Scaling organic farming and building a cooperative in Kenya

Our guest today is Yvonne Otieno, who on 2015 started a small farm in Kenya. She had no idea that in just five years she would be working with over 2400 other farmers and exporting to six European countries. A true entrepreneur, Yvonne shares her experience in what it takes to build an international business from the ground up while making an impact in thousands of lives. Learn more about her business Miyonga Greens and check out her crowd funding campaign here.

Imperfect Show Notes

While these notes are not perfect (computer transcription is still a work in progress), they give you the gist of the conversation. Enjoy!

My conversation with Yvonne Otieno:

Morgan Bailey 0:02

Hello, and welcome to the profit meets impact podcast where we explore the intersection of doing well and doing good in the world. I'm your host Morgan Bailey, and I'm excited to bring you the wisdom of entrepreneurs and thought leaders, they're using business to create sustainable and meaningful change across the globe. I'm here with you, Yvonne Otieno, a Kenyan businesswoman who just five years ago, started a farm, and is now working with over 2400 farmers and exporting to six European countries. She's an entrepreneur, a food waste warrior, and just an amazing human being you Vaughn. I'm really excited to be chatting with you today.

Yvonne Otieno 0:41

Thank you, mocha and excited to talk with you as well. Right?

Morgan Bailey 0:47

Of course, of course. And so you you are in you're in Kenya right now in Nairobi,

Yvonne Otieno 0:52

Kenya, Nairobi, it's in the eastern side.

Morgan Bailey 0:56

Amazing. And yeah. So I spent some time I spent a decent amount of time in Kenya, and it is a really big Innovation Hub there. I think in almost all of Africa, particularly East Africa.

Yvonne Otieno 1:08

Yes, I think it is. And I think there's still so much more to do. There's a lot of recognition right now that most of the generation in Africa, or the age group in Africa are actually going to be 21 and below the house population in Africa. So a lot of innovations are now coming up that target the future generations. So yes, because Kenya strategically placed as an innovation hub. But we also have more hubs coming up in different parts like South Africa, as well as the Nigeria in Ghana. So you're excited to be in Kenya do?

Morgan Bailey 1:46

Amazing. So I'm curious, you know, when you when you think about all the things going on, and Kenya and East Africa and globally, you know, socially environmentally, I mean, how do you see business changing? Or how do you see business helping address those challenges?

Yvonne Otieno 2:03

Um, I think that right now, the current challenges are what we see. And calling challenges in the different parts of Africa, are addressed opportunities written in a different way, I see business being the gap that will fill the business being the bridge that will fill the gaps that are currently being experienced, whether it's social or economic, or culturally, what I choose to look at is what these challenges present present in form of opportunities. And so what's the role the business will play right now of the role that businesses appearing right now is that most of them that are looking at it as opportunities are now structuring the businesses as missions, businesses that will not just sell commodity businesses that are just are not just after profit. But businesses that are after solving problems and making life better for others, businesses are looking at long term goals rather than short term profits. So businesses complete the role of being on number one, missions when you're looking at a problem. And you're thinking, how can we solve this? How can we make this better businesses that are looking at seeing how can we not just think about the profit that we make today? But how can we look at this as an investment for the long term, and also for the better, sort of future of the generations that are now looking up to us? I mean, most businesses right now, a bigger global businesses have made enough profits, and they're aware of it. And they're looking at giving out and making and having more, designing the businesses to have more or less of a social impact, as well as being environmentally, you know, sensitive and responsible about where they're sourcing their own raw materials, and how well, those that are providing the raw materials are actually taking, you know, how well the actually getting taken care of. So it's not just about oh, well, they're making good margins. It's also about Okay, do we really care about what these raw materials came from? Are we really making a difference to those that are providing us with the raw material, so it changes businesses to look at more the social as well as the environmental impact and then design of the model to be more sustainable?

