Ever marvel how your favourite snack was sourced? Joshua Reed-Diawuoh thinks extra individuals ought to.
Reed-Diawuoh MBA ’20 is the founder and CEO of GRIA Meals Firm, which companions with firms that ethically supply and course of meals in West Africa to assist native meals economies and assist communities within the area extra broadly.
“It’s very troublesome for these agribusinesses and producers to begin sustainable companies and construct up that worth chain within the space,” says Reed-Diawuoh, who began the corporate as a pupil within the MIT Sloan Faculty of Administration. “We need to assist these firms that put within the work to construct built-in companies which are using individuals and uplifting communities.”
GRIA, which stands for “Grown in Africa,” is presently promoting six kinds of flavored cashews sourced from Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso. The entire cashews are licensed by Fairtrade Worldwide, which implies along with providing sustainable wages, entry to financing, and first rate working situations, the businesses obtain a “Fairtrade Premium” on high of the promoting value that enables them to spend money on the long-term well being of their communities.
“That premium is transformational,” Reed-Diawuoh says. “The premium goes to the producer cooperatives, or the farmers working the land, and so they can make investments that in any method they select. They’ll put it again into their enterprise, they will begin new group growth tasks, like constructing faculties or enhancing wastewater infrastructure, no matter they need.”
Cracking the nut
Reed-Diawuoh’s household is from Ghana, and earlier than coming to MIT Sloan, he labored to assist agriculture and meals manufacturing for nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, with specific give attention to uplifting small-scale farmers. That’s the place he realized about difficulties with financing and infrastructure constraints that held many firms again.
“I wished to get my palms soiled and begin my very own enterprise that contributed to enhancing agricultural growth in West Africa,” Reed-Diawuoh says.
He entered MIT Sloan in 2018, taking entrepreneurship lessons and exploring a number of enterprise concepts earlier than deciding to ethically supply produce from farmers and promote on to customers. He says MIT Sloan’s Sustainability Enterprise Lab supplied significantly worthwhile classes for methods to construction his enterprise.
In his second 12 months, Reed-Diawuoh was chosen for a fellowship on the Legatum Middle, which linked him to different entrepreneurs working in rising markets world wide.
“Legatum was a pivotal milestone for me,” he says. “It offered me with some construction and house to develop this concept. It additionally gave me an unimaginable alternative to take dangers and discover totally different enterprise ideas in a method I couldn’t have achieved if I used to be working in trade.”
The enterprise mannequin Reed-Diawuoh settled on for GRIA sources product from agribusiness companions in West Africa that adhere to the strictest environmental and labor requirements. Reed-Diawuoh determined to begin with cashews as a result of they’ve many handbook processing steps — from shelling to peeling and roasting — which are usually achieved after the cashews are shipped out of West Africa, limiting the expansion of native meals economies and taking wealth out of communities.
Every of GRIA’s companions, from the businesses harvesting cashews to the processing amenities, works immediately with farmer cooperatives and small-scale farmers and is licensed by Fairtrade Worldwide.
“With out correct oversight and rules, staff oftentimes get exploited, and youngster labor is a large drawback throughout the agriculture sector,” Reed-Diawuoh says. “Fairtrade certifications try to take a strong and rigorous method to auditing the entire companies and their provide chains, from producers to farmers to processors. They do on-site visits and so they audit monetary paperwork. We went via this over the course of a radical three-month overview.”
After importing cashew kernels, GRIA flavors and packages them at a manufacturing facility in Boston. Reed-Diawuoh began by promoting to small unbiased retailers in Higher Boston earlier than scaling up GRIA’s on-line gross sales. He began ramping up manufacturing at first of 2023.
“Each time we promote our product, if individuals weren’t already accustomed to Fairtrade or moral sourcing, we offer data on our packaging and all of our collateral,” Reed-Diawuoh says. “We need to unfold this message in regards to the significance of moral sourcing and the significance of increase meals manufacturing in West Africa particularly, but additionally in rising economies all through the world.”
Making moral sourcing mainstream
GRIA presently imports a few ton of Fairtrade cashews and kernels every quarter, and Reed-Diawuoh hopes to double that quantity every year for the foreseeable future.
“For every pound, we pay premiums for the kernels, and that helps this ecosystem the place producers get compensated pretty for his or her work on the land, and agribusinesses are capable of construct extra strong and worthwhile enterprise fashions, as a result of they’ve an finish marketplace for these Fairtrade-certified merchandise.”
Reed-Diawuoh is presently making an attempt out totally different packaging and flavors and is in discussions with companions to increase manufacturing capability and transfer into Ghana. He’s additionally exploring company collaborations and has offered MIT with product over the previous two years for conferences and different occasions.
“We’re experimenting with totally different progress methods,” Reed-Diawuoh says. “We’re very a lot nonetheless in startup mode, however actually making an attempt to ramp up our gross sales and manufacturing.”
As GRIA scales, Reed-Diawuoh hopes it pushes customers to begin asking extra of their favourite meals manufacturers.
“It’s completely essential that, if we’re sourcing produce in markets just like the U.S. from locations like West Africa, we’re hyper-focused on doing it in an moral method,” Reed-Diawuoh says. “The general purpose of GRIA is to make sure we’re adhering to and selling strict sourcing requirements and being rigorous and considerate about the way in which we import product.”
