00:00Hello and welcome to another episode of Shop Essence Live. My name is Noni. I'm Vice President
00:05of Video and Branded Content here at Essence and we have some incredible businesses for you tonight.
00:12We have some inspiring stories. Now, please, please, please do if you know someone that loves
00:22to eat healthy but they love to also enjoy and indulge in some healthy snacks, make sure that
00:29you're sharing this stream with them or somebody that is on a health journey that wants to eat
00:34healthier but they're afraid they're going to deprive themselves. Please share this stream with
00:40them or if you know someone that is a small black owned business and you think they would be great
00:45for a future episode of Shop Essence Live, please do share this stream with them as well. Welcome
00:51everybody watching live and welcome to everybody that's watching on the replay. We are going to be
00:56joined by Ahime Iagbi in just a little bit. She's going to talk about this incredible product,
01:03Sweet Kiwi, that I'm already like I'm halfway through a tub. It's fine and then a little bit later on,
01:10we're going to be joined by the inventor of the puff cuff which I have in my hair right now and we're
01:16going to do a little demo. So stay tuned tonight. We are shopping. When you're shopping with us,
01:21you are shopping directly with these black owned brands. So make sure that you are supporting and
01:27adding to your cart. Let me pin this comment so y'all know what you're coming into. And once again,
01:35this is live for a reason, right? So I am going to be looking at these comments. So if you have any
01:39questions, please do continue to ask those questions. Are you going to let me pin this comment? Okay, now we're
01:47pin in comments. All right. So Ahime, I'm looking for you. Here she comes. This is Nigerian fro-yo, y'all.
01:58So excited. Hi. Ahime, how are you? I'm great. How are you doing today? First of all, I'm filling up on
02:06frozen records is how I do. I am too. I was like, we're gonna just we're just gonna do this today. So
02:16so I'm excited. I want you to just talk to everybody before we get into the products on how
02:23you came up with this incredible, delicious brand. Yeah, so sweet kiwi was something I started from a
02:30personal health issue that I had. I had a I was diagnosed with a uterine fibroid. And we all know
02:36how that goes. I was told like, I have to have surgery. And after the surgery, I had to get
02:42pregnant within a year. I was like, that is crazy. I was like 22 at the time. Oh my god. I was just
02:48thinking, you know, there has to just be a better way to go about this. And I started researching about
02:53eating better and eating healthier, which I was doing. I changed my diet, started doing more focus
02:58on nutrition, taking more nutrition courses. And then I really struggled even with everything at stake. I was
03:05just like, Oh, my God, my ice cream, like, you know, I like my dessert. You know, what am I gonna do?
03:10And I started doing some more research. And I started making in my own kitchen with Greek yogurt,
03:14because I know Greek yogurt is really nutritious. I really wanted a dessert that checked all the
03:19nutrition boxes. And that's how I came up with sweet kiwi. Oh, so incredible. And you, you were
03:25looking for looking to open this in Nigeria to where you couldn't find any other brands.
03:32Yeah, I was living with in Dallas at the time, I was about to open a store in Dallas. And I had happened
03:39to go to Nigeria for a short period of time. And I realized, well, it was the same issue with nutrition.
03:45And so I ended up starting the business there and having three full store locations. So we actually do
03:51have store locations in Nigeria. And we're West Africa's biggest frozen yogurt brand. And then I moved
03:59over here, moved to DC in 2017, and opened, started back my business, and started packaging the same
04:10delicious product. And people loved it. I mean, grocery stores took to it so quickly. We're in Whole Foods,
04:16we're in Walmart, we're in Kroger nationally. And so we just keep growing.
04:20This is so, so incredible. And when you get into these flavors, before you before you do that, you talked about
04:27Greek yogurt, and how it has these nutritional properties. Can you talk a little bit about that?
04:33Yes, absolutely. One of the things that really makes our product really unique and really different
04:37is we're really nutrition focused, and understanding what it takes for your body to get the nutrition
04:44that it needs for the day. So what people don't know is disease and everything that's going to affect
04:50your body starts in your gut. You know, and one of the things I was doing my research, I went to Penn State,
04:55was doing a lot of research on how can I create a product that's really impactful. And so we take a
05:00really unique holistic approach when we're creating the products. It's high in protein. And that's one
05:05of the reasons that we use the Greek yogurt, because it's very high in protein, really aids digestion,
05:11and has probiotics. One of the things that people don't know is people say, Oh, I'm eating this thing,
05:15it has like 50 grams of protein. But they don't know that your body doesn't absorb all that protein just
05:21on its own. One of the great things that helps your body absorb protein easy is probiotics. You know,
05:28so we actually select ingredients carefully that work better together with each other to make sure
05:34that your body's absorbing the full nutrition that it needs to function.
05:38Look at me getting healthy, y'all. So why don't you highlight what the first flavor is?