Morgan Bailey 4:26

I mean, I think that and that sounds like a really big shift. And, you know, because I think even particularly on the consumer side, we have no idea where products are coming from, we have no idea that supply chain, the people involved, and you know what I hear what you're saying is just businesses being more intentional. Because one of the things that I found through talking and having all these conversations in my journeys in the world is that it doesn't have to cost you more to do things in a better way. You just have to pause and be a little more intentional.

Yvonne Otieno 4:57

Mm hmm. Absolutely. I like the word that you used. Fictional businesses are being bought International, and the way that it doesn't have to cost you more. Because what it really means is that, you know, a lot of times people are other businesses or are thinking about how can we be bigger as a business? But right now people are thinking like, how can we have a bigger impact? Rather than just be bigger? Because we've been big and have grown big enough for probably the biggest, but how many people are we actually impacting as a business. And for you to do that you kind of have to make the conscious decision to be intentional. I like the keyword that you use there and kind of put it in your plan, put it in your module so that you know what you're looking at, you know, what you're tracking as a business. So, yeah, doesn't have to cost you more to impact more people, you just have to be more intentional about it.

Morgan Bailey 5:46

I love it. I love it.

So so let's let's talk a little about about the business that you helped create younger greens. Tell me a little bit about the business.

Yvonne Otieno 5:56

Well, beyond the greens, there's usually so much to talk, but I try for the sake of the listeners to keep it like really short. And probably really short, let me just try my best. Usually I can go on and on and on. So please stop me. In case I get caught up in talking about the business. This began about five years ago, and when you first become one of them thinking about a business, I was only thinking about, okay, I had a job, I was well, I was employed, and earning a good salary. But I had family members that were not employed really didn't have a source of income. But the one thing that I did believe is that human beings love to be appreciated for what they do. And and when it reaches a point where someone is asking you for help, it's usually when they breached the list of end of their rope. So they we as human beings, love to walk and do some form of dignity that comes from walking. So I said, Okay, um, what if I invest some of the resources that I have into starting a business. So with that, I met a friend, and she told me about coming French beans. So we just had 1.5 acres of land, and we're growing puppies. And they become, and I thought, I thought that I mean, that would be awesome to just go fresh with a baby. But I still got to learn that everything looks good on paper. But when you start to actually do the business, then it does start to do the farming part of it. I mean, the numbers were just not adding up anymore. And so the second thing that I realized is that you need more than, you know, three family members to actually do do harvesting and planting of French beans, even if it's 1.5 acres of land. So there are I started to employ women around the community to work on the farm and solve the problem of, you know, the business not making money. I mean, the farm not making money at that point was not back then it was not a business was just a farm, I enrolled in a business entrepreneurship program called snippets. And this is a program that takes about four weeks, four months, and even in four months, you'll learn different aspects that you do apply in your business. And so we grew from one but because of luck, and normally registered as a business, and at the end of the program was a business plan competition, our business won the business plan competition. So we grew from 1.5, because to around 10 acres. And then from there, we kind of had the forward integration kind of plan right on the soon before we knew it, we had invested in irrigation systems to grow more, but we don't have that positive vision. Well, we're not just selling to exporters, but now a transition to become direct exporters. That is when we got into direct exports that we started to face the second challenge, which is the challenge of food waste. And that's the word. I mean, that's how I got the name as a food waste warrior. Because when it comes to export of good products, then there's certain specifications by the markets where they want the perfect fruit. But we both know that the perfect and ugly fruit still has the same nutritional value. So what do you do with that?

Morgan Bailey 9:07

Let me I'm curious to slow you down for a second because I feel like you know, so you started with an acre and a half. And and then at one point, you're now exporting to how many how many European countries thinks you're now exporting to six? So how did you make that leap from starting from an acre and a half to export into European countries that I mean, that seems like a kind of a big, big leap.

