Have you ever wondered how your favorite snacks are sourced? Joshua Reed Diawo thinks more people should.
Reed-Diawuoh MBA ’20 is the founder and CEO of GRIA Food Company, which partners with companies that ethically source and process food in West Africa to support the local food economy and support the broader local community. .
“It’s very difficult for these agribusinesses and producers to start a sustainable business and build a value chain in their region,” said Reid Diauo, who founded the company while a student at MIT Sloan School of Management. say. “We want to support these companies as they work to build integrated businesses that employ talent and energize communities.”
GRIA (short for “Grown in Africa”) currently sells six types of flavored cashew nuts from Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso. All cashew nuts are certified by Fairtrade International, which, in addition to providing sustainable wages, access to financing, and decent working conditions, allows companies to make long-term investments in addition to their sales price. This means that you will receive a Fair Trade Premium. -Long-term health of the community.
“That premium is transformative,” says Reid Diauo. “The premium is paid to producer cooperatives and farmers who work on the land, and they can invest it as they like. They can put it back into their business, or they can invest it in building schools. You can also start new community development projects, such as improving wastewater infrastructure or anything else you want to do.”
crack a nut
Reed Diawo’s family is from Ghana, and before coming to MIT Sloan, he worked supporting agriculture and food manufacturing in sub-Saharan African countries, with a particular focus on developing smallholder farmers. There he learned about the challenges around financing and infrastructure constraints that hold back many companies.
“I wanted to get my hands dirty and start my own business that would contribute to improving agricultural development in West Africa,” says Reid Diawo.
He enrolled at MIT Sloan in 2018 and after taking entrepreneurship classes and exploring several business ideas, decided to ethically source produce from farmers and sell directly to consumers. Ta. MIT Sloan’s Sustainability Business Lab, he says, provided particularly valuable lessons on how to build a business.
In his second year on the job, Reed Diauo was selected for a Fellowship at the Legatum Center, connecting him with other entrepreneurs working in emerging markets around the world.
“Legatum was a pivotal milestone for me,” he says. “It gave me the structure and space to develop this idea, and it also gave me a great opportunity to take risks and explore different business concepts in ways I wouldn’t have been able to if I worked in the industry. ”
The business model Reed Diawo has decided on for GRIA sources products from West African agribusiness partners who adhere to the most stringent environmental and labor standards. Reed Diauo decided to start with cashews because they have many manual processing steps, from shelling to peeling and roasting, that occur after the cashews are shipped from West Africa. This is because large numbers of farmers are limiting the growth of local food economies and depriving communities of wealth. .
From the companies that harvest the cashews to the processing facilities, each of GRIA’s partners works directly with agricultural cooperatives and smallholder farmers and is certified by International Fair Trade.
“Without proper supervision and regulation, workers are often exploited, and child labor is a major problem across the agricultural sector,” Reid Diauo says. “Fairtrade Certification attempts a robust and rigorous approach to auditing all companies and their supply chains, from producers to farmers to processors. They visit sites and audit financial statements. We considered this through a thorough three-month review.”
After GRIA imports the cashews, it is seasoned and packaged at its Boston production facility. Reed-Diawuoh started by selling to small independent retailers in Greater Boston before expanding GRIA’s online sales. He began ramping up production in early 2023.
“Every time we sell a product, we provide information about our packaging and all collateral, in case people are not already familiar with fair trade and ethical sourcing,” Reid Diauo said. says. “We want to spread this message about the importance of ethical sourcing and the importance of strengthening food manufacturing, especially in West Africa, but also in growing economies around the world. Masu.”
Bring ethical sourcing mainstream
GRIA currently imports approximately 1 tonne of fair trade cashews and grains every quarter, and Reediao hopes to double that number annually in the near future.
“For every pound we pay, we pay a premium for our grain, and that supports this ecosystem, allowing producers to be fairly compensated for their labor on the land, and allowing agribusiness to , which allows us to build a more robust and profitable business model because we have an end market for our grain.” Fair Trade certified products. ”
Reed Diawo is currently experimenting with different packaging and flavors, and is in talks with partners to expand production capacity and expand into Ghana. He also looks into collaborating with companies, and has provided MIT with products for conferences and other events for the past two years.
“We’re experimenting with different growth strategies,” Reid Diauo said. “We’re still in startup mode, but we’re looking to really ramp up sales and production.”
As GRIA scales, Reed-Diawo hopes this will encourage consumers to ask more about their favorite food brands.
“When you source produce from a place like West Africa in a market like the United States, it’s absolutely important that you place a huge emphasis on doing it in an ethical manner,” Reid-Diawau says. “GRIA’s overall goal is to adhere to and promote strict sourcing standards and ensure that we are rigorous and thoughtful in how we import products.”
