Everyone who likes sweets and ice cream would agree that health and sugar don’t go together. However, food influencers have been trying to find healthier alternatives to tasty foods, but the ice cream industry hasn’t changed much. If you want gluten-free and flavourless ice cream, you have a lot of choices. But in reality, bland ice cream is just as good as “no-icecream.”
So, Ehime Eigbe and her husband Michael Akindele took her unique product, SweetKiwi, to the Sharks in season 14, episode 16 of “Shark Tank.” SweetKiwi is a new kind of flavoured yoghurt that is full of vitamins, proteins, and nutrients. Since the product on display was so interesting, we were curious to find out more about the company. Here’s what we learned!
SweetKiwi: Who Are They and What Do They Do?
SweetKiwi is a brand of frozen yoghurt that gives you a sweet treat and takes care of your gut at the same time. Ehime Eigbe came up with this high-end brand of frozen yoghurt because she wanted to eat better and live a healthier life after a health scare. It was hard for her journey to go without ice cream at all, but she was desperate to find something else. She found comfort in frozen Greek yoghurt, but in 2011, when she was in Nigeria, she noticed that there wasn’t a single frozen yoghurt store there. That’s when she had an idea.
SweetKiwi was created because there was a need for a healthy alternative to sugary frozen treats. Ehime has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and she was just waiting for a chance to fly. She went to Kaplan Holborn College and got A-Levels in Business Foundation from there. Later, she went to London Metropolitan University to get her Bachelor of Art in Business Information Technology and International. The business owner went to Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth in 2022, where she took a class called “Building a Successful Diverse Business.”
She worked for Amnesty International UK as the Executive Assistant to the IT Director while she was going to school at London Metropolitan University. She left her old job and went to work for Citi as a Bankruptcy Referral Litigation Specialist II after she quit. She also worked at Chase as the Mortgage Banking CA Operations Manager and at Your Way Foods as the Director, both of which were good jobs. SweetKiwi is a great brand for people who want to change their diet or just want to try different kinds of yoghurt.
The products have a lot of protein, fibre, probiotics, and a great mix of superfoods that help boost the immune system. Probiotics are very important for a healthy gut because a healthy immune system starts in the gut. The brand’s products are made with the best ingredients based on clinical research. They also use a holistic approach to make each frozen yoghurt, which helps with gut health, nutrient absorption, and overall well-being.
Where is SweetKiwi Now?
After seeing the potential in Nigeria, Ehime set up this business there. Since the beginning of her business, she has been to a number of events where she gave away free samples of her yoghurt. SweetKiwi is said to have moved to the United States in 2019, and the company hasn’t looked back since. Ehime was able to build her brand and get the right kind of attention by doing a lot of direct marketing and social media marketing. People all over the world talked about the brand, and the Black Lives Matter movement even gave the company around $200,000 in donations.
As part of her partnership with Black Girl Ventures, Ehime gives away 1% of what she makes to charity. Union Kitchen put $20,000 into this business in a seed round on August 22, 2018, to help her sales get off the ground. More than 1,700 stores across the country sell the brand’s products, including Whole Foods, Walmart, and Kroger. You can order SweetKiwi products from their website or in stores. You can get a case of 4 or 6 pints.
The product comes in different flavours like Chocolate Hazelnut, Cookies & Cream, Mango Palm Mint, Rasberry Frose, Hibiscus & Ginger, and Vanilla Bean. The prices for each flavour range from $38.99 to $58.99. We’re happy to say that Ehime is planning to make and sell test versions of new products in the near future. It’s great to see SweetKiwi make it to the top, and we’re sure the company will continue to do well in the years to come.