Yvonne Otieno 9:37

Yes, it's it is a big leap. And the thing you learn when you actually if you try to leap and leap far enough, the one thing that you will do is fall down a number of things. didn't happen overnight. It's a whole four year growth process where we had we learn from our mistakes. We had several mistakes but we also had several partners that worked with us along the way. So we have the same model that we use in the first place where it's like, know what you know, know what you don't know, then get help from GitHub, from those who know what you don't know. It's as simple as that. So for example, when we talked about, okay, what we do know is that when we do the people work, it looks like growing French beans makes sense. But in a sense, we were just farmers, we're not doing farming as a business. So what we didn't know is how to run a business. So we went to see Lapis and learned how to run a business, then we had perfected the art of being farmers and growing, but we have not perfected the art of being exporter. So we needed to get help. So what you learned that just because you know how to grow a product doesn't mean you know how to work the export market. And so you start to learn work, and you learn about its market. So it's just that same model. And for example, once you started to work in the export markets, we like that we can't, that the demand for food product is higher than the supply, and that we couldn't get it from one region. So we had to start sourcing it from different regions. And that's when it started to interrupt with our farmers. And that's where we started to learn about some of the social and environmental challenges that the farmers are facing from food waste, and the impact that it was having on their lives. And that reporting on our partners like GSP AI, to a really key on social and business impact. And they have helped us to work in the social business impact modeling to apply the food cycle, what do we know, What don't we know? Who knows what we don't know, can be met, can we get some help from them, and over and over again, land for down land, private land, land, land, land land. I mean, that's been a model of learning there is no NPC.

Morgan Bailey 11:47

That's amazing. So you, I mean, you you went from literally having your hands in the dirt, to and farming to increasing size your farm, diversifying your products to then working with other farmers to then exporting? Tell me, you know, and it sounds like it was it was a big moment for you, when you started working with some of the other smallholder farmers. Because you started to see a little you started to see a little more of the the social environmental impacts. So how did that how did that change or inform how you started? Or you know, how to change your inform how you started doing business?

Yvonne Otieno 12:28

I think it didn't change how I started my business. What it did, is it it sort of could maybe been my tribe, when I send my tribal see the farming tribe, in the sense that having been a farmer, um, I was I had experienced some waste myself. And my pain points were the same pain points that the farmers were experiencing, will one day you have good produce, and the buyer takes it and the second day, they say they cannot take it but my weapon, why can they take it, it's mostly for cosmetic reasons, and cosmetic reasons is one of the reasons and the other reason is because of other constellations. So I had purchased the same piece of let's say, one of the reasons that I say they started my business, I wanted to create employment. And so one of the challenges I was facing was having seen so many of these farmers being women, and then having to leave the produce in the farm, because they were not meeting the export specifications. And I said to look back at what does it mean, when I leave this produce at the farm, what it means is that this woman will not earn an income today. And this dream will not be able to provide for their families today. And we do know that women really invest about 80% of their income into improving the lives of their families. And when you look at the long term effect, what it does mean is that the future generations isn't their children, who they usually invest in would be missing opportunities, I will use a literal example. For example, when you do make payments, you have to sign that you have received the payments. So one of the turning point to remember refusing to sign that they have received payment and why are they signing? And also, well, they're not signing because they do not know how to sign they cannot sign. So I see, okay, there's very little I can do about the education of the women right now at the age, but what I can do is make sure that they earn an income enough to make sure that they can invest into the lives of their children who would not have to go through that. So that's so I guess, I hope that sort of explains where, for me it wasn't like it changed me it just made me more conscious about the challenges that were around me that I was probably taking for granted. So it made me become you know, start thinking about solutions to problems and not just profits as the end goal of the business.

Morgan Bailey 14:55

Amazing and and i think and for those you know, for those of our listeners who may not know Kenya and a lot of countries in the world. You know, education is not it's not a right, that's just given you actually have to pay, you have to pay school fees. And a lot of times these school fees are far greater than what what someone's able to earn in a given week or month. And so I think, you know, by by putting that power in their hands and increasing their economic opportunities, yeah, I mean, indirectly, they can put that money directly towards school fees, which I think, you know, has that trickle down effect of having, you know, a more educated population moving forward.

Yvonne Otieno 15:32

Yeah, absolutely. And it's the same thing with also, when you think about the health care and the quality of living, if at the end of the day, you have someone who has to study, and they have access to electricity, meaning they can actually see what they're reading, when somebody has to use a charcoal lamp to actually or have kerosene lamp, and the effect that would have on their health and their eyes. So if you have better income, you're able to actually prove the standard and the quality of life for your family.

