Athanas Matheka had always wanted to venture into entrepreneurship from a young age; he was inspired by the East African Breweries’ success story
Matheka would later quit employment to pursue that dream; he and his wife started the Greenforest Foods in their tiny kitchen in Umoja Estate, Nairobi
Production for Greenforest’s products has since moved from the kitchen counter to at least two factories, and the company has grown from just two employees to 69
Athanas Matheka greets me with a firm handshake but with a furrowed brow. Athanas Matheka, Founder and CEO of Greenforest Foods. Photo: Greenforest Foods. Source: Facebook “Excuse me for the amount of noise coming from our factory, we are still using power generators as Kenya Power has yet to resolve our electricity challenges which remains a big problem,” he says as we head to one of his factories. Matheka, the founder of Greenforest Foods, invited me to his factory to sample his latest product, a Greenforest new peanut butter brand, ready for launch into the Kenyan market.
He also showed me his other products, namely honey, peanut snacks, beeswax and cashew nuts, easily found on shelves of leading retail stores in the country and across the region.
His story is one of hope and determination.
You see, Matheka was not always a powerhouse in food production in Kenya, no.
He and his wife started small in their tiny kitchen in Umoja Estate 21 years ago. He would refine and bottle honey from his house before selling it at Greenforest Supermarket, a small retail shop he owned within the estate. “I started this business in August 2000, with about KSh 15,000,” he says. “I had worked for Unilever for 10 years, within which period I was in production and customer management.” He also worked for Cadbury’s and Unga Group. Lifelong dream
Matheka says he had wanted to venture into entrepreneurship from a young age. “I read about how the East African Breweries was started at the age of 15, and that was the beginning of my passion for entrepreneurship. So when I left employment and started my own business at 36 years old, that was a dream come true.” So when he realised the idea of selling affordable and quality honey was viable, he left his stable job to venture into entrepreneurship. “I remember getting a lot of criticism from my peers on why I was […]