History of Incas
November 2008, and Incas had just been appointed the Kenyan representative in the 2008 Global Entrepreneurship Program with Incas Director Ruth Njeri as the year’s Entrepreneurship Ambassador . This fete brought nostalgic memories of how the company began.
Minister for Gender Hon. Esther Murugi, the event’s guest of honour, ready for a taste of Incas whole and healthy indulgencies
2004: Beginning of a dream
The story of Incas began late 2004 when Mercy Waithanji, at the time a Mombasa based investment portfolio manager, decided to link up her two clients who she had a hunch would hit it off upon knowing each other. For months she had been trying to link Njeri Ruth, who held a prestigious position as General Manager at a Cargo Company, and Mirigo Kinyanjui, who, together with her husband, owned various well to do businesses in central Kenya. Njeri yearned to venture into entrepreneurship and was consumed by this desire, telling it to anyone who would listen. Mirigo was restless and wanted to be a manufacturer but could not figure out what her products would be. Each separately shared their desires with Mercy, who urgently felt that the two ladies must meet.
2005: A partnership is forged
Finally, on March 23rd 2005, Mercy accompanied Njeri to Nyeri, Mirigo’s hometown and the two ladies took an instant liking for each other. Njeri’s mission was to research Mirigo’s horticulture farming – passion fruit or blue gum business - with a view of undertaking something similar to serve local and international markets. However as fate would have it, Mirigo had just received information about a grain with numerous benefits, which could be grown locally for a great profit. The grain, amaranth, was little known and under-utilized at the time. Incidentally, Njeri had also heard about amaranth a few days earlier and a bond was quickly beginning to form. Noticing the common interest, Mirigo took her guests to meet Mr. Manyekithe program officer in-charge of the Amaranth project at the ACK church in Muran’ga.
Njeri, Mercy &Mirgo, in Busia during the fun filled quest for amaranth the super grain.
Mirigo and Njeri, new to the production business, studied the amaranth plant. They learnt that in Kenya the amaranth plant had been researched for 20 years. It was found to have a number of benefits, including nutritional, medicinal and wealth creation values. The grain had been in existence for 6000 years in South America.
Amaranth, they found out, was a well-known weed consumed by various communities in Kenya as a vegetable. The plant has low inputs at farm level, short maturity period and higher yields per acre than other local cash crops. It is also drought resistant, with minimal attacks by pests and insects. Overall, they learnt that it is a super grain with remarkable nutritional properties.
Despite all these benefits and efforts by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to educate local farmers about its nutritional and food security values, farmers who had ventured into amaranth production were disappointed by the losses they suffered due to lack of market for their produce.
“Opportunity often comes clothed in work clothes”, so goes a famous saying.
“If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade.” Thomas J. Peters
Here was a glaring opportunity to fill a gap. There was high supply of Amaranth (or so it seemed) but there was no market for the supergrain. Mirigo and Njeri turned to each other, consulted for just a minute and turned themselves into instant partners. They returned to the program officer and proclaimed in their mother tongue: “Riu uraria no thoko ya terere!” (You are now talking to the Amaranth market so bring it on!) And that is how Incas was born! It was an instant, profound, spontaneous decision made with passion and finality. “Let’s do this!” It was a light bulb moment that came to the two ladies at the same time, with both seeing the long awaited business take shape in a flash.
They requested the officer to direct them to all the farmers who had harvested the supergrain. It turned out that there was no crop available as the farmers had already given up on finding a market and gone to other crops. The dream was not squashed. It was the beginning of the Incas long and beautiful journey, in search of this precious raw material to kick-start their business.
The planting season was due and they needed to act fast. The two organized their resources, and collectively acquired a loan worth half a million Kenya shillings to purchase huge amounts of Amaranth seeds, recruit farmers to plant and eventually buy the harvested grain, process, package and market it.
Njeri went back to her day job promising to do research on other possible sources of the grain, and to put together packaging logistics. Mirigo remained behind and trained farmers on amaranth production and management. As an incentive, she gave the farmers seeds for free with the agreement that they would sell the crop to her once harvested. When harvesting season came, neither Mirigo nor Njeri were prepared for the shock they got. The farmers had mistaken the crop for amaranth vegetable weed and cleared it from the farm. Others had simply enjoyed it as a vegetable, so there was essentially no harvest!
