Ep 03: How I Started My Value Added Business from Seeds and Groundnuts with Samuel Baraka

'Trily' depends on the people who you surround yourself with. What they say, even if they say something that is negative, try to shift it. Just know that God brought you to this holiday that purpose. It's a drive to find that purpose and walk in it. It works well towards it. No matter what other nations we say. Hi everyone and welcome to SHIFT's AgriHub Podcast. They show that not only inspires and motivates you to start another business venture, but also shares simple actionable tips and strategies that will help you grow your business into a profitable venture. And your host Margaret Bessar. In today's episode, we are joined by Samuel Baraka and Agri Prenua in the value addition space. My name is Samuel Baraka and I agree Prenua. I ran a company by the name of Hebsby International Limited that produces four varieties of peanut butter, jaggery and honey, and the brand name of natural Baraka. As you can see, these are product range. They told you earlier the four varieties of peanut butter. The first one being peanut butter mixed with sesame, cashew nut and flax seed, which is highly nutritious. And the second one being peanut butter mixed with cashew nuts, which is also nutritious. The third one being peanut butter mixed with sesame, and the last one being peanut butter plain, being peanut butter plain. And those as I said that we also have jaggery, which is natural sugar, and honey, which I love that for you to try. So your range of products are mainly from nuts, seeds and honey? Our range of products are mainly, as you've said, not seeds and honey. And also sorry for God to mention, we also have jaggery, which is from sugar, can we also do have that one. For people who might be allergic to the commercial sugars and also allergic to honey, they can be able to use jaggery as a substitute. What motivates you to get into this form of production and specifically the ground nuts and cashew nuts, the nuts and honey? One of the things that really motivated me to get into it, are you previously used to be a rugby player? Okay, you'll find during the flood lights or safari sevens or driftwoods, at that particular time you're supposed to play three or four games in a day. And you can't eat anything heavy because if you eat anything heavy, you won't after two or three games you won't be able to play the third or the second or the third game. So the only alternative was peanuts, which is high in proteins and it's able to give you the energy that you may need. But now I started now doing research to know what can we incorporate in peanuts that will make it more nutritious. So as I would like, as I used to go to the supermarkets and all that, you'll either find a peanut butter made of peanuts only or butter made of cashew nuts only. So that's when God now gave me the idea of being able to mix the peanuts together with the same same peanuts together with the cashew nuts and being a supposed person, you know, the beauty of a seam seam. It's strengthened the body bones and besides that also the body muscles. So it's highly nutritious. It's only that it's a seed that people don't know much about it. So you narrowed down to that the peanuts and the same seam when you mix them together, they were able to give you some sort of energy. Yeah, they were able to give me some sort of energy. And I thank God at that particular time that I was doing all that I remembered when we were growing up in the village or grandmother used to give us peanuts that I was mixed with sesame seeds. So I had to go back to her to get more knowledge on it and why they were mixing it and which ratios that they were using. And as much as I went to her now during her sunset, years, health was failing and I'm happy with the knowledge that she gave me on how to be able to select the best peanuts. The best seam seam and how to see the especially the seam seam because mostly you'll find that seam seam comes with a lot of small stones. So to be able to see and make sure that whatever your processing doesn't have those small stones. I remember now after coming back to Nairobi doing production, I had to go back to the up country to take up only the finished product to her. And she was so delighted and at that particular time she was almost eight to eight years old. And on that we did find out that as she was consuming it, her health was regaining and even her appetite. And she could walk for long distance than she used to. So it's something that as much as she helped me in knowing on how to go about it, it's also something that I could see was helping her health wise. So that's when I now started doing more research to know about it. That's when I was able to find out that it can strengthen bones. Peanut butter mixed with seam seam is able to strengthen bones to strengthen your body muscles. Besides that, you'll find that it's high in minerals, magnesium, potassium and all that. And that's why you'll find that most of the pediatricians will or maybe when expect and mothers are visiting the clinical, the normal clinical visits, they are told they are given folic tablets. And most of the minerals that are in that folic tablets, you can easily find them in the seam seam. And you'll find that if you are a regular player in this post-partial plane, you