How Lilian Bitok, Lilian Songok built a thriving food brand to promote traditional delicacies
Lilian Songok left and Lilian Bitok, founders of Gavo Foods International LTD.
A quick swipe on your phone’s play store under the health and fitness section will reveal a numerous app to help you stay in shape. From calorie tracking to recipes and diets, these apps are a clear reflection of modern society’s pursuit for health and proper nutrition.
In 2019, two entrepreneurs hopped into the health-conscious bandwagon with the aim of promoting consumption of traditional foods. Their assessment of menu options in local hotels revealed a gap in utilising locally available produce such as fruits, indigenous tubers, legumes and vegetables which are packed with nutritional benefits.
Armed with this knowledge, the duo -Lilian Songok who holds a master’s degree in food science and community nutrition, and her business partner, Lilian Bitok who has a background in insurance, came up with an innovative venture named Gavo Foods International limited and set up shop at Kenya Industrial Estate in KIRDI, in Uasin Gishu County.
“We are passionate about food farming and keen to see more people adopt a traditional diet for better health and wellness. We wanted to see more gluten free and keto friendly food options in our local hotels and decided to start a company specialising in the same. We produce gluten free and keto organic flours, honey, assorted spices, juices and seed oils,” Songok explains.
Lilian Bitok attends to a customer during a product exhibition which is one of the ways they market their brand.
The two enterprising women started out with a capital of Sh500,000 which went into purchasing a medium commercial hammer, a small mini mill for spices and an electric food dehydrator to process the farm produce into flours, juices and oils.
The processing involves sorting key ingredients, cleaning and chopping them into manageable sizes for milling. The finished product is then packed, ready for sale. These products are certified by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS).
“ We use high quality local ingredients such as pumpkins, butternuts, green bananas, avocados and various vegetables,” says Bitok.
Presently, the company sources its ingredients from local farmers but plans are underway to expand operations and get raw materials from other parts of the country so as to boost their product options. To this end, one of the strategies they hope to employ is reaching out to farmers’ cooperatives spread across Kenya so as to buy produce in bulk and continue supporting the agricultural sector. Based on the firm’s track record since they began operating in 2019, the market has been quite receptive and the future looks bright.
“We are committed to be the leading Kenyan manufacturer of gluten-free, keto organic flours and spices, through our expert quality manufacturing and packaging technology that we continue to develop and improve,” Bitok explains and adds,
“We also work towards improving nutritional awareness by educating people on the need to eat more wholesome foods as part of efforts to alleviate lifestyle diseases, malnutrition and also to end hunger.”
Gavo Foods has a staff of three permanent employees and two casuals. Their marketing approach so far includes customer referrals, social media marketing, print advertisements and participating in events such as food exhibitions.
“Our leading products are powders and flours made from pumpkins, butter nuts, carrots, okra and hibiscus. They are quite affordable, ranging from Sh50 to Sh700 depending on product and quantity.”
The company sells its finished products all over the country. It hopes to start partnering with hospitals, specifically those with patients that have coeliac diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, malnutrition and hunger.
In future the company plans to focus on healthy therapeutic diets, training, consultancy and nutritional awareness through diagnostic tools and hopefully open a world-class nutrition centre.