The half million Kenya shillings investment had gone down the drain, and not only did the partners have to train farmers afresh, but they also decided to search for ready grain across the country. They tried any region where they had an inkling that amaranth planting had been tried. Research eventually took them to Busia, in Western Kenya, following a lot of wild goose chases, exorbitant charges and lessons to learn. The ecstatic duo purchased their first consignment of 15 tonnes and transported it back to Nyeri, where the factory was waiting to begin operations. Incas Amaranth Limited was registered in September 2005.
Collection depot in Busia opened in June 2005 and closed in June 2006 for lack of grain
By October, the partners’ next step was to mill the grain, having crossed a major hurdle. The amaranth grain is a beautiful golden or creamy grain that is as tiny as a grain of sand. Milling the amaranth grain proved another challenge altogether! By the time the grain was cleaned, silted and milled, it came as a rude shock that the end product had sandy particles. Thankfully, the Kenya Bureau of Standards conducted an ash test and found that levels of sand particles were not harmful for human consumption, and cleared the product for sale. The first Incas Pure Amaranth flour rolled out to the supermarket in November 2005.
The 1st Incas factory in Nyeri town in 2005 – the launch of a dream!
Climbing mountains
Now there were marketing challenges to conquer. The product was unknown and getting it into the market was a challenge. The partners neither had a marketing budget nor professional input on how products are launched, placed in supermarkets and marketed. The few outlets that agreed to stock Incas Pure Amaranth flour did not register any sales. The real test had just begun: How would the two ladies get consumers to understand the nutritional value of this supergrain? They had to throw their weight behind the product and there was no time for testing waters. The first huge sale for Incas was impromptu but decisive! It was made on 1st December 2005, during the annual World AIDS day that Mirigo bombarded just 3 hours before the official function was scheduled to begin. She convinced the event’s officials that her involvement was integral as hers was a vital nutritional solution for the needy audience. She was allowed a slot to speak about how amaranth is essential nutrition for management of HIV and AIDS.
Mirigo made the first cash sale of 10 bales of the product in that event, and was ecstatic! The market had now begun to listen and to embrace Incas Amaranth flour. Meanwhile, Njeri, who had quit her job, was on her way to join Mirigo for the launch of the company’s first Road Show, scheduled for the following day. To draw crowds, Incas partnered with a new gospel-singing group, The Trumpets of Victory, who would sing songs in their newly produced CD. On the d-day, the two ladies and members of the gospel group mounted Mirigo’s lorry. Using public address equipment donated by the Gospel Outreach Church in Nyeri, the ladies would talk about their product, then give a chance to the group, who were also promoting their first recording, to belt out a number. Crowds were drawn and there was a lot to be learnt, and a lot of convincing to do.
For a whole month, Mirigo and Njeri traversed Central, Eastern and Rift Valley provinces, educating masses on why Incas Pure Amaranth flour was a must have product in their kitchens. It was exhausting but by Christmas of 2005, they had made great strides and sold out every last batch of the product.
Njeri and Mirigo at a road show in the early days in December 2005
Trumpet of victory choir, Mirigo and Njeri during an Incas Amaranth education campaign in December 2005
“Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish” Ovid
”Opportunity is often difficult to recognize; we usually expect it to beckon us with beepers and billboards” William Arthur Ward
The business partners spent the few days before New Year 2006 taking stock of the lessons learnt and analyzing the impact of the road show marketing campaign. After just three weeks on the road, it was clear to the partners that they needed to move the business to another level as demand had outstripped supply. That was a clear indication that the idea was viable. There was no denying that for this dream to grow they needed more capital; a more structured input from farmers for a sustained supply of raw materials; a quality production facility that could manage huge volumes and meet the growing demand for business; a vibrant sales and marketing strategy and a formidable distribution capacity, to ensure listing in major stores throughout the country. They basically needed a more efficient network.