Morgan Bailey 16:01

Amazing. And so it sounds like when you're when you're working with these farmers, I mean, not not only are you helping provide them a source to market, you're, you're also helping them with value add, right, because within food waste, even even, you know, cosmetically damaged food or other food like that may not be able to make it to market. So tell me, how do you handle this sort of value added process?

Yvonne Otieno 16:25

Okay, awesome. I'm so glad you asked that. Because right now we're working in a really, really exciting me where we are changing the business model from what has been there traditionally. So the traditional model, usually when you're working with farmers is that you have patches located in urban centers, and then you have farmers or you have traders go to the farm grade level, and they take the fruits, they buy the food from the farm, transported to the factory in the urban center, and then it is either processing to either the juice or any other value added food product. What happens is that in the process of that transportation, a lot of food waste actually happens about 40% of it goes to waste. Now think about you as well, when you go to buy fruits, what do you do? I mean, the thing is, you pick and see how good is it for you? Can you imagine that that selection process taxed at the family level, right when you're picking the fruit from the tree. So a lot of the waste actually happens at the farm level. So our new model of working is to help reduce the waist at the top of the funded level. And during the logistical process is we have a Mobile Factory that goes and processes and does the value add like you're calling it at the funding level. So we take the mobile truck and based on the seasons, like the different calendar of fruits, we mainly work with mangoes, pineapples, coconuts, and they fruit at different times of the year, you have this factory going to the different regions and doing the mobile fruit drying and turning it into powder. What do you do what you help so the three problems number one, you're adding value to the fruits that their farmers would not have and from the canal and income from it because they considered ugly. But like I said before, the ugly truth and the truth still has the same nutritional value. As long as it is not diseased or written pesticides, you can still use it. The second thing you're helping to do is to create employment in the rural communities communities. So when you have the mobile food factory, going to the rural communities, besides just farming, the farming community and the youth around that area, are actually employed to be employed in the Mobile Factory, where they can now earn an additional income but they didn't have access to. And that that thing is actually a business advantage for you. Because when you look at the conversion rate of dried to fresh, fresh fruits to dried fruits, if you're using a truck to actually transport about 20,000. When you dry it, it shrinks it back to change it back about 10 times you'll be transporting two kilograms of 20 tons of fresh fruits, which business wise, I mean, it's 10 times less than what your competitors are doing making the product more valuable. So that's part of what we're doing. That's part of what we are planning to do and do more because this is something that we're just beginning.

Morgan Bailey 19:13

That's amazing. And, you know, it sounds like you're making an impact on so many levels. And it it's having a direct impact on your ROI. Which again, goes back to intentionality, right? That if you do it a certain way, if you really think through what you're doing, not only can you run a good business, but you can also impact lives.

Yvonne Otieno 19:34

So absolutely.

Morgan Bailey 19:35

What I'm curious about is because I know from a lot of the entrepreneurs I've spoken with that funding has is always a challenge. And I'm curious what what is the funding landscape, you know, within Kenya, East Africa and nationally that you've had to sort of grapple with?

