My name is Agatha Achindu. I am a mother of three.
I'm the founder of Yummy
Spoonfuls.
I quit my tech job years ago to launch Yummy
Spoonfuls because I wanted to make healthy food accessible
to every child in America.
I grew up in Cameroon, harvesting food and eating fresh foods.
When I moved to the United States in 1990, I was shocked when I went into
the grocery store. There was the organic food and then there was the junk food.
Before Yummy
Spoonfuls
I was Director of Quality Assurance for an IT firm, but even when I was in corporate
America, I would host these workshops for free teaching parents how to eat better.
When I had my youngest, I became more committed to it.
That was what moved me to really teaching parents how to make baby food.
Yummy Spoonfuls found me because that little group
just kept growing.
I remember going to the SBA and telling the guy that I have 300 moms who come to my
place on and off for this little workshop.
He's like, "you know 300 moms?"
That was that moment when I'm like, "this could be a business."
The day when I left corporate America,
I told my director that I am leaving to start Yummy Spoonfuls.
She's like, "you're leaving corporate America to go do baby food?"
I wanted moms like me,
with two to three jobs, to still have the same high quality foods for their kids.
The biggest mistake that I made in launching this business was
we've used all our savings, we put a lien on the house. My husband and I put in about
$600,000 of our money.
And this is what I tell anybody who is trying to start a business.
The best time to go borrow money is when you have money.
Even the banks that we have used forever, they couldn't' even talk to us. Because we moved
from a two income household to one income,
all those unnecessary luxuries had to go but
there were days I would feel so bad for my husband.
It's almost like he gave up his life along with me because the little money that
he would make, everything was going into Yummy Spoonfuls. For nine years
we just kept grinding. Eventually, I finally had to
bring in a business partner.
A lady gave my name to Camila. She sent an email.
It mentioned, "I'm interested in partnership."
It's Camila Alives. I'm like, "who is she?"
And when we met, she's like, "this is amazing.
It's going to take two immigrant moms to bring this type of change in America."
And we shook hands over tacos.
And that was it.
That partnership allowed us to have funding. For me,
financial freedom is being able to make sure my kids go to school and I
don't have to be so stressed all the time.
That's that freedom for me. You always have to reevaluate where you are when
it comes to your finances because there is always a place where you
can tweak a little to save money.
Becoming entrepreneur has definitely given me the clarity to stay on
top of my money. When I was in corporate America, every two weeks
I got a big fat check.
When I started running Yummy
Spoonfuls, then I realized I now become responsible.
So really sitting and planning out every penny -
it's one of the biggest lessons for me.
The one thing I try to tell parents, as crazy as life is, we have to try and take
responsibility for the health of our kids.
It's about knowing how important the food that we eat is to your health.
So if you have a tight budget, can you grow food?
Can you trade and barter?
These are things that I am talking about because I've
done firsthand. And yes, it takes
effort.
Especially when you don't have a lot of money but your
children's health is worth it.
If there is anything that my kids have learned today would be, don't
spend more than you make. Always plan for a rainy day because these kids
have seen us from when we had an abundance to when we literally have
nothing, but we survived through this space because of how we planned.