Item 13: An African Food Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Dr. Wanida Lewis is the Founder and CEO of Crescendo Foods, Ghana and West Africa’s first shared commercial kitchen co-working hub located in Accra, Ghana. Dr. Lewis has over ten years’ experience leading initiatives and strategic partnerships throughout the African continent. She has a BS in Chemistry from Saint Augustine’s University, an MS in Analytical Chemistry from North Carolina Central University, and a PhD in Food Science from North Carolina State University.

Find Crescendo Foods on Instagram (@crescendo_foods) and online at crescendogh.com

Photo Courtesy of Wanida Lewis

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A Queens, NY native, Nkem Oghedo is the founder of Adá, a community & online destination for global Black food culture. Previously, she worked in management consulting and served as the Chief of Staff of wellness tech startup, Care/of. Her professional mission is to create equitable economies in which Black communities thrive. She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Find Adá online: https://www.withada.co/

And on Instagram @adaexperiences

Photo Courtesy of Nkem Oghedo

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Back with a new season and can’t wait for you to hear! This week, I’m trying out a new segment/episode format: I3 Items on Item 13 featuring thirteen food-related things I’m eating, reading, watching, participating in, etc. Items featured in this week’s episode:

A Mom Potluck
Poks Spices
TJ’s Sparkling Watermelon
Spice by Miss Cookie
Dounou Cuisine Food Truck
A Trip to Ghana
Ghana Food Movement
Food Ambassador Opportunity
Top Chef Houston
Iron Chef on Netflix
Koto LLC Peppers
The Stand by Le Monade
Dine Diaspora & Eat Okra

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This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets. Aderoju Odunsi is an agribusiness specialist and has been an entrepreneur, trainer and Business Development Service provider for over 30 years. She has a particular interest in helping people, especially women to transform ideas into solid businesses. Aderoju is the Founder/CEO of Sorello Food And Beverage Company Ltd, a food processing company with a vision to transform Nigeria’s agricultural produce into world class healthy food products with a product portfolio of Nigeria’s 1st NAFDAC registered Sorrel (Zobo) juice, Vegetable juices, Herbal teas, Spices and Superfoods. She is also the Principal Consultant at Experiential Consult Ltd through which she trains, coaches and mentors on Business Management in Nigeria and across Africa. She has won several awards in recognition of her industry by the Lagos State Government, NECA’s Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW) and the Federal Government of Nigeria’s YouWIN program. She is currently the President of Lady Rancher Cooperative Multipurpose Society Ltd, the first women ranching cooperative in Nigeria; founding member and first Vice President of NECA’s Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW) where she currently serves on the Governing Council. 

Find Sorello Food and Beverage Co. online at https://sorellofoods.com/ and on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sorellojuice/

Photo courtesy of Aderoju Odunsi.

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Are you a business owner? Become an HRN business member! For $500 HRN will shine a light on your work AND you will help sustain our mission to expand the way people think about food. As a thank you for this tax-deductible donation, your business will receive on-air mentions, social media posts, listings on our website and more. Go to heritageradionetwork.org/biz to become a business member today.

This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets. This week’s guest is Temi Jebutu, a Nigerian Agribusiness professional with over 17 years of experience in Operations Management working with multinational and international organizations. He is currently the Managing Director of AACE Food Processing and Distribution Limited which produces spices, seasonings, snacks and complementary foods for local and international markets. Temi joined AACE Foods in 2014 and has led the growth of the organization by introducing innovative and nutritious products, improving the livelihoods of over 10,000 smallholder farmers in the company’s supply chain and displacing imports through promoting local sourcing. AACE Foods’ pioneering efforts have been recognized and supported by the Africa Diaspora Marketplace, Innovations Against Poverty (IAP), the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), Business call to Action (BctA), the London Stock Exchange, Ebony Life TV and WIMBIZ. Prior to returning to Nigeria to join AACE Foods, Temi had prior work experience in Canada with McDonalds Corporation and Sakai Spice. Temi holds a BSc. In Estate Management from Obafemi Awolowo University Nigeria, an MBA in Operations Management from Frederick Taylor University, United states, and an MBA in Food Security from Business School Netherlands. He also has a Quality Management Certificate from the University of Manitoba Canada, is a member of the Stanford Seeds Transformation Network and a Cochran Fellow. Temi is a change agent in the Nigeria Agricultural sector and remains committed to promoting nutrition, producing nutritious food, improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and also ensuring gender equality and women empowerment in the agribusiness landscape.

Find AACE Foods on Instagram @aacefoods_ng

Item 13, along with several HRN podcasts, has been nominated for the TASTE AWARDS! Vote here for our podcasts in the Viewer’s Choice category: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DR2NJJH

Photo courtesy of Temi Jebutu.

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This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets.

