Join host Justin Forman in Nairobi, Kenya, as he sits down with Jean-Paul Nageri, co-founder of KaFresh, for an extraordinary conversation about finding divine solutions hidden in plain sight. When Jean-Paul watched his father's banana harvest spoil while waiting for traders, he didn't just see a problem—he saw a calling. What followed was a journey of "God Engineering" that led to a breakthrough preserving produce 10x longer using only natural plant oils.
This episode explores how entrepreneurs can look to creation itself for answers to massive problems, why cold storage isn't always the answer for Africa, and how one biotech solution is transforming food security for millions. From Genesis 1:29 inspiration to cutting-edge agricultural innovation, this conversation reveals how faith, science, and entrepreneurship combine to solve real-world challenges.
Key Topics:
- How watching his father lose 50% of harvests to spoilage launched an entrepreneurial journey
- The "God Engineering" discovery: unlocking preservation secrets from orange peels
- Why expensive Western solutions (cold storage) don't work for African farmers
- KaFresh breakthrough: Extending tomato shelf life from 1 week to 3+ months at room temperature
- The $1 trillion problem: Sub-Saharan Africa loses 37% of food production to post-harvest spoilage
- From synthetic chemicals to natural plant oils: reversing the globalization of food preservation
- How monks in 1800s monasteries pioneered natural food coating techniques
- Building an agricultural biotech platform: From preservation to accelerated seed germination
- Making insects "invisible" to produce instead of killing them with pesticides
- Uganda's 2 million smallholder farmers and the mindset shift that changes everything
Notable Quotes:
"I like to use the term God Engineering. He literally leaves clues, but you have to have that discernment to be able to see the clues." - Jean-Paul Nageri
"Why me, why me, why not some other big company? But that's God's plan. He normally takes the underdogs." - Jean-Paul Nageri
"Anything that is good for you should be easy to pronounce." - Jean-Paul Nageri