Yvonne Otieno 19:54

Well,

I'm so glad you asked. That's usually done. See probably is the same everywhere for every entrepreneur that it's not, you know, the first two years are usually the most difficult and the most challenging. And if you're trying to look for funds at that particular time, unless you are actually more of a unicorn, it's quite challenging to get people who are willing to fund you. So people say the first three people that always find you in a business is your friends, your full, and family. So unless you really have a strong business model, as an entrepreneur, that's not to chase funding in the past two years, but Chase, building your business case. And if it means that you have to pull, don't pull in any of your resources, do it, I had to take off my life insurance at first and my sister, my blood sister, was my first friend for the business. Yes. And, of course, having gone through the business incubation program, and I'll see because you've asked this, you know, of the funding landscape, let me see the business incubation, a business acceleration programs are playing a very, very important role. And it's in the East African region right now. Because, like I say, when we first started, we were just funding and not being farming as a business, I put up land, most of the things I learned about business, if I did not, you know, enroll in a business incubation program, so the biggest investment that probably you would have at the beginning of your business, is the time you invest in learning. And right now, the resources that are available for entrepreneurs to learn from are amazing, and most of it is available online, your phone, what are you using your phone to do as a business entrepreneur? Are you just looking at all the cool videos are using it to get resources that would actually help you resources, by resources, I mean, the skills, the networks, the information there is such that the data that is available for you to use that can then help you to actually build your business, because there's several people who are willing to give their time I will give the example of we just came through, you know, came through are probably going through like the rest of the world of our season, the coffee pandemic. And one of the things that really made a big difference for us is the mentorship that received from business experts from the GSP program. So they will be you have people who have been through difficult situations before and are willing to invest the time to make things easier for you. So the first investment you should look at is number one, how willing are you to learn? How much time are you willing to invest? Then the second one is, are you willing to fall and get up done? Do you have a strong business case? Are you looking at what solutions you're solving, don't run to get investors if you I mean, this is my recommendation, though it's not cast in stone. And it may be different experiences for people, the people who have funded just an idea, but the people who would look at you to see that passed, you have proved your model, and you have a strong business case. And some will actually not even find your business model to just find your passion. And so you have to know your business and know your audience so that you know what type of people you are finding and finding people who are looking to find an idea, find a passion, find a business model to do your research. And that will help you but the funding landscape in Kenya right now, the environment, the ecosystem is quite robust, and it's quite wide, and it's quite healthy. And I think it's gonna get better. Yeah.

Morgan Bailey 23:28

So what do you you know, like for those entrepreneurs out there, so it sounds like one of the big things is the stage at which you're at making sure you have that clear business case? And and I think particularly, you know, I mean, within farming and similar industries, there's going to be a big growth curve. Within that, that, you know, you may have to wait through that period before you really start seeking investments. But what what advice or what lessons have you learned from you actually started seeking financial investments either locally in Kenya or internationally.

Yvonne Otieno 24:00

And one of the biggest lessons I learned is that my biggest funders, my customers, so if you can get people who are willing to buy what you are selling, and can get enough of it, and you can move to a buyer or you can prove to an investor sorry, that you actually have a ready market for your product and all you need is the investments that would help you meet that market demand, but often makes it so much easier. And if you can also prove that you are you know, you know your market and you are passionate enough about it, but you can also learn and show them that Kay I think this is this is amusing just based on our stories is that you know, we didn't always know what to do but we learned from our mistakes and can do it right. Then it makes a difference because most people think that entrepreneurs are looking just for the perfect business person. They're looking for the perfect business plan. They're looking for the perfect business model. But the real business people know that nothing ever starts as being perfect and they will see through your sorry for good my luck. visibilty through ups, so it's better to just be honest. And being they will relate to you more, if you can actually just let them know, come on. This is how things are. But despite things being this difficult, we made it through. Yep.

Morgan Bailey 25:18

Yeah. So I mean, it sounds like I mean, I mean, having having the data, but one having having customers and having the information to show that the other is the demand, as well as that transparency.

Yvonne Otieno 25:29

So yeah, that's the large.

Morgan Bailey 25:32

Yeah. So when you look forward with some younger greens, like what what do you see as some of the greatest opportunities, and what do you see some of the greatest challenges looking forward?

