After living in South Africa for 12 years, 4 of which were spent working for an entrepreneur support organization, Affiong Williams returned to Nigeria to set up a business.
Affiong had initially planned to produce fruit juices, but she did not have the capital for the machinery. Dried Fruit turned out to be the next best option and she began gauging prospective clients to see if there was a market for it in Nigeria and there was a lot of positive reception. The company become functional in 2013 and launched its mango and pineapple snacks, having used the prior year to get all of its certifications.
Reelfruit, founded in 2012, retails a range of dried fruit and nut snacks through various channels. ReelFruit’s product range comprises branded and healthy dried fruit and nuts snacks (pineapple, mango, fruit/nut mix, and cashews), sold at over 400 outlets around Nigeria, through online channels, and to B2B market (hotels, airlines), answering to the growing demand for healthy snacks. The products are also exported to Europe (Switzerland and Belgium) and sold on Amazon.com.
Funding
In the early stage, the funding process was bootstrapped with the CEO’s personal savings and some help from her family members.
In 2015, ReelFruit was awarded a grant by IDH Sustainable Trade to complete an innovative pilot to train and hire 50 women in Mango farming in Nigeria, a first-of-its-kind intervention.
In 2020, Reelfruit was part of the Village Capital accelerator program in which it was selected as one of the winners of the $50,000 funding from the accelerator.
In September 2021, the Nigerian Agritech startup announced $3 million Series A funding to establish a new factory to help expand its production capacity. The round was led by Alitheia IDF. Other investors that supported the round include Samata Capital and Flying Doctor Healthcare Investment Company.
Growth
Though it took about five to six years of pushing it for the ReelFruit to see the adoption. Now, they are in over 700 stores, retailing in about 12 states, and have launched nine unique products with more to come.
In 2020, ReelFruit sold the equivalent products of 1,200,000 pineapples that would have otherwise gone to waste, achieving $480,000 in revenues (despite COVID lockdowns and lost business that cost the company ~40% of annual revenues). ReelFruit is majority woman-owned, has a 100% female management team, and a 55% female employee base (full-time and part-time).
ReelFruit is also an award-winning brand, winning an international Women in Business Competition in the Netherlands.
Sources: Guardian, Lionesses of Africa, Tech Next,
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