Ebun Feludu, Founder & CEO, Kokari Coconuts & Company

My name is Ebun Feludu,  and I call myself the Chief Coconut Cracker at Kokari Coconuts & Company.

What we do is we farm and we process coconuts into a range of products. We started 2016 in my kitchen, 2015 actually, with just messing around and trying to make delicious coconut milk.

Then it occurred to me that, hey, maybe there are other people who may need this plant-based milk as well.

I approached the largest coffee chain in Lagos at the time and asked them if they needed plant-based milk, and they said yes. They were our first customers. That's how we grew.

We went on from there to pitch to the biggest pharmacy chain in Nigeria, and we pitched our coconut oil to them, and they said yes.

We've grown now to a team of 38. We have two factories. 

Not only do we sell across Nigeria, we also export to the UK, to the US, and hoping to scale some more to other countries.

Have a clear and ambitious goal for scaling

To scale, we were always very clear that we wanted to produce a proudly Nigerian product that could be an ambassador for the Nigeria and the Africa of our dreams.  So that when people picked up the product they'd be like, "Oh, wow, this looks good. It tastes good." It can sit on any shelf anywhere in the world. 

So that was the intention from the beginning, export. But first conquering the local market.

One of the things that we also did beyond the retail chains was also working B2B with a lot of companies that wanted coconut as ingredients in their products as well.

Basically, in any environment that we are, because we understand our customer and whatever works in one environment typically works in others, maybe with extra layers. So we take that same strategy to new regions so it doesn't feel like you're starting all the way from scratch. You're using the same strategy that has worked.

Exporting to reach new customers

The impact of choosing export as a pathway to scale is that we are growing.

The reality is we're going through a bit of a crisis in Nigeria at the moment, and the buying power of the Nigerian has really been hit pretty badly over the past year or so, especially being able to hedge the Naira against the dollar by finding customers who are able to pay us in stable currency.

That's really been helpful. 

Key takeaways 

• Have a clear and ambitious goal for scaling

• Diversify customer channels to expand your reach effectively

• Replicate successful strategies in new markets to avoid starting from scratch and support growth