Yvonne Otieno 25:41

Oh, well, that's a good question. And I think in a previous interviews, someone asked me, like, what I mentioned is that I felt like I had not run big enough when he first began. So now the biggest challenge right now is, um, how selective Will I be about how big I want to dream. And let me just speak more about what we're doing right now. And the challenge that we face, the challenge we face right now is that the problem you're trying to solve is big. It is big, it is bigger than we are. But our commitment to solve it is also real, and has been there for the last five years and are about to give up. So how to make sure that we can actually mobilize all the resources to actually help solve the problem. That will be helpful, because the more we talk to farmers, I mean, it's amazing the number of phone calls I get, we already have a network of about 2400 farmers, you know, network, but we have more farmers calling and I have to tell them, I'm sorry, I would love to work with you, but I can't right now. So the challenge is usually I want to be able to say yes, or, or will my note change to a yes. You know, um, we want to come up with the front, we have come up with a franchise model where we have our factory, yes, but we also want to put the power in the hands of the farmers to make sure that they can learn the skills that we have and produce the products, the value added products, that's mostly so you haven't talked much about it? Are we doing lots of dried fruits and also powdered fruits, mango, banana, pineapple, coconut, and jackfruit. So the farmers are now the farmers will just not sell raw commodities, but sell value added products. So my challenge right now is to make sure that, you know, I leave none of them behind in this full change process.

Morgan Bailey 27:47

Amazing. And yeah, I mean, 2400 farmers, I mean that that's, that's a significant amount of stakeholders to be to be working with. And so and I think the franchise models does sound really interesting. And, you know, I'm curious, like, how much of your? Or is all of the is all your produce and value added products distributed internationally? Are you is there also, are you also working with the local market?

Yvonne Otieno 28:14

Okay, so lots of it is distributed internationally, because we first registered as an export company. And so I will see about 90% of it goes to the export market, and 10% of it to the local market. And the 10% have just begun to grow it recently. And we had to pilot this, around the last few months when there were no flights, or getting flights became quite expensive. And we still had to sell the produce that we had. So because when you register as an exporter in Kenya, you have to make sure that 80% of all you produce actually goes to export, and then 20% you can sell locally. So for us to start poverty to increase our local sales is something that we are currently doing. So that the product can also be available locally, but we first have to make sure that we meet the 80% questions that set by the government.

Morgan Bailey 29:09

Oh, interesting. Yeah. So, so looking forward, it sounds like you know, increasing the local market, the franchise model sounds really interesting. What would you say are the the maybe some of the challenges that you're you're looking forward and saying, okay, like this is this is going to be important for us in order to scale.

Yvonne Otieno 29:29

Okay, so one of the challenges that we are trying to solve is it pre COVID a lot of our sales was actually selling to customers in Europe, and he was selling it in bulk, and then they will pack it package it in their own private brand. And so, right now what we're trying to do is to post sustainability purposes, to ensure that we can also build our own brand and it's a big challenge to actually be based in Africa and start to try to build Your brand, let's say in the US or in Europe. So that's a new area that you're trying to build so that customers can then already be, you know, relate to our brand and know our brand. So that COVID, or no COVID, or anybody that decides to show up soon, just know that customers do not recognize the brand. So that's something that we are trying to do. The other thing we are trying to do is also, like you said, in the beginning is that most people do not know the source of the raw materials or the source of the food that they eat. So what we've come up with is the digital possibility tool that will help consumers know who actually drew the product, why are they growing the product and the impact they're having in those particular farming communities when they buy that product. So you could actually trace it right up to the GPS location on on the source of your food. So it's really easy to have a QR code, they can just come and we'll have information about the form of the name of the farmer, about the family. So we also trying to build that type of relationship. And then it will be easier also for the consumers to see that when you're buying the fruit, you're not just eating good food, you're also actually having a social impact you're connecting to you're making a difference to the lives of some families in Kenya rural farming communities. So that's something we're doing now, are we going to be able to do we think we'll be able to increase the number of farmers that we work with from 2000? Because Kenya is bigger than 2500 farmers? So do you want to? Absolutely we do? How are we going to do that, that's something that we are open to having more partners come and partner with us to see how much more we can do together and see how many more people we can actually impact?

