By Prudence Minayo
Kamotho Njiru is an aggregator who founded Nawiri Plant, a company that links farmers directly to consumers. Many farmers incur heavy losses after harvesting produce only to lack markets and fall in the hands of shark like brokers. This was what Njiru and his brother experienced-inspiring the founding of Nawiri Plant, a company that provides a ready market for farmers’ produce and delivers groceries to customers’ doorsteps. They deliver grains, vegetables, assorted spices, fruits and root vegetables.
Here is the story of Kamotho Njiru as told by WoK.
Suffering Losses
He graduated in 2018 and joined his brother in his 80-acre farm in Naivasha. With minimal knowledge in the intrigues of farming business, the duo failed to do due diligence on the market needs of consumers. They planted potatoes and with a bumper harvest, they were left running around looking for markets for the produce.
“We planted potatoes and when harvest time came, we knew not where to take the 100 tonnes of potatoes we had produced. I was therefore tasked with looking for a market for potatoes. It was tough. I did not know that I had to use brokers to sell to brokers in Marikiti market”, he told the Standard.
“In the end, we did not even recoup our production costs. From this experience, I realised many farmers faced the same issues. That is when I started Nawiri, which links farmers directly to the consumer and also looks for a market for their produce”, added Njiru.
At the end of the whole exercise, the brothers suffered a major loss but a business idea was born.
Nawiri Plant
He founded the Nawiri plant to ensure that farmers did not go through what they did. Not only does this cut middlemen and ensure that customers get produce at an affordable price but also ensures consumers know where what they are eating has come from making it easy to recall produce that is unsafe.
The company has a website and various social media handles where customers can place grocery orders. Those living abroad but have relatives they want to support, can subscribe to their plan for a fee. Depending on the plan (weekly, after two weeks or monthly), Nawiri will ensure they supply groceries straight to the relatives’ doorstep.
As an aggregator, he doesn’t just sell farmers products in Kenya but abroad as well. As the world cup is set to be held in Qatar, Emirates has approached several aggregators in the country to supply them with organic foods. This got him started with shipping products to Qatar.
Nawiri also uses their platform to create awareness about exotic fruits, unknown to many, like soursop. Kamotho has realized that most of their clients love apples and flowers.