By Prudence Minayo
As Kenyans’ appetite for healthy foods increase, so do innovative companies ready to meet this demand. NatureLock is a company co-founded by Terry Mukunya Oundo that specializes in processing healthy, nutritions, convenient and affordable meals. They make instant meals whose short preparation time and method make them ideal for most Kenyans.
Here is her story as told by WoK.
Education and Career
Tei has an MBA in Strategic Management from the United States International University- Africa. Prior to co-founding NatureLock, she worked in marketing operations at British American Tobacco Kenyan Limited for five years she then founded Azuri Health Limited in 2010, a company that processed and packaged value added vegetables, fruits and tubers.
NatureLock
NatureLock was founded with the aim of selling healthy, convenient and affordable meals to Kenyans.
They first launched an instant stew called StewsDay Ndengu. They would cook, dry and package the stew before it was ready for delivery. Customers would then need to add boiling water to the dry flakes to turn it into stew
As instant healthy meals in Kenya are not very popular, the company did a lot to market the product. Starting with the Eastlands area of Nairobi, they put up billboard advertisements and started to sell in local shops and street corners.
Apart from placing advertisements on TV and radio, the company also worked with influencers to create awareness about the brand and to create loyalty.
The process
The company works with thousands of vegetable and green grams farmers. After getting the raw materials from them, it is transported to their factory. Here, the product development team gets to work and come up with recipes.
In a past interview, she said they reached out to customers to try various products and they produce large quantities only after they are satisfied with it.
They fry with a little oil, onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Carrots and cassava are added to thicken the sauce and then the stew is dried in air dryers.
By 2022, the company was producing 3,000 packets of Ndengu stew a day and hoped to land deals with big retailers, such as, QuickMatt, Naivas, Carrefour and Chandarana. They were also hoping to expand to other markets, such as Tanzania and Uganda, after they have expanded operations in Kenya.
The company products can be found in Powerstar and Eastmatt.
“There are a lot of opportunities here. It will take time to exhaust the Kenyan market it is a big market within East Africa. The sky is the limit,” she told How we made it in Africa.
