Business
Renee Dunn is the Founder and CEO of Amazi Foods, a mindful food company that makes unique and very tasty fruit snacks. While attending Wesleyan University, Renee had the opportunity to study in Uganda. She was struck by the local entrepreneurial sector and their delicious tropical fruits, so she opted to later return and conduct her thesis research on the state of entrepreneurship in Kampala. After graduating, Renee interned at The Aspen Institute where she focused on entrepreneurial ecosystem analysis. Combining her passion for healthy food with her development experience and her entrepreneurial spirit, she founded Amazi Foods in 2016 to reduce food waste, create job opportunities, and encourage business development. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: Renee Dunn's academic background and how she got started in entrepreneurship What Renee learned about the fruits business in Uganda and why she chose to work with plantain, jackfruit, and papaya What Renee did to provide a solution to Uganda's local fruit farmers and how her company's supply chain works How Renee started distributing her products to Sprouts and how she identified her customer persona How Amazi Foods has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic Renee talks about growing the e-commerce side of her business and how that has impacted the business Renee's future plans for Amazi Foods and the benefits of partnering with local farmers when building a food brand The biggest challenges Renee had to face growing her business In this episode… While in college, a visit to Kampala, Uganda introduced Renee Dunn to some exotic African fruits. She loved the country's jackfruit, plantains, and other fruits that are not easy to find in the US. She also discovered that despite a buzzing entrepreneurial spirit in the city, most of these fruits were sold in few outlets and limited to a few customers. To help solve this problem for the Ugandan farmers and help bring these exotic fruits to the US, Renee decided to start a fruit snacks company. She had the fruits sourced and processed in Uganda, and then had them shipped and distributed to US stores. Although she faced a myriad of challenges, her persistence bore fruit and now her products are found in many Sprouts stores. Renee Dunn, the Founder and CEO of Amazi Foods, is Steve Cleere's guest in this episode of the NexxtLevel Podcast, where she talks about her journey building a snacks business out of exotic African fruits. Renee explains how her company makes the snacks, how she handles the logistics of transporting them from Uganda to the US, and how she has been expanding her market through online and retail stores. Subscribe and Listen on: iTunes Spotify Stitcher Google Play Deezer iHeartRadio TuneIn Radio Public Amazon Music Resources Mentioned in this episode Kitchen2Shelf NexxtLevel Marketing Amazi Foods Amazi Foods in Sprouts Renee Dunn on LinkedIn Misfits Market Imperfect Foods “Saving A Natural Wonder - Our Gorongosa on the NexxtLevel Podcast!” Sponsor for this episode... Our podcast today is sponsored by Kitchen2Shelf, the educational arm of NexxtLevel Brands. Kitchen-2-Shelf provides online and in-person courses and workshops for CPG entrepreneurs at any stage of growth. Whether you're an early-stage startup, a local growing business, or if you want to just expand your distribution to a national level, Kitchen-2-Shelf can help you learn what you need to know to grow. Visit their website to get access to some free tools that can help you understand where your business stands. Contact them today to find out how they can help you grow your brand and expand your business to reach its full potential.