The idea came to Binja Basimike when she returned to Africa in 2020 after a dozen years in the United States, where she earned two degrees at Northeastern: During her subsequent trips to Congo, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya, she noticed that the small businesses in the food industry—especially those run by women—struggled to grow.
Binja Basimike, a double Husky, came up with the idea while traveling in Africa last year. Courtesy photo
Based on a solution that is both hopeful and bold, Basimike launched Kivu Venture Capital, based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the goal of empowering and investing in 500 food entrepreneurs in Africa by 2026.
To help launch her venture capital fund, Basimike received a head start Innovator Award from Northeastern's Empowering Women inclusion and entrepreneurship initiative. The awards recognize 19 women who are alumni or current students at Northeastern. They are receiving a total of $100,000 in grants to help fuel 17 ventures.
It was during her travels in central, eastern and southern Africa that Basimike experienced her epiphany: She could address issues of malnutrition, poverty and gender equality by investing in women who create and sell food.
“What I saw across the board was that there was so much progress” in terms of women starting their own businesses, says Basimike, who in 2020 won a Northeastern Emerging Leaders Award. “While there has been progress, especially among women-run businesses, there hasn't been much growth.”
Most businesses run by women are sole proprietorships, Basimike says.
“Which means they're not creating jobs for other people,” he says. “I started to see these patterns where you had strong, innovative African women who were food entrepreneurs, but their businesses were confined to their kitchens and the street corner.”
High-interest bank loans are not the answer, says Basimike, who has started offering capital investments (funded by grants) as well as business advice to women with entrepreneurial instincts. For her first client, African foodthat delivers meals in Kinshasa, Basimike helped streamline internal business processes to reduce waste and increase return on investment.
“It was very chaotic in terms of how the orders came in,” says Basimike. “You start your day and you don't really know, 'Am I cooking for 50 or am I cooking for five?' You have to create a cut-off point – after that point we can't take any more orders – because then how do you budget for the next day?'
In addition, Basimike says, African Foood has transformed from a pick-up service to a delivery service that now employs 15 motorcyclists.
“These are the people I'm looking for,” says Basimike. “I'm looking for that innovation person who's looking for that leg up, that extra step to take them to the next level.”
Before her return to Africa, Basimike seemed to be moving towards a career in the health sector. He earned a bachelor's degree in health science and a master's degree in public health and urban health and is a member of the Strategic Advisory Board at Bouvé College of Health Sciences.
“I invited Binja to join the board because of her commitment to advancing the mission of Bouvé and Northeastern,” he says Carmen Skepadean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, who led a nutrition class Basimike took as an undergraduate. Binja is an infectious and positive driving force. She's very comfortable being out of her comfort zone, and comfortable bringing others along.”
Basimike's father, Mulenda Basimike, has worked with the United Nations and the World Health Organization as a senior consultant and capacity builder for Reset malaria program. He is an international consultant on malaria and other communicable diseases with the University of the Congo and other clients. He encouraged Basimike to forge her own path.
“I was lucky,” Basimike says of her relationship with her father. “I'm very honest, I can go back and forth with him and to have the ability to be so open with a different gender is not something that many African women can have.”
Basimike is using the $5,000 Innovator Award as funding to empower additional businesses.
“Empowering women to have that freedom is one of the tools that's going to get us to that gender equality,” says Basimike. “Because then you're self-reliant, you're more independent, and your dollars actually have a say in how you operate and your decision-making process.
“It's about rewriting the stories of how we thrive, how we're resilient and how we can get out of poverty and malnutrition – all of which have been characterized in Africa,” says Basimike. “It's about being able to tell our own stories.”
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