What is your full name?
Nana Klay
What is your age range?
21-30
Where were you born and raised?
Kwara State, Ilorin
What countries/states did you school in?
Kwara and Abuja
Did you go to university? If so, where did you go and what did you study?
The University of Ilorin, Bachelors Degree in law
In what countries are you based?
Dubai and Nigeria
What do you do to earn a living and when did you start?
I work as a health coach, and business and impact entrepreneur. Lastly as a lawyer.
Founder of Klayfoods Africa and Klay Africa Foundation. At the age of Nineteen, while in my final year at the University of Ilorin, I conquered being overweight, a situation I had lived with for many years. After months of intense and deliberate efforts, I reduced from a body size 20 to a size 8.
I began my first-ever business based on the knowledge and strong reputation I gained from her incredible weight loss journey. With the support of her friends and family, I launched a wellness brand named Klays Fitness and Wellness. The brand mainly focused on helping overweight people lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Through Klays Fitness and Wellness, I have affected thousands of people and have directly helped over four thousand (4000) persons achieve their various wellness goals. Since I started my brand, I have partnered with various organizations in Nigeria and have also been invited to many places by virtue of the impact of her wellness brands. One of such organization was FrieslandCampina Wamco, where I partnered with their Three Crowns Milk brand on a particular project.Inspired by my work with clients at Klays Fitness and Wellness, I established, now award-winning food processing company in 2020, centred on producing healthy and safe made foods for children, women and adults.
The business was founded on the passion of seeing that malnutrition is completely eliminated among African children which led to starting a social enterprise KlayAfrica Foundation, a mission to serve at least one million(1,000,000) malnourished people, especially children in underserved communities in Africa by 2030, by improving their nutrition and health. We do this through the provision of nutritious and safe food, capacity building, advocacy and partnership building.
What did you use to do before you did this?
I’ve always been an entrepreneur, my journey started while studying to become a lawyer in 2016/2017
What inspired you to start your business?
My personal experience in health and wellness inspired me. My business journey has evolved ever since
Why should anyone use your service/product?
Klayfood is an indigenous food product made for children. The goal is to solve the issue of malnutrition by feeding children with our Tombrown cereal produced through safe and natural processes to eradicate undernourishment.
For every product one purchases, they have helped feed a child and eventually contributed to taking the child from being malnourished to nourished.
Tell us about your team.
We have a passionate, dedicated and exceptional team with a combined 35+ years of experience in the Business and non-profit sector. Being a young organization, we leverage our relationship with local experts and volunteers across our focus regions to implement our projects. We are currently recruiting local experts across multiple states in the Northeast and South South.
What is something you wish you knew before starting your business?
It is never a straight road, change is constant and you have to always be prepared for whatever is coming.
Would you advise other people to start businesses or invest in Africa? Please also share the drawbacks.
Yes, definitely. while it’s tough and difficult, it’s still a great place to start a business. One of the advantages are the numbers, It’s a population that is fast growing and urbanizing. Africa’s current population of around 1.2 billion people is projected to reach 1.7 billion by 2030.
What’s the biggest piece of advice you can give to other Africans looking to start-up?
I have 2 advice:
1. Find your way to the market and
2. pivot quickly, early and strategically
What’s the biggest piece of advice you can give to other Africans in the diaspora?
The African in Diaspora does not have to relocate to the continent in order to contribute to its development, with modern technology and globalization, they can always contribute their talents.
Tombrown cereal with egusi soup
Thanks for reading! Visit Klay Foods’s Instagram here. If you are born and bred in Africa and have a business and story you want to share, we would love to hear from you. Please fill out the form here!
