Year of Foundation: 2013
Number of Employees: 15, 13 of whom are women
CEO: Oluwaseun Sangoleye

Mission

Baby Grubz aims to improve the nutrition of African babies by supporting their optimal growth. The company produces quality food with high levels of nutrients.

Business Model

Baby Grubz is a food company that manufactures complementary baby and infant food products. The company works on an inclusive business model which includes producing nutritional food products, developing sales points with distributors and franchises, and providing a mentoring programme on child nutrition to its online communities.

Oluwaseun’s own experience of being a mother led her to create Baby Grubz, as her son did not eat regularly and she could not find any advice online on how to feed young children. So she started preparing pureed fruit and vegetables according to her own recipes, and educated herself about babies’ and toddlers nutritional needs. This resulted in her developing nutrient-dense foods and snacks for babies.
Baby Grubz food products are prepared with “super foods” in order to tackle the major deficiencies in baby and infant nutrition. The company engages with over 300,000 mothers to provide peer-to-peer mentoring on the benefits of nutritious foods and breastfeeding.
Baby Grubz is an African pioneer company in training mothers about children’s nutrition as well as producing food for babies and infants.

The targeted consumers are low- and middle-income women with children aged 6 months to 5 years. Baby Grubz serves over 5,000 customers a month in Nigeria and Ghana.

Baby Grubz sources its products from two major local Nigerian producers, as well as other offtakers.

Products and Markets

Baby Grubz produces and packages a wide range of affordable dried homemade cereals, grains, fruit, vegetables and condiments that serve as a base to make a variety of nutritious and fast meals for African babies.

Baby Grubz produces baby and infant food products, and distributes them through its network of distributors across four countries (Nigeria, Togo, Ghana and United Kingdom), including in over 300 stores in 26 states across Nigeria. The company also provides peer-to-peer mentoring to a community of more than 350,000 mothers. Subscribing to the mentoring programme opens up access to (e-)books, meal plans, and soon to in-app sales.

Baby Grubz is looking for new certifications, staring with the international HACCP and ISO certifications.

Innovations: Milestones and Expansion Plans

Baby Grubz founder and CEO Oluwaseun has taken part in training on investment readiness and strengthening the nutritional impact of businesses, from the Base of Pyramid Innovation Centre, Netherlands, and Cathy AgriProjects Management Limited, Kenya.

In 2020, Baby Grubz won the Global SUN Pitch Competition with a cash prize of US$20,000. The company used the money to carry out an analysis on micronutrients and adapt its products accordingly, as well as to purchase equipment.

During Covid-19, Baby Grubz faced economic challenges due to increased exchange rates and material costs, and lower quality of raw materials. However, the company also seized new opportunities during the pandemic by supplying customers who could not buy imported products (due to delays and border disruptions).

Baby Grubz plans to supply 10% of the market in the next two years.

Baby Grubz wants to become a major actor in reducing malnutrition, and is looking for investments for its branding, marketing and product design, as well as for expertise in distribution expertise to expand its business.
The company also wants to buy a production facility and more equipment to automate production for a ten-fold-increase.

Success Factors and Lessons Learned

Baby Grubz has contributed to enhancing the nutrition of more than 200,000 children since its inception.
Through its wide range of activities, the company employs several women as distributors or members of its peer-to-peer mentoring programme, and so enables them to support their families. Baby Grubz has financially empowered 148 women to start their own business.

In 2020, Baby Grubz won the Global SUN Pitch Competition among 500 SMEs from across Africa and Asia. The company was also first runner-up in the African Development Bank’s 2020 AgriPitch competition, and has received a US$10,000 grant from the Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

Additional Resources

• Business Profile Baby Grubz (English)
• Fiche d'Enterprise Baby Grubz (Français)