#TFAAspotlight: Eric Muthomi’s Stawi Foods solves a problem and we can’t be more excited

Eric Muthomi is the Founder and CEO of Stawi Foods and Fruits – an award winning banana processing company, founded in 2012, and based in Nairobi, Kenya. Stawi Foods enables small-holder farmers in Kenya to earn higher incomes on their produce and is making an effort to reconnect society, and provide genuine benefit to surrounding communities.

What else?

1. The founding idea behind Stawi was to be a market place for smallholder farmers in Kenya who need fair buyers for their produce.
2. Stawi is also working to address hidden hunger among children using hydrothermal processing technology, through which traditional foods can be naturally enriched with iron and zinc and other essential minerals at a low cost, and then used to process nutritious, appealing and affordable feeding products for babies between 6 and 23 months old.
3. In 2012, Eric won an award for his brilliant business idea in the Chase Bank Enablis ILO Business Launch Pad Competition in the Agribusiness Agro-processing category.
4. Eric was recognised on CNN’s African Start-Up and honoured by President Barack Obama as a YALI Fellow in 2014.
5. He was nominated for The Future Africa Awards Prize in Agriculture, 2014.
6. Upon completion of his Mandela Washington Fellowship in 2014, Eric sought to use his new knowledge and connections to expand his business activities across Kenya and other countries and increase the uptake of raw materials from more farmers.
7. Eric was ranked by Forbes Magazine among the top 30 entrepreneurs under 30 in Africa.
8. If you can solve a serious problem that touches the lives of people in their work, business or daily lives, there is a high probability that you will make money. This is exactly what Eric is doing by solving the ‘banana availability problem’ in his native Kenya.
9. With over 8 years in the market, Eric is able to drive successful and sustainable growth in Kenya and Africa.
10. Eric says, “I am happy when farmers come up to me and thank me for getting them a market for their product. It is such a satisfying feeling.”

Eric Muthomi is the future!