for having me. This was so much fun and exciting.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Before we go, our guest is going to leave a voicemail just talking to themselves 10 years from now. You have reached The Future Of Food Is You mailbox. Please leave your message after the beep.
Margaret Nyamumbo:
Hi, Margaret. I can't believe we made it this far. I can't believe that Kahawa has become the dreams that you had in mind for it, that you can find it on every corner of the world, and that you ended up building that cute cafe that you always wanted. It's almost time for you to retire to that coffee farm that you always wanted to build in Kenya. I hope that you found time to celebrate the little wins along the way. I hope that you overcame your imposter syndrome, and I hope that all your dream recipients of Kahawa, including Michelle Obama and Lupita, got to enjoy your coffee and love it. And I hope that there is not 50 but 500 of you now in the market, that the coffee became more African, that the world became more African like you had anticipated.
And I do hope that you're living life to the fullest and stopping to smell the flowers along the way and enjoying every moment. I hope that you made it to Brazil and Colombia, and Guatemala and Indonesia and visited every coffee origin in the world that you ever wanted to. And I hope that you still developing new recipes and new blends. That you are still passionate about sharing African coffee with the world. And I hope that Kahawa has become synonymous with coffee, that it is as well known as chai. And then I hope that your grandfather is proud of you, that you brought coffee from the farm to the world. I am so proud of you, and I can't wait to see what's on the shelf next time I go to the store. Godspeed.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's it for today's show. Do you know someone who you think is the future of food? Tell us about them. Nominate them at the link in our show notes, or leave us a rating and a review and tell me about them in the review. I can't wait to read more about them. Thanks to Kerrygold for supporting our show. The Future Of Food Is You as a production of the Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Thanks to the team at City Vox Studios, executive producers, Kerry Diamond and Catherine Baker, associate producer Jenna Sadhu, and editorial assistant Londyn Crenshaw. Catch you on the future flip.