Pasta in Italy is one of the items that Yonas Alemu, the creator of Lovegrass Ethiopia, has successfully brought to worldwide markets using teff. The ex-investment banker gave up her job in London to launch a healthy food business in her home country of Ethiopia.
Yonas explained his choice to go back to Ethiopia by saying, “I’ve been planning it and I’ve been wanting to do this for pretty much decades.” He persisted, establishing a factory outside of Addis Ababa despite the early doubts of his friends.
Lovegrass Ethiopia had various obstacles, such as political instability and the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a manufacturing delay. But since then, the business has signed agreements with big-name shops including Whole Foods, Ocado, and Selfridges. “The day we first exported pasta to Italy was probably one of my happiest,” Yonas said.
Today, the corporation splits its sales approximately evenly between its domestic and foreign markets. Yonas observes that the Ethiopian market has particular difficulties, saying that “you have to be very, very innovative with logistics and distribution.”