Morgan Bailey 31:46

Well, that's inspiring and amazing. And I love the traceability aspect. And you know, I'm hoping that one day, I'll be able to go to the store and buy some manga, greens branded, you know, you know, dried mango or fruit. And, you know, I, you know, as a consumer here in the US, I think the traceability point is really interesting, because we don't have a lot of idea. I mean, the only data that we have on our fruits and vegetables are whether it's organic or not. And some, you know, and in the country of origin, and a lot of times, that's not even very easy to see, you know, you see tomatoes from Mexico, but that's about all the granularity, you get out how they're produced, you know what that supply chain looks like? whether or not there's, you know, there were fair practices around it, where we're completely oblivious to, for the most part. And so I think being able to connect the consumer directly to the origin and understand the impact along the way, in itself is also a value add, I would actually pay more to know that information so that I can walk away feeling good, that I'm making a positive impact and not a negative one.

Yvonne Otieno 32:58

Mm hmm. Absolutely. I guess it was more than feel good, you would actually be making a positive impact besides the feeling so? Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, that's just like you said, it's the same thing in the US and Europe, a lot of consumers are not aware about the product. And now, what's proven to be more valuable than just besides the product. And yeah, I like that you call it a value add is the additional information about the product, people want to learn about it. So like right now, we are working together with a company in Germany, and we're running a crowdfunding campaign, where they're trying to try to promote trade and not aid where you actually know the product. And you can go online and find out more information just by scanning the QR code. And it gives you like, more information about the traceability issues that you're talking about. So yeah, for those that are interested, we'll be happy to have you know, share the link and have you um, you know, visit the site and you know, have about ticker ticker. And maybe Morgan you should probably start a similar company to have the dried fruits vailable in the US.

Morgan Bailey 34:07

I know, I've been thinking about them, I could put that in a smoothie. I'm like, why do I not know about this already? Awesome. Well, this is this has been a lot of fun. I really appreciated the conversation and and the business acumen and the business knowledge that you're bringing to this and it's really inspiring for me to know that you didn't start with that you you actually have built that over the past five years. And it's quite amazing because, you know, you you've you've really done a lot being able to go from, from farming to exporting internationally and working with these various partners. So I'm curious you know, it's kind of our last questions is what right now what's really inspiring you what's driving you Oh,

Yvonne Otieno 34:49

um, what's driving me is the mission is to accomplish the mission is an accomplished in this field. So much to do. And still, I just keep thinking that, um, as long as there's food going to waste, it's as long as we have season Well, in Kenya, you have plenty. And then you have seasons that you have a lot of foods going to waste, you have seasons where you have, let's see, calls to actually find feeding programs, while at the other side of the road, you have fruits that's going to waste, then my work is not done yet. Because why, why we have so much waste in the midst of plenty. So until we are able to bridge the gap and see if we take this waste, dried, have value addition to it, you are solving this problem of people and then use the right product, whether it's powder and are getting ready to use therapeutic foods, and then feed those that do not have it, then my work is still not accomplished until we can do more. Can I do all of it? No. But I can do a small part of it and stir up more people to start thinking about, you know, the food that's going to waste and and rescuing it. Yeah.

Morgan Bailey 36:10

Wow. Well, you are an inspiration. I'm leaving this call feeling inspired. So I appreciate all your action. And how can people find more information about you and me and greens moving forward?

Yvonne Otieno 36:25

Thank you. So we are available online, we have a website wwe.me younger fresh greens, that's m i, y o n g, then the word fresh and greens.co the key. And if you want to take part in the property companies, we just have 35 more days to go. You can go to tax next dot Manu your company and be a part of making the difference in the over 2400 farming families in Kenya. Yes,

Morgan Bailey 36:56

Yvonne, thank you so much for all that you're doing for your time today. And I'm really excited to see how you know to see younger grains in my market and the impact that you're making across the world.

Yvonne Otieno 37:09

Thanks. Well, it's been a real pleasure talking to you and you can really nice you just send it off. Thank you.

Morgan Bailey 37:16

I've just enjoyed listening. So I look forward to future conversations. Thank you so much.

Yvonne Otieno 37:22

Thank you.

Morgan Bailey 37:24

Thanks for listening to another episode of the Prophet meets impact podcast. If you enjoy this experience. Please subscribe wherever you find your podcast and leave a positive review. You can also find out more about the podcast at WWW dot profit meets impact.com

Transcribed by https://otter.ai