05:47Yes. So we have a vanilla bean, which is like a regular vanilla. This is one of actually one of
05:54our best selling flavors. Really delicious, very low in calories, as you can see. 22 grams of protein
06:01per 14 ounce plate. Only 220 calories for the whole pint. For the whole thing? The whole thing.
06:10It has probiotics and 14 grams of fiber. And it has a unique blend of superfoods. So really good for
06:17you. Very healthy. I'm about to have a tough day and get myself so healthy. No, absolutely.
06:26We have chocolate hazelnut, which is another amazing flavor. We make it using real roasted
06:34hazelnut paste and cocoa powder, which is really just another amazing flavor. 320 calories for the
06:42whole pint. 15 grams of fiber and 24 grams of protein. We have cookies and cream as well,
06:50which is one of our newest flavors that we just launched during the summer. It's 310 calories for
06:57the whole pint and 23 grams of protein. All of them have a unique blend of probiotics from the Greek
07:05yogurt, natural probiotics, nothing artificial, and a natural blend of superfoods, which really supports
07:12your immune system and really supports your body. So one of the things that happened during COVID was I
07:17became a mom, like literally two weeks before COVID. And I was so stressed out about my immunity.
07:24And so I was thinking about how Greek yogurt really helps you. Probiotics really helps with
07:28your immunity building. And I started doing more research and we came up with this unique blend
07:33of superfoods that are clinically proven to support your immune system.
07:39This is so good. And you're taking care of us because this is so tasty. I'm just enjoying the
07:44taste and you're talking about all these health benefits, which is great. So you guys, if you're
07:49watching, keep this in mind. I know a lot of us have people in our lives that have been told by their
07:54doctors that they need to get their health in order. There are things like sweet kiwi that are out there
08:00where you don't feel like you have to give up so much, right? You don't have to, if you want to have
08:05that sweet treat, there are options out there. And this is such an incredible, like if you never told
08:10me they were at all these health properties, I would still be all for it. And now that is
08:14even better. So Hime, you are a member of a New Voices family, which is our partner here at Shop
08:21Essence Live. Can you talk a little bit about how that has greatly benefited your business?
08:27Oh my goodness. Like the New Voices family is just one of the most amazing platforms. I always say
08:32like it's one of the places where I can be myself. One of the places where I can be vulnerable as
08:38a Black female entrepreneur, most rooms that you go into as an entrepreneur, you have to be
08:43confident. You have to always act like you're bringing it. But I feel like with the New Voices
08:48family, I can go and say like, hey, I need my dress zipped up. Oh, can you look at this? Can you look
08:54at that? You know, it's like that girlfriend that has your back all the time. Like, you know, and I can
08:59just be myself and they kind of support us, help us with our growth, help us see, you know, where we can
09:06be doing better. It's just a great family to be a part of. I mean, they've given us so many
09:11opportunities. They've opened so many doors for us. And just the idea of family and community. I
09:17think that's one of the things that I love the most. Being in the room where you know, like,
09:23these people have your back all the time.
09:25Absolutely. So if you guys are watching and you are a small Black-owned business, or you know
09:33someone that's a small Black-owned business, please do join the New Voices family. You can go and follow
09:38them. They're here in the comments, letting you know what you need to do. Look at Sweet Kiwi,
09:43we look at Ahime and how incredible and incredibly amazing and healthy products that we're now
09:48bringing to the world and to our community. What would you say is next for you, Ahime,
09:55in your business journey? So we're looking to continue to grow into more retail doors
10:00and expand more across the U.S. into more natural retailers and bigger retailers as well.
10:07We're looking to launch some single-serving sizes so we can do more fast retail, get into hotels,
10:17airlines, you know, just continue to push the brand and make it more available to more people
10:23because everybody needs to be healthy. You need to be more gut healthy. You need to eat better.
10:29One of the things I would say is after a whole year, I went back to my doctor because I promised
10:34her I would come back and do the surgery if it didn't work after a year. I went back after a
10:38year. She did the scans and she could not find the fibroid. It was just the most amazing thing
10:44that I've never, I never had to do the surgery at the end of the day. And she specifically said to me,
10:49well, if I didn't diagnose this, I would have thought like whoever did was lying. Right. You know,
10:55so it's so important in your gut health, so important just to be healthy, eat healthy. But one of the
11:00things that Sweet Kiwi is saying is that you don't have to sacrifice great taste to be healthy.
11:07Absolutely. And they're asking to see the front of the label. So I'm doing that. Can you talk a little
11:12bit about more about the ingredients? Someone's asking for the sugar.
11:17Yes. So for each pint, we do have sugar. It's about 20, 23 grams of protein. This is, I'm just reading
11:27off the cookies and cream label. We have about 18 grams of sugar per serving.
11:36And for our ingredients, we use natural Greek yogurt, live active culture, which comes with
11:43the