From start-up to scale: 7 lessons from East Africa Foods

elea Blog

Diana Michael and Elia Timotheo, founders of East Africa Foods in Tanzania, have transformed their business from a small start-up with just five employees into a thriving company with a team of 500. In the past decade, they have built a network of over 10’000 farmers, aggregating food that is now distributed daily to more than 7’000 businesses.

During a recent virtual session with the elea Entrepreneurs' Community, Diana and Elia shared key insights on team management and fundraising. Based on their experiences, they offered practical lessons on scaling an impact venture – lessons that can serve as valuable guidance for entrepreneurs navigating their own growth journeys.

Diana has captured these learnings in a blog article.

Team management

The brick-builders should know they are building a cathedral

As our team grew rapidly, we faced the challenge of aligning all employees with the company’s mission and culture. We realized that middle management plays a crucial role in embodying the vision and ensuring that junior staff and the wider team understand how their tasks contribute to the company’s broader goals. To address this, we broke the vision down into clear, measurable objectives, followed by projects and, ultimately, specific, actionable tasks. We empowered middle managers to communicate the connection between smaller, day-to-day tasks and the larger vision. This approach helped us transition from a founder-led vision to one that is shared and understood by the entire team.

Hire slow, fire fast

Building the right team – and keeping it – is the hardest part of growing a business. Take your time in finding the right people with the right attitudes and soft skills from the start – they should share your company’s values, ambition and culture. For example, ask about their preferred working styles during the interview process. If agility is important to the role and you can offer it, candidates who value that will thrive and stay with you long-term. However, don’t be too patient when it comes to letting people go. As the business grows, its pace will outgrow some team members. Early on, we were too patient, and that cost us time and delayed certain milestones that we could have reached sooner.

Discipline matters

Establish KPIs tailored to your business needs to ensure your team is on track and hold them accountable for their performance. For a company like East Africa Foods, punctuality is critical, as customers rely on timely deliveries. As a result, being on time has become a non-negotiable aspect of our company culture for all employees, with punctuality regularly tracked – even through biometrics.

Fundraising

Fundraising is a full-time job

Fundraising requires a substantial investment of time and resources from management, and the team needs to be set up for that commitment. It should be a top priority for two main reasons:

  1. It always takes longer than anticipated, and you don’t want to find yourself running out of cash.
  2. You want to have the time to carefully choose your investors, ensuring they align with your long-term vision and values.

Different fundraising rounds require different due diligence

Investor expectations evolve with each fundraising round. In the early stages, fundraising can feel like a hassle, and only few documents are yet prepared. Fortunately, early-stage investors tend to be more patient and forgiving of mistakes. Use these initial due diligence processes as opportunities to strengthen your business – whether or not an investment is secured. The lessons learned during these rounds will better prepare your company for the more rigorous criteria and processes demanded by later-stage investors.

Role of advisors

Advisors can be a great support during the fundraising process, but it’s essential to choose the right one for the stage your company is in. Take the time to assess whether they are the right expert for that specific round and financial instrument, and if they have the right network to truly add value. Otherwise, you risk spending valuable capital on advisors who may deliver disappointing results.

Fund tech with an operational mindset

Many investors are eager to fund tech. But if you build tech, it should solve your company’s operational needs. We realized that we wanted East Africa Foods to remain a brick-and mortar business. However, when we were handling over 2’000 deliveries daily, we reached a point where technology became essential for scaling to the next level. We’re glad that we didn’t invest in tech too early, but instead incorporated it as an enabler when we were ready to fully benefit from, rather than making it the core of our business model.

Through our experiences, we hope to offer meaningful insights to fellow entrepreneurs looking to grow their impact ventures. Our journey is a testament to the fact that with the right mindset, strategies, and support, significant scaling is possible. We encourage you to embrace these lessons and adapt them to your own entrepreneurial path. And, if you’d like to exchange ideas or discuss further, we invite you to reach out to us.

Diana Michael in discussion with elea CEO Andreas Kirchschläger during a workshop at the elea Entrepreneurs' Community meeting in Johannesburg.

Diana Michael and Elia Timotheo with elea Founders Susanne and Peter Wuffli during a visit to East Africa Foods in Tanzania.

Authors: Diana Michael and Elia Timotheo, Co-Founders of East Africa Foods