A Kenyan businesswoman who owns a coffee company in the United States has gained a massive boost in her business after winning Ksh44 million worth of investment.
Margaret Nyamumbo, the founder and CEO of Kahawa 1893 – a firm that exports coffee from Africa to America – appeared on an investment TV show dubbed ‘Shark Tank’ to pitch the company for investment where she impressed and received a nod from one of the famous business moguls in the reality TV show.
As seen on the show's episode that aired on Saturday at 4:00 am Kenyan time on ABC Television, Nyamumbo took the stage to convince the four moguls or “sharks” including Mark Cuban, Emma Grede, Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary and Lori Greiner to buy a percentage of her business.
She explained her childhood and her journey from Kenya to the US, saying she grew up on her grandfather’s farm in Kenya before winning a scholarship to Harvard University.
Due to financial constraints, her whole village had to fundraise to help her travel to the US and study.
She graduated from Harvard and later worked at Wall Street before founding her coffee company in 2017 and currently lives in New York.
While detailing that her business makes over $1 million in sales yearly, Nyamumbo noted she is seeking $350,000 (Ksh44 million) for a five per cent stake in her company.
After heated bargaining and business talks, one of the Sharks in this case Emma Grede agreed to give $350,000 but convinced Nyamumbo to give an eight per cent stake in the business instead.
“Any brand that’s going to scale and do really well now has to be rooted in some kind of community,” Emma said.
According to Forbes, Emma’s net worth as of June 14, 2022, was $360 million (Ksh45.3 billion).
In her reaction, Nyamumbo took to Twitter to celebrate saying;
"We did it! We got a deal."
We did it! We got a deal 🦈 pic.twitter.com/lkGDkOdO98— Margaret Nyamumbo (@maggycoffee) February 19, 2023