2006: The year of growth
On January 3rd 2006, Mirigo and Njeri began their search for a prospective financier at the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC). After consultations, it was clear Incas needed to develop an in-depth business plan in order to acquire a loan. Samuel Kamau of Strategic Tax Services and Dominic Njenga of Njenga Karori and Associates laid the foundation of the business model. The business plan was generated by AON Africa Ltd, and by March 2006, the partners were ready to use it to raise capital.
Incas Directors Mirigo Kinyanjui (left) and Ruth Njeri with Dominic Njenga developing the Incas Business Plan early 2006
The company required Kshs44 Million. The search for this money took the two investors to various institutions and investment groups. Banks were clear that they were not interested in start-ups that not only did not have collateral, but were also armed with an unviable idea. On the other hand, most independent investors bought into the concept on condition that they bought out Njeri and Mirigo. The two were adamant that the only offer they were willing to accept was one in which they were the majority shareholders. Although many doors slammed shut during this period, something positive came out of the experience. The aim, vision and mission of Incas were sharpened and the concept became clearer with each time a door was slammed shut. The idea was also backed by a do or die sense of urgency as the duo had burnt all their bridges. Having sold everything they owned and put the funds into the business, the two investors had nowhere to go but up. It was a journey of perfecting the act, of persistence and raw passion.
“When you want something with all your soul, the universe conspires to make sure you achieve it” Paolo Cohoel
Having hit a brick wall with institutions, Mirigo and Njeri got a Kshs3 million loan from a family friend. In April 2006, the entrepreneurs relocated their operation from Nyeri to the capital city, Nairobi’s Industrial Area, in a bid to conquer the urban market. The road shows had helped open a niche market in major towns in the countryside, but Nairobi was different. Getting Incas products stocked in supermarkets in the city took intense negotiation, and even then, most outlets could only guarantee one bale at a time.
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston Churchill
In the midst of this difficulty lay quiet hope. Hope that things would turn around. But did they ever turn around! In early October 2006, the Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC) was organizing a healthy diet campaign for its HIV positive Church members. Incas featured prominently in the run-up program, as Pastor Anthony Makena of NPC invited Mirigo and Njeri to discuss their product on two live radio broadcasts on Hope FM. The two entrepreneurs passionately talked about the benefits of Incas Pure Amaranth in managing HIV and AIDS. The product was an instant hit with listeners! Callers jammed studio telephone lines making numerous inquiries, while supermarkets were bombarded with shoppers seeking to buy Incas Pure Amaranth flour. Needless to say the demand was so high supermarkets began pursuing Incas. The rest as they say is history. All the key outlets had stocked Incas Pure Amaranth Flour by end of October 2006.
2007: Incas matures
Having penetrated the urban market and with the demand high and growing, the next plan was to sustain the market, which their capacity could not. This is how the idea of outsourcing production was borne. Initially, the entrepreneurs approached flour producers but could not work out anything concrete. One of the biggest challenges was the miniscule size of the amaranth grain as compared to other grains like maize and therefore required a capital investment on equipment which companies we unwilling to risk.
The Nutro Manufacturing Plant, a Usd 7 million facility with a state of the art technology for producing whole foods, was intrigued by the whole Incas concept and agreed to forge a strategic partnership with the entrepreneurs.
The Nutro Plant, the 1st of its kind in Africa
By December 2007, product diversification saw the launch of Kenya’s first range of healthy flours: whole grain pre-cooked maize flour wheat flour; both fortified with the super grain Incas Pure Amaranth flour were placed on all the key outlets countrywide.
2008: Demand for more products
By end of 2008, Incas product portfolio had grown to 5 products, having launched maize flour fortified with soya and millet flour fortified with amaranth.
Incas has grown from employing five members of staff in 2005, to the current 80 employees countrywide.
Part of the sales team just before Nairobi road show
Mirigo and Njeri with the Incas Sales team on the road with the healthy living education campaign in December 2008
Live Whole and Healthy with Incas!
Incas Health is in pursuit of a Healthy Nation and a Healthy Continent and our single most important campaign is to promote healthy diets and lifestyles so that families can lead a better life that is disease free and full of energy, vibrant health and vitality.