Cracking the nut industry: how Kenya adopted the world's most valuable nut, with Charles Muigai

The East Africa Business Podcast: African Start ups | Investing | Entrepreneurship | Interviews

Do you know what the world's most expensive nut is?

It's the macadamia nut.

Similar in shape and colour to a chickpea, but up to twice the size, it's originally from Australia and is now grown in several tropical locations around the world.

In Kenya, the first trees were grafted and planted in the 1970s with a few disparate growers and aggregators each individually trying to generate a market.

Ten years ago Charles Muigai founded Nutpak an industry body for nut processors in Kenya.

They deal with peanuts and cashews too, but the real business in macadamias where they represent Kenyan producers both at a national government level and internationally.

Charles and I chat about all angles of how this industry is growing in Kenya including the minimum "farm gate" price set for macadamia farmers, the process by which they are packaged and ultimately exported, and lessons other burgeoning industries can take for their role on global stage.
READ MORE AT:
https://theeastafricabusinesspodcast.com/2019/11/28/cracking-the-nut-industry-how-kenya-adopted-the-worlds-most-valuable-nut-with-charles-muigai