How Ehime Eigbe- Akindele Turned Her Food Business Into A Frozen Yoghurt Empire 

Without a doubt, it is always going to be a huge risk for entrepreneurs who are willing to set in motion a big idea as the concept of fundamentally shifting directions can be terrifying. Even so, customer habits change rapidly, along with digital trends, so a tolerance for risk is essential for any successful entrepreneur.

Whether it’s turning one feature of a product into the product itself, resulting in a simpler, more streamlined offering or focusing on a different set of customers by positioning a company within a new market–you’ll feel inspired by this daring Nigerian female food entrepreneur and dairy explorer who pivoted her company and changed everything.

Sweet Kiwi frozen yogurt is now a well-known brand in Nigeria which I built from scratch. We are currently the top frozen yogurt company in the whole of West Africa

When the founder and CEO of Lagos and US-based frozen yoghurt brand Sweet Kiwi, Ehime Eigbe-Akindele, started her pioneering business, it was born out of the need to create a clean dessert recipe after she realised most available brands weren’t as healthy as they claimed.

After a health scare in 2009, Eigbe-Akindele made it her mission to focus on healthy eating. Unfortunately, this meant she’d have to give up her favourite dessert, ice cream. Now on a mission to find a healthier, yet just as satisfying dessert, she soon began to research the topic of nutrition. As she learned more, Eigbe-Akindele started to create her own recipes for frozen yoghurt.

After some trial and error, the ambitious entrepreneur felt she was ready to begin the long journey of launching her own frozen yoghurt food business. However, after returning to Nigeria following a holiday in the US, Eigbe-Akindele noticed a lack of available frozen yogurt shops and quickly recognised a great potential for business. This decision would ultimately pay off. The demand for Sweet Kiwi was high, and it quickly gained a cult following locally.

Sweet Kiwi was soon able to open a flagship store and two additional locations in Nigeria, and then eventually, launch its product offering in the US. Speaking to Business Day Nigeria, Eigbe-Akindele said: “I founded the first frozen yogurt company in Nigeria with the intention to create healthier dessert options in the country. Sweet Kiwi frozen yogurt is now a well-known brand in Nigeria which I built from scratch. We are currently the top frozen yogurt company in the whole of West Africa.”

With business doing well in Nigeria, Eigbe-Akindele decided to move back to Washington D.C. with her husband, where they would try to build a consumer packaged version of their frozen yogurt. Describing the expansion, she says, “The expansion was quite exciting for me because it was a validation of seven years of hard work I had put into the business. To have top US retail brands and top people in the food industry in the US try our products and believe we have something special really gave us so much confidence.”

Having moved back, Eigbe-Akindele became part of the Washington D.C. food ecosystem in 2018 after partnering with a food & beverage business accelerator, Union Kitchen to create their new product line as a Union Kitchen accelerator member.

It wasn’t long before various US-based companies such as Whole Foods Market, Union Kitchen and Rainforest took interest in her fast-growing frozen yogurt brand. Though this pivot means they now have a new range of granola products and new frozen Greek yoghurt line to manage, alongside stiff competition in the new market, it’s one that has been worth every sacrifice.

But like every good business story, there are twists and turns for the entrepreneur to overcome and Eigbe-Akindele had to go through all of these to get her company to where it is today. Despite her confidence in her product and plenty of experience running her frozen yogurt shops in Nigeria, selling her products in US stores was a different process. Finding the right packaging, for example, was a challenging nut to crack.

To have top US retail brands and top people in the food industry in the US try our products and believe we have something special really gave us so much confidence

In an original version of packaging, Eigbe-Akindele tried for a shorter and wider than the standard American pint. They found out quickly that consumers thought they were getting less product – even though they were actually getting the same amount. Through feedback from customers, she would later learn to craft a package that would appeal to and suit the local market’s needs.

With the launch, Sweet Kiwi has continued to expand its business in North America. They are currently in Union Kitchen grocery stores, Yes Organic Market, Streets Market, Dawson’s Market and several other grocery stores in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area. With the partnership with Rainforest, Sweet Kiwi is looking to expand throughout the East coast.

“Myself and my team are overwhelmed by all the love we have received since we announced our launch and partnerships with Whole Foods USA, it feels like Nigeria won the World Cup, this win is for us all. As a female founder, I have seen further because I stand on the shoulders of giants,” she said in an interview with SoMe Solutions.

She told Business Day, “It was definitely an incredible experience to be able to see our products on the shelf and see my face on freezer doors. A very humbling experience! We launched our products in the US last year and we were already in smaller grocery stores, so it was great being able to pitch to the Whole Foods Team, and being accepted was the biggest validation of my career. I remember not being able to sleep the night before we were meant to launch, I woke up early the next morning and drove into the store. It was so surreal seeing our products on the shelves.”

Eigbe-Akindele has also gone on to win several grants such as the VISA & I Fund Women Black Women-Owned Grant, Sara Blakely & Spanx’s Red Backpack Grant, Digital Undivided’s ‘Do You’ grant, and additional one for winning the Black Girls Ventures Pitch, all of which expanded her business and helped her gain more visibility.

Sweet Kiwi now has over 100 flavours and recipes. They also make smoothies, parfaits, waffles and have created unique flavours for and led partnerships with many exciting brands such as Moët & Chandon, Pepsi, Guinness, Baileys, Veuve Cliquot and Hennessy to name a few. 

She has catered major concerts for Pepsi, serving over 3000 people. Sweet Kiwi was named one of the 100 most innovative companies in Nigeria in 2017 and 2018. Eigbe-Akindele is known as the remarkable pioneer of frozen yogurt in the West African market.

“Sweet Kiwi is going to continue growing our vision of creating the best tasting low-calorie desserts and food products. We are currently backward integrating to create more value within the local Nigerian dairy chain. We will be putting out more dairy-based consumer packaged goods in our bid to support the growth of the local dairy industry. We will keep growing in the US market and start looking to explore other markets in Africa and Europe,” she noted about her future plans to Business Day.