Unlike many entrepreneurs who venture into unfamiliar territory, Mapenzi had academic training in food science and nutrition. [Courtesy]
Anytime Sheila Mapenzi talks about nutrition, she does not begin with business plans or profit margins. She begins with children arriving at school hungry.
In Kilifi County, where many families struggle to put regular meals on the table, she saw pupils turning up for lessons on empty stomachs, unable to concentrate and often lacking the motivation to stay in class.
It was a problem she encountered repeatedly and one she believed could be tackled, at least in part, through something as simple as a nutritious bowl of porridge.
That belief became the foundation of Phina Ventures, a Malindi-based food processing company producing fortified composite porridge flour under the Nourish brand.