need to have strong bones, strong muscles, which is something that you're able to easily get it from this peanut. Yeah. So that's very good because maybe at times we ignore traditional knowledge that has been passed from generation to generation. So from what you're saying, it's actually that traditional knowledge that your grandmother passed to you that was able to ignite that business idea that you had because you saw it. The idea at the mixture was helping her regain her strength. And even for you as you're blending them and mixing, it also helped you re-grind your strength or even add to your strength as a rugby player. During three or four matches a day, it's quite strange, isn't it? Yeah, it's quite strange. And it can easily take a toll on you. And luckily now, as the way I had started being research on the peanut butter, it was able to help me in one or another. And besides that, you could see that the progress, because my grandmother, you'll find that at that particular time, it had returned. She was around 90. She passed on when she was there. Some people, some of the uncles were saying 95 others were saying she was 97. So we are not sure, you know, people were not during her time. But that was something that she had for them to keep. In her 90s, you'll find that there was before she started taking the peanut butter, she. Once in a week, maybe get out of the compound and all that. But after she started now taking continuously the peanut butter and all that, she could get out of the compound almost on a daily basis to go for a stroll to stretch herself and all that. So it's something that I could. That I saw, you know, helping her health wise. And besides that, there's also one of my clients, a lady. She has a son who has autism. And she was asking, she was telling me that the son is a poor feeder. What would they recommend? So I just told her, I think the peanut butter that will be good with the one that has a seem seem seem seem cashier and floxy. And as the way the son has been taking it, she has statement pose. You know, notice when my son takes the peanut butter, the autism episodes that we normally used to have have really reduced. So I again went to do research and I found out that floxy disabled were assist the children that have autism. ios hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon Hon hon hon hon hon Hon hon Hon hon Hon Hon hon Hon hon Hon hon Hon hon Hon hon Hon Hon Hon hon Hon Hon Hon Hon Hon Hon hon hon Hon Hon hon Hon hon Hon Mom Hon hon hon Hon Wh puedan Hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon Hon Hon Hon Hon hon Hon Hon Wh puedan Hon dieaku jealousant esЭто täg jo. Judaj ni hu Hamaru grlation. Ha einem ko kanakosim depie kortan. Kami kanakosim depie kortan. Wessehlerнее gestiko takenamde kainaider sir Tort Lowam, ysad cellular rebona' ust globalis, genre tan terno takenasedas ya enkah tautikah ot nihidsandantu taito. Still mad lead, betrim, tan para ra großai mo watifusteredaya. Kil workforce. In everyday life, just around us. To identify that within the world is just an idea that has disappeared one of the best would be identify them and also one of the key things I noticed is having the right people surrounding you and also it will depend on how you'll digest what you hear some of the people saying because like for me, I thank God Pastor for Pastor Diola, Pastor Fever. They really encouraged me, they pushed me to the wall. Yeah. My wife also and my mom, they really encouraged me in doing it. My colleagues whom I was working with in the company when they had that I was resigning to go and continue making peanut butter, they were laughing and even some of them who are buying stopped even buying or even when we meet, they'll always be in a hurry. But funny thing, those are the same same people that at the moment, some of them will come back asking that I have an issue, why are you able to assist me? It really depends on the people who you surround in the yourself with. What they'll say, even if they say something that is negative, try to shift it. Just know that God brought you to this old lady, that purpose. Yeah. Try to find that purpose and work with it and work towards it. No matter what other naysayers will say, they're not so lowless back. Yeah. Wow. And we don't have to listen to the back. I don't have to. Actually, you just ignore. You just, if you've noticed that, yeah, if you go to even any of your friends who has a dog, yeah, when it backs when you enter the gate, if you ignore it, yeah, if you stop backing, yeah, but if you give it the attention, it will continue backing. So if they leave the naysayers, they have anything to say, just ignore them. Yeah, yeah. At the end of the day, you're the one who will have the last love. It's true. Well, I like what you've said about surrounding yourself with positive people. People will build you up. Yeah. Like pasta, say, a diola, a diola and pasta favor, even as they kept pushing you, yes. You know, at times, someone can ignore her away from them, because it's so much pressure. You don't even know where to start. But he kept encouraging you because you can do it. Come on, you know, someone you can do it. You can do it and they beat you up. Yeah. You know, when you are so naive, you'll go and look for an excuse that you think now, this is, if I give him this excuse, he would have a solution, he'll understand. Yeah. I'll go with that excuse. He'll give me the simplest solution of that particular excuse that will make me now start thinking, eh, I need to listen more. As much as I'm trying to run away from him. Yeah. And at the end of the day, even since I, I said, they have started their business, they have grown. Yeah. He has never even demanded even a single cent from me. All that he asks me and he tells me, "I'm looking forward to see your products being sold internationally." Wow. That's what gives him joy. So it really matters even the people that you surround yourself with. Yeah. The people that you listen to. Yeah. So you've mentioned that you had some ups and downs, maybe from discouraging words from people. So what are some of the other challenges that you faced generally in general, not as an entrepreneur, as you started your business. What are some of those challenges that you encountered? And how did you overcome them? Actually, the challenges are normally many, but the beauty of beauty will always have to be creative to find out around it. Like most of the information that you look, you'll want to get from the government institutions. The most disadvantage thing is that you'll find, most of the government institutions, 90% or 80% of the employees who are there, they don't even know what goes in there. Only the 20%. So you'll be lucky enough to get that 20% in order to get that information. Okay. And so what really helped me is that I'll go to a certain government institution that I want to get information. You'll get information that you yourself know that this is not the right information. Try to come again next time and try to look for somebody different. Okay. Ask the same question, you'll get another information. Come again until that particular time that you'll get somebody that you'll get information from that you see now this is the right information or this is the information that makes sense that you can resonate with. Yeah. Then you move on. Yeah. Another thing was in regards to the name, the capital, you know, when you're making that projection that now I'm resigning, I want to start with the money that I'm getting from the cooperative that I was in. Yeah. This is the money that I'm getting as a pension from for the years that I've worked for this company. So you put it in pen and paper, it's all looks rosy. Yeah. But when you are outside things look different things end up being different. So at that particular time when I was working with peanut butter that I was making, it was through just client feedback and YouTube. And now I was talking to Pastor Diorland, he told me, he asked me if there is an institution that can really train a person on peanut butter making because he told me, you know, there are so many brands and you have to find an edge to have an edge in order for your products to sell. So I started scouting and was able to get Kenya Industrial Research Development Institute, Kirdi, which was very welcoming. Yeah. But now you'll find that the peanut butter I wanted to do it naturally, not using chemical preservatives in them. Also with that you'll have to do a lot of productive development, a lot of tests, and all of them cost money. To a next end I remember by the time now I had gotten the measurement on how to make it naturally. At that particular time all the money that I had, the resources that I had saved from my previous employer, I had depleted everything. So I didn't have anything to go about with. But luckily my wife was able to assist me and also there are some trainings that I was doing to people who wanted to also to venture into the same business and they'll pay me. So that's what really helped me to be able at least to have something to start with. What duration did the product development process take? Well, the product development process took three years. And in fact, that's the reason why I came to understand why a company like Coca-Cola, a global company with all their resources, it will be easier for them to buy, mini-tmi-d company that makes G's other than them starting their own G's from scratch. Product development really takes a lot of time, a lot of resources. And because you make something, there's someone who you'll be able to put in a container, put it near in a window where there is a bit of sunlight, near the sunlight, others in a cool place. After some time you scoop them, take them to the lab, you test to see how they're reacting, have they started forming mold, they started maybe forming a seed, how they're reacting when you put them directly to the sun and all that. It's quite a tedious process, but with patience, if you're looking to have something that will stand out and you need to have patience and with patience, you'll be able to get a product that you want. How have you been able to differentiate yourself from other companies that are doing something similar to what you're doing? You know, the making pin at butter or honey. What is your differentiating factor, your competitive advantage? One of the key things is that I cannot show you if you go to the market, you need to be able to get pin at butter mixing, same, same. You'll either get pin at butter plain or same, same being sort of stahimi, same, same plain. Yes. You need to get pin at butter mixing cashew nuts, you'll only get cashew nut butter. But because for me, it's such that we did by combining two ingredients. two, three or four seeds together, it makes the peanut butter to be highly nutritious. That's one. Number two, one of the key things is that people don't know there are so many varieties of peanut, but there are those specific varieties of peanut for peanut butter. Especially if you are doing natural peanut butter that has got medium oil level. Those are the ones that we source and use in making our peanut butter, which I would say it's an edge that we have over the others who just use any peanut for making peanut butter. Yes. Yeah, I was thinking of the fat content, I think in the nuts. So that also plays a factor. Yeah, it is. As you select the nuts that you're going to use. Yeah, yeah. It plays a factor because keeping in mind you are not using any chemical preservatives that is able to arrest the fat so that they may not separate when the peanut has, when you have packaged the peanuts, but you'll find that in our peanut it will separate because you don't use those chemical preservatives to arrest the peanuts. But one of the key things we have clearly written on the label that when the fat separates, you are able to mix it using the spoon, the normal spoon at home. Or if you want to, you can store it upside down. The fat will be able to mix itself with the peanuts. Okay. Yeah. And on the honey part of it, having known that honey is the second most adulterated product, the systems and the measures that we have put in place to make sure that we get the best honey and say that they have been working for us. And besides that, besides adulteration, one of the other things that we do, even before purchasing the honey, even if the honey passes the baptists that will undertake it in, we still use the malt test to get that to find out if the test is acidic or it has an false test or an even smell. And all these factors that have been brought up by nature, depending on where the honey, the hives were kept and the flowers that were flowering at that particular time. An example, if you are able to give this honey, the honey that you have is from a cysoll area. Yes. It will be a bit bitter and if you put it in tea, now when you're sipping the tea, you know that vapour that will be coming, you'll find that it's coming with an awful smell, the an awful smell that most of the people don't like it. So we also have to be sure that we are not just buying any honey as much as good quality. What of this smell? What of the test? You know, you say that I remember that I bought honey and it was quite bitter. And you're thinking, is this honey, honey supposed to be sweeter? So I think I actually understand as a business person, can you imagine buying a whole ton or such large quantities of honey that has that bitter taste? Yes. It can be quite something. Will you process it or what will happen to it? Well, actually, you'll find that people will process it. Some of the people in business won't mind the process. They'll put it in the market, you buy that bitterness, so to yourself out. But we are so sensitive also on the people that we are serving, the market that we are serving, the clientele we are serving, we are not, yes, as a business, we are looking to make profits. And that profits come from valuable clients, not just clients, but clients that we value. So whatever we give them, we also want to make sure that the way they are willingly buying our products, we are also giving them the best. And we are looking for a long-term partnership, not just a short term thing that we are having yet there. Because if you look at it in a broader picture, if we fail, because we are selling our bad product, we don't have clients. When you don't have clients, like at the moment, the employees that we have, they won't be able to pay them. And maybe there are people that are dependent on them. They found us that the ones that we are using for honey and the ones that we want to start using for peanuts. They also have families and people that are depending on them. So it's a whole value chain that will be affected. Yeah. Also pay taxes for the government. Maybe just to clarify, honey from size of flowers is not bad. It's just that it has a bitter taste. It has a bitter taste because of that particular flower. That particular flower, which comes from the nectar that comes from the size of plants. Which may not be what the consumer wants. Because now, since you are in business, most of the consumers might not want to buy bitter honey. But it's still good honey and good honey. It has medicinal properties. medicinal properties and all that. Okay. We've now come to the end of part one of this interview. Join us next week as we listen to the second and final part of Samuel Barakas inspiring and a renewal journey. Thank you for taking the time and joining us today. Remember to visit our website, shiftagrehaap.com, for sure note of this episode and other resources. The episode is available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts and your favorite podcast provider. And yes, subscribe so that you can receive the latest episodes as you release them. Connect with us on social media, at shiftagrehaap. For now, it's Quaheri. See you in the next episode as we shift mindsets with simple, actionable growth ideas. [BLANK_AUDIO]