Why Nanyukis Nina Yoghurt Is Selling Internationally
Updated on: Sep 11, 2020
At a production centre in the outskirts of Nanyuki town, 15 workers are seen hard at work, turning tens of litres of milk into Nina Yoghurt, the main product line from the dairy venture Kiwama Enterprises.
A section of the workers load packages of the yoghurt, together with the dairy byproducts in the form of butter and cream, onto delivery trucks for dispatch to the supermarkets and other retail outlets in Nanyuki and Nyahururu towns.
Nina Yoghurt retails in distinct flavours of vanilla, strawberry and natural, and is currently venturing into strawberry fruits and lemon grass to introduce a new array of flavours into the market.
Yet for Kiwama Enterprises proprietor, it has not been all rosy learning the ropes of entrepreneurship.
What started as an idea in the kitchen in 2004 with only five litres of milk has weathered the storm in the business world to become a promising dairy venture that it is today, but not without facing a collapse in between before a comeback in 2007.
Looking back, Peninah Wangeci Maina, proprietor of Kiwama Enterprises is proud of the growth the dairy processing enterprise has undergone over the years.
But while Ms Maina credits the success of the enterprise to hard work, her joining of Laikipia Innovation Programme has introduced her to new business perspectives, expo-sures and links that have propelled her business into new horizons.
Kiwama joined Laikipia County Innovation Programme in March 2019, a step that Ms Maina says helped her shatter the production ceiling, venturing into new markets beyond the Kenyan market.
Ms Maina says the Innovation Programme has exposed her to new business perspectives that are accelerating the growth of her dairy venture. The programme has linked her to Kenya Industrial Estate, where she has managed to secure affordable loans to expand her business.
Using the loans, she has acquired new ma-chines to boost production such as a standby generator to plug inconveniences of power in-terruptions.
The dairy entrepreneur credits her growing fi-nancial literacy to the continuous trainings on areas such as stock investment facilitated by the county innovation programme.
Ms Maina says new markets are opening up, courtesy of the numerous exhibitions hosted by the county innovation programme that has exposed her to new potentials.
We have had good progress. We have show-cased our products in far places like Rwanda during a two weeks exhibition organized by the innovation programme in 2019, the dairy entrepreneur says, adding that she is currently expanding into cheese production to reach the new markets in the neighboring countries.
We are grateful to the county government for
the training and the new business connec-tions that have come with the exposure. We are glad to be contributing to job creation and county revenue growth Ms Maina says.
Even at the height of Covid-19, Kiwama En-terprises has maintained all its 15 workers, a decision that Ms Maina says was in-formed by the need to protect their (workers) dependents from the financial shock associated with job losses.
Times are hard out there and we thought it wise not to abandon our workers at the hour of need, she says.
The entrepreneur attributes passion for her growth from humble beginnings, and calls out to the youthful entrepreneurs to be passionate in their business ideas.
It is doable. The struggles will always be there, but keep the focus as the markets will respond, she says.
A section of the workers load packages of the yoghurt, together with the dairy byproducts in the form of butter and cream, onto delivery trucks for dispatch to the supermarkets and other retail outlets in Nanyuki and Nyahururu towns.
Nina Yoghurt retails in distinct flavours of vanilla, strawberry and natural, and is currently venturing into strawberry fruits and lemon grass to introduce a new array of flavours into the market.
Yet for Kiwama Enterprises proprietor, it has not been all rosy learning the ropes of entrepreneurship.
What started as an idea in the kitchen in 2004 with only five litres of milk has weathered the storm in the business world to become a promising dairy venture that it is today, but not without facing a collapse in between before a comeback in 2007.
Looking back, Peninah Wangeci Maina, proprietor of Kiwama Enterprises is proud of the growth the dairy processing enterprise has undergone over the years.
But while Ms Maina credits the success of the enterprise to hard work, her joining of Laikipia Innovation Programme has introduced her to new business perspectives, expo-sures and links that have propelled her business into new horizons.
Kiwama joined Laikipia County Innovation Programme in March 2019, a step that Ms Maina says helped her shatter the production ceiling, venturing into new markets beyond the Kenyan market.
Ms Maina says the Innovation Programme has exposed her to new business perspectives that are accelerating the growth of her dairy venture. The programme has linked her to Kenya Industrial Estate, where she has managed to secure affordable loans to expand her business.
Using the loans, she has acquired new ma-chines to boost production such as a standby generator to plug inconveniences of power in-terruptions.
The dairy entrepreneur credits her growing fi-nancial literacy to the continuous trainings on areas such as stock investment facilitated by the county innovation programme.
Ms Maina says new markets are opening up, courtesy of the numerous exhibitions hosted by the county innovation programme that has exposed her to new potentials.
We have had good progress. We have show-cased our products in far places like Rwanda during a two weeks exhibition organized by the innovation programme in 2019, the dairy entrepreneur says, adding that she is currently expanding into cheese production to reach the new markets in the neighboring countries.
We are grateful to the county government for
the training and the new business connec-tions that have come with the exposure. We are glad to be contributing to job creation and county revenue growth Ms Maina says.
Even at the height of Covid-19, Kiwama En-terprises has maintained all its 15 workers, a decision that Ms Maina says was in-formed by the need to protect their (workers) dependents from the financial shock associated with job losses.
Times are hard out there and we thought it wise not to abandon our workers at the hour of need, she says.
The entrepreneur attributes passion for her growth from humble beginnings, and calls out to the youthful entrepreneurs to be passionate in their business ideas.
It is doable. The struggles will always be there, but keep the focus as the markets will respond, she says.
