Lisa Curtis: Founder of Kuli Kuli Foods
Dame Clarissa Burt
In the Limelight Multi-Media Platform | Public Speaker Author of The Self-Esteem Regime L.I.O.N.
Article by Clarissa Burt
She's the Founder of Kuli Kuli Foods. It's Moringa, a superfood plant she learned about in Niger while she was working for the Peace Corps as a volunteer. In a few short years, she's gotten her brand into Walmart! I don't know when this lady sleeps! I interviewed Lisa Curtis to find out how this powerhouse does it all!
Clarissa: Lisa, let me first congratulate you on all your amazing success! Just give me a little idea as to how and where it all started, and what was the light bulb moment?
Lisa: It all started in the Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa. I'm a vegetarian and found there wasn't a lot for me to eat in my village. I started asking some of the women I was working with, "What can I eat that would make me feel better? Give me more energy and the nutrients I need?" And they told me about Moringa. They pulled these leaves off a tree, mixed it into this West African snack, called Kuli Kuli, and said, "Here, eat this. It'll make you feel better."
Clarissa: Did it make you feel better?
Lisa: It did! It made me feel a lot better. I wanted to find a way to help them grow more in Niger and also help them sell it here in the U.S. That was 2010 so it's been a journey. I got back to the U.S. fired up by this idea, but coming out of the Peace Corps, I had no money to start a business. I ended up working in tech at another startup for a couple years that took up my nights and weekends. Then, almost exactly six years ago, I quit my day job.
Clarissa: What were your first steps? Did you go after funding?
Lisa: The first step was getting funding to start manufacturing. But before that, it was about testing out the product. Is there a market for Moringa in the U.S.? Are consumers going to buy it? So, I roped in some friends and made Moringa bars in commercial kitchens. We surveyed a bunch of people at farmer's markets and tested, "What did they like? What did they not like? How much they bought versus how many samples we gave out? How many of those people who sampled, purchased? That gave us a sense of, we really do have something here. That's when we did an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money for our first manufacturing run.
Clarissa: What are the properties of Moringa?
Lisa Curtis: Moringa is one of the most nutritious plants in the world. Most plants are 90% water which leaves little room for nutrients. Moringa is 80% water which leaves double the room for nutrients. It offers a complete plant protein, calcium, iron, B vitamins and antioxidants. It's a good natural energy and gives you what your body needs. Our name, Kuli Kuli, comes from the peanut snack they had mixed with Moringa to eat. I wanted to create some version of this in America. And I wanted to do it in a way that helps support women in West Africa. We ended up launching it as a bar, which was our version of that snack. That was our first foray into the US market.
Clarissa: What are the different uses and ways that you can prepare Moringa?
Lisa Curtis: We sell the powder and you can make a Moringa latte. I use almond milk and a little bit of agave, I also add it to my oatmeal every morning. We sell them in bars and smoothie mixes and wellness shots so we've got a whole sampling of Moringa products. It's a natural anti-inflammatory and great for detoxification. Many people take it first thing in the morning or if they've been eating too much junk. It has great B vitamins which gives you natural energy. Our main product is just the pure raw organic Moringa powder. You can add it to your lattes or to your smoothies. I love mixing in my oatmeal, it has kind of a green, earthy flavor similar to matcha, but it's really easy to mix into whatever you're cooking. Just one tablespoon is a full serving of vegetables so a little bit goes a long way.
Clarissa : Are you in all Walmart stores across the country?
Lisa Curtis: Not all. We're at about twenty-five hundred Walmart stores. We are nationwide. You can find us all over the country in 10,000 stores everywhere from Whole Foods to Safeway to Walmart to CVS.