Fridah Kaaria is an entrepreneur who put her money in the making pasteurized eggs.
For starters, a pasteurized egg means that it has been heat treated to kill off bacteria, but doesn’t cook the egg.
The entrepreneur got into the business after realizing that there was no value added to eggs unlike other industries.
Here is Fridah’s story at told by WoK.
Background
Speaking in an interview with Utmost Precision, Fridah explained that she ventured into the business to add value to eggs.
She explained that this was after realizing that unlike other industries such as tea and diary farming, eggs farmers were not benefiting as much.
“No value was added to eggs, others such as the tea industry was thriving… An egg farmer had no way of adding value to the produce and earn some extra money,” Fridah said.
Venturing into the business was also not a walk in the park and she was discouraged at some point because her research suggested otherwise.
“I did a research and found that to venture into pasteurized eggs, I would require at least Ksh 33 million to set up the company,” she said.
Fridah was discouraged and as such, she shelved the idea until when she left her job.
“I thought of what to do to make the business work with the small amount of money that I had, and after researching, I realized that I didn’t need most of the processes that made the business expensive,” she said.
The pasteurizer was the only important equipment and after making the purchase, she hit the ground running.
“All the other processes like the egg washing, breaking and packing I do them manually. The main process I use the equipment,” Fridah explained.
Being a new concept in Kenya, Fridah explained that they have had to invest more in creating awareness and campaigns on its usefulness.
“We have also been educating the farmers on value addition that can be gotten from the eggs. So that they come together and have somewhere where the eggs are collected and pasteurized,” she said.
The product is 100 percent eggs, only that it has been subjected to a heat treatment process, cooled and frozen.
When frozen, it can last up to 15 months.
“You carry it in your bottle and it can be used in among others, baking. It’s as fresh as when that egg was first laid,” Faridah affirmed.
Although her first sample submitted to Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for certifications failed, she did not give up but worked on her mistakes and resubmitted her samples.
“I learnt that what KEBS really want is that you should know your process and follow the quality standards,” she said.
