12. Lisa Curtis | Kuli Kuli (moringa -> the new superfood)

Lisa Curtis is the Founder and CEO of Kuli Kuli.
While working for The Peace Corps in 2011, Lisa was stationed in Niger, West Africa. As a vegetarian in Africa, she found herself eating mostly rice and millet, a diet that left her feeling tired and weak for the majority of the day. When she mentioned it to a couple of women in her local village, they literally grabbed leaves off a nearby tree and mixed them with a West African peanut snack called Kuli Kuli. Turns out, that tree was a Moringa tree and those leaves were more nutritious than Kale. As she ate that mixture each morning for the next several weeks, she found her strength start to come back and knew that Moringa had to be shared with the world.
At Kuli Kuli, Lisa and her team are building and scaling the world’s leading Moringa brand. In addition to being more nutritious than Kale with respect to protein, iron, calcium and fiber, Moringa offers some incredible health benefits including supporting cardiovascular health, gut health and anti-inflammation. Kuli Kuli sells Moringa in a variety of different forms including energy shots, powders for smoothies as well as superfood bars. In addition to all of the health benefits, Kuli Kuli is a certified B corp, meaning that their social mission in embedded in their legal DNA. Their international supply chain is designed to empower small family farmers and women’s cooperatives all over the world, unlocking the US market for thousands of low income families.
This was an inspiring interview that taught me a ton about growing and scaling an international supply chain and shed light on one of the best new healthy alternatives to kale & spinach on the market.
Tune in to hear Lisa's story!
Use code “Founder” at checkout to get 10% off all Kuli Kuli products.
EPISODE TOPICS: 

• (2:31) Kuli Kuli snapshot today
• (3:17) Background / spark for idea
• (4:44) Health benefits of Moringa
• (5:29) First steps in launch
• (6:33) Customer research / education
• (7:15) Product mix / roadmap
• (9:03) Customer profile
• (10:26) International supply chain
• (14:27) Marketing tactics
• (17:49) Competition
• (19:54) Manifesting the future
• (21:40) Hiring
• (24:18) Investor lessons
• (27:14) Mentor advice
• (28:38) Frustrating / validating moment
• (30:35) Advice to younger self
• (31:38) What keeps you up at night
• (33:13) Exciting trends
• (34:12) Morning routine
• (35:42) Favorite products
• (36:37) Learning & resources
• (37:24) Lisa's startup manifesto 
• (39:41) Lisa's founder nomination 

Kuli Kuli - www.kulikulifoods.com

• Follow Kuli Kuli (@kulikulifoods) on Instagram // Twitter
• Follow Lisa (@lisamcurtis) on Instagram // Twitter // LinkedIn 
• Lisa's learning and resource recommendations 

The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com 

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