This week’s guest is Ebun Feludu. She runs JAM The Coconut Food Company- a family legacy business that produces premium food and beauty solutions from the world's most famous super food- The Coconut. "We are committed to building the biggest coconut brand in Africa for Africans. Our premium coconut products range from Coconut Cinnamon Balls, Activated Coconut Charcoal, Coconut Flakes, Coconut Lemon Oil all made from our beloved coconut. At the center of our operations is our army of coconut amazons who live in the rural coastal communities where our factories are located. These formidable women make up 80% of our workforce and their work accounts for 80% of household income." Ebun Feludu is committed to the growth of the women force at JAM The Coconut Food Company and her women community at large. In 2008, Ebun made an epic Trans-Saharan road trip from Lagos-London, through the West coast and the Sahara desert. She has remained committed to channeling enterprise to build the Africa of her dreams, starting with Nigeria. In 2017 she was made Nigeria rep for WEF- Women Economic Forum. In 2019, she led the largest delegation of women to the annual Women Economic Forum conference in New Delhi. In the same year, she was made the inaugural Nigerian Chairperson ALL Ladies League Nigeria- the global network of women under the auspices of the Women Economic Forum. In June 2020, Ebun Feludu was announced as President of the Nigeria-India Bilateral Business Council- creating a bridge connecting women in business in Nigeria and India. Her first and most intense training in coconut processing and the entire coconut value chain was in India with support from WEF.

Photo courtesy of Ebun Feludu.

Find JAM, The Coconut Food on instagram: @ @jamcoconutfoods and online @ https://jamcoconutfoods.com/

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This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets. This week’s guest is William Omamo, a Kenyan national and trained hospitality professional with over 20 years of industry experience. He is a graduate of Les Roches Global Education Switzerland. William's career has seen him work with world-class organizations leaving a footprint in 4 countries on the African continent. As an entrepreneur, William’s passion to be creative & innovative saw him startup 3 coffee shops & a pub/steakhouse during his career. He is also the brains behind “CAKE-ZERO”; a unique high-fiber sugar-free natural fruit-sweetened cake which is fast gaining popularity with health conscious folks in Nairobi. His venture into hot pepper farming & value addition dates back to 2009. Initially the pepper business was a side hustle, but with the onset of COVID19 William had to step up and commercialize the hot pepper enterprise to what it is today; a trail-blazing enterprise which aims to produce the most favored table condiments and cooking ingredients Out of Africa. Our long-term ambition is to establish a world-class agro-tourism destination on Lake Victoria, Kenya.

Find KnK Peppers online at: https://knkpeppers.com/

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This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets. This week’s guest is Chichi Eriobu, the Founder and CEO of Phronesis Foods Nigeria Limited, a globally-growing food Processing, packaging & export company, creating new food product lines from existing raw materials. A Christian, and multiple award-winning entrepreneur, Chichi was awarded Best Female Business Speaker of the Year (Leadership Mind Awards, 2017) and Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year Award (BAOBAB International Awards, 2018). In 2020, she was appointed one of the young people to sit on the Board of Crown Point College of Health Sciences and Technology, Ogun State. And in 2021, she won an award for influence through Business & Entrepreneurship, presented to her by FBI Awards. Having been selected for multiple business grants opportunities, Chichi is teaching other small businesses how to leverage grant funding for their business growth, with her first eBook, ‘How to Pitch Your Business’. Chichi’s vision is to build a globally recognized solution-based business, and impact other young entrepreneurs with the investment of her personality.

Find Phronesis Foods on Instagram: @phronesisfoods

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This week we're re-broadcasting in celebration of the Ginjan Brothers' recent feature in Humans of New York. And big news: we're launching a new season of Item 13 starting on February 1st!  In the meantime, here's the story of Mohammed and Ibrahima from episodes 46 and 47.

Ginjan Brothers was founded by Mohammed Diallo & Ibrahima Diallo. The brothers immigrated to the States in their early teens, 13 & 14, respectively. Mohammed has a formal training in business management and spent the bulk of his professional career in the financial services industry. Ibrahima is an engineer by training, but spent most of his career in the hospitality industry. Their mission with Ginjan is to make African food, drink, and aesthetics and integral part of global mainstream culture.

*CPG = consumer packaged goods

Find Ginjan Brothers online: www.drinkginjan.com

Ginjan Bros. Social: @ginjanbros + @ginjancafe

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Photo Courtesy of Ginjan Brothers

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Whitney Osei-Akintaju was born in Kibi, Ghana, and migrated to the United States with her father when she was six years old. In her sophomore year of high school, she took a web design and multimedia class which sparked her passion for tech. In 2011, she began competing in pageants and was named Miss West Africa USA First Runner-Up. She was also Miss Ghana Tourism USA 2015. Her corporate career began in banking and finance working for companies like Bank of America. From there she moved into tech, working for Sage Software and Apple as a Technical Analyst. In 2017, while working at The 100 Companies as an engagement coordinator, she was pregnant with her first child, Cassidy. A busy mom, she searched for ways to purchase high-quality, authentic African grocery items online. Unable to find any, she decided to create one. Ethnic District is an e-commerce marketplace where African CPG brands can sell their products directly to customers, retail and wholesale. She started Ethnic District with just $80 and has grown it into a six-figure business organically as a solo entrepreneur. Companies like Warner Brothers Studios, CBS, and the Museum of Food and Drink have already used Ethnic District to source products for PR packages, events, and recipe boxes. She is an IfundWomen Entrepreneur of the Year Semifinalist in the Food and Beverage Category. With Ethnic District, Whitney hopes to bring more awareness to African products and make them more easily accessible in the western world. She wants to see African products become a part of mainstream American consumer culture. She also wants to provide tools and resources for makers in Africa to create products that meet international standards so that the continent can capture more market share in the CPG space.

Photo courtesy of Whitney Osei-Akintaju.

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