Secu­ring the Last Mile in Food Supply

In Nairobi’s poorest sett­le­ments, small street kitchens play a vital role in food supply. In 2019, Khadija Moha­med-Chur­chill laun­ched the pilot for her impact venture Kwanza Tukule, which supplies these kitchens with food products. Her supply chain enables afforda­ble and relia­ble access to food, ensu­ring that the city’s most vulnerable popu­la­ti­ons are fed. In 2021, elea Foun­da­tion for Ethics in Globa­liza­tion made its first invest­ment in Kwanza Tukule.

How did you first get in touch with elea?

It was on Inter­na­tio­nal Women’s Day. As a foun­der, I had been invi­ted to speak for Tech­no­Serve, an orga­niza­tion supported by elea. I actually didn’t have time and was plan­ning to cancel.

I had foun­ded my company with a clear mission and focus on impact.

_{Khadija Moha­med-Chur­chill, foun­der and CEO Kwanza Tukule}

But you parti­ci­pa­ted anyway?

Yes, I was persua­ded to parti­ci­pate. At the last minute, I prepared a presen­ta­tion and intro­du­ced my company, Kwanza Tukule. Because of the pande­mic, the event was held online – and by coin­ci­dence, Andreas Kirch­schlä­ger, CEO of elea, was in the audi­ence. That’s how the first cont­act happened.

How did this turn into a partnership?

When I lear­ned more about elea, I reali­zed how closely our visi­ons aligned. I had foun­ded my company with a clear mission and focus on impact – and that’s exactly what elea valued. When we spoke, the key ques­tion was: What am I trying to achieve, and how does that fit with elea’s goals? In that sense, elea was the perfect part­ner for us.

What role did the finan­cial invest­ment play?

Of course, finan­cing was crucial – we were still in the early stages. We had reve­nue but no profit yet. For us, elea was our first inves­tor, which made a huge difference.

What was special about their involvement?

Once elea came on board, other inves­tors follo­wed. At the same time, the elea team actively supported us in the fund­rai­sing process. They showed us how to make the company inves­tor-ready, how to present oursel­ves attrac­tively, and how to engage with poten­tial inves­tors. Most importantly, they helped us shape our busi­ness model and build a sustainable stra­tegy from day one. That was very valuable to me. Today, elea conti­nues to be closely invol­ved as an active board member.

We want part­ners who under­stand that our goal is to make a diffe­rence while buil­ding a sustainable, profi­ta­ble business.

_{Khadija Moha­med-Chur­chill}

Did new inves­tors join because elea had inves­ted, or because you were prepared for them?

Both. As our first inves­tor, elea built confi­dence in our company. Combi­ned with our busi­ness model and vision, that sent a strong signal: this is a solid company worth working with. At the same time, elea acted as our lead inves­tor, coaching us on how to pitch and even parti­ci­pa­ting in inves­tor discussions.

Do you now seek profit-orien­ted inves­tors or still work with foundations?

After closing our first funding round with elea, we mana­ged to conti­nue expan­ding with our own resour­ces. We focu­sed on beco­ming profi­ta­ble – which we achie­ved early on. What matters to us is that every part­ner we work with cares about both impact and profi­ta­bi­lity. We want part­ners who under­stand that our goal is to make a diffe­rence while buil­ding a sustainable, profi­ta­ble busi­ness. That’s the key to long-term resilience.

How did the busi­ness idea origi­nally emerge?

I was born and raised in Kenya. I studied there and later worked for an inter­na­tio­nal bank. That job even­tually took me to London. After the 2008 finan­cial crisis, I became disil­lu­sio­ned with banking. I then comple­ted an MBA at Impe­rial College London. I had always wanted to gain inter­na­tio­nal expe­ri­ence and under­stand how busi­ness works abroad – before retur­ning home to build some­thing of my own.

Which you even­tually did?

Yes. In 2018, my husband and I moved back to Kenya. I took a sabba­ti­cal and volun­tee­red with seve­ral NGOs, working with grass­roots orga­niza­ti­ons to empower people poli­ti­cally. During that time, I asked myself what I really wanted to do with my life. My MBA in London had focu­sed on entre­pre­neur­ship, and I wanted to address some of Kenya’s pres­sing chal­lenges – water, food, or health­care. Water was too heavily regu­la­ted, and health­care wasn’t an option since I’m not a doctor. So I turned to food supply.

That’s how Kwanza Tukule was born?

Exactly. Kwanza Tukule means “Let’s eat” in Swahili. I star­ted with the idea of a deli­very service for beans – a staple food in Kenya because they’re afforda­ble and rich in protein. We deli­vered cooked beans to street kitchens. It worked well at first, but then Covid hit. By the time of that Inter­na­tio­nal Women’s Day  speech I mentio­ned earlier, our model had alre­ady chan­ged. The kitchens were now asking for water, rice, and oil. Since we could no longer cook the beans, we redu­ced that part and shifted our focus. Around that time, I met elea – and reali­zed the busi­ness could grow, if only I could secure the right funding. elea helped us make that transformation.

We want to show how this kind of enga­ge­ment can inspire others to start busi­nesses that tackle real-world problems. 

_{Khadija Moha­med-Chur­chill}

Are you satis­fied with how things have developed?

Yes – thanks to a lot of hard work, sweat, and tears. We’ve grown tremen­dously. We now operate in three regi­ons, with reve­nues of 16 million US dollars last year, projec­ted to reach 20 million this year. Around 5,000 small busi­ness buy from us daily. Still, we only cover a small part of Kenya and see poten­tial to expand into other countries.

You know London and the banking world – what do Euro­pean inves­tors need to bring to work successfully with you?

elea’s approach is unique. They conduct very rigo­rous due dili­gence before part­ne­ring. During that process, I spoke perso­nally with Peter Wuffli, foun­der of elea, and Andreas Kirch­schlä­ger. What makes elea stand out is their pati­ence and long-term perspec­tive – some­thing most inves­tors lack. They truly under­stand the chal­lenges compa­nies face. Running a busi­ness in a coun­try like Kenya is chao­tic and deman­ding. You can get gray hair very quickly! And elea’s pati­ence and support is invaluable.

This week you’re in Zurich with elea. What do you expect from it?

We’re meeting elea’s various stake­hol­ders and inves­tors. It’s important to me that they see the work – and meet the entre­pre­neurs behind it. People like me, who left the corpo­rate and banking world to build some­thing that has an impact in the world. We want to show how this kind of enga­ge­ment can inspire others to start busi­nesses that tackle real-world problems. We want to prove that impact-driven models can work, even in tough envi­ron­ments. Being here, is also our way of giving back to the inves­tors who trust us. And of course, I’m looking forward to connec­ting with other networks – espe­ci­ally impact inves­tors in Zurich, who would other­wise be out of reach for us in Nairobi.