Impact Award Winner: Wilson Kibara

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Wilson Kibara Mwangi, the Managing Director of Midrow Kenya Limited, is the latest winner of our impact award. He has been in business for 3 years. Here is what he had to share about his journey:

‍1. Please tell us a little about Midrow Kenya Limited. Midrow Kenya Limited is a registered company involved in the manufacture and distribution of food products. I founded it with Irene Wambui Githinji (Director). It achieved registration status in 2014 and setup of manufacturing facilities started in 2016. The process took longer than anticipated owing to the limitation of resources. Initially, the business was setup in a garage before the management identified and leased a long-term manufacturing facility. The manufacturing and storage facilities are located at Kahawa West behind Kenyatta University and Membely Estate in Nairobi, Kenya. The company currently manufactures honey and tomato sauce under the registered brand name Fleefol®. Our sales stand at about 500 kg of honey and 5000 kg of tomato sauce every month. We plan to grow sales to 2 tonnes of honey and 18 tonnes of tomato sauce in the next one year. The company currently has three full time employees and six part time employees.

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2. What inspired you to start this business? I started it to fulfill my long term ambition of seeing a package of a product originally manufactured by myself. I also wanted to help create employment. Through the company, Kenyan tomato and honey farmers have been able to get a market for their goods. It also makes me happy to help Kenyans get authentically processed foods.

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‍3. What has been the biggest impact that the Sinapis Academy course has had on you or your business? The Sinapis course to me was very practical. The opportunity to practice and share business experiences with other entrepreneurs made a whole difference. For the first time, I got to understand manufacturing costs and where to cut costs. When I joined Sinapis, the production cost was Kes 452 per carton and right now the cost is Kes 316 (a whole 30% reduction in manufacturing costs.)

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You can learn more about Midrow Kenya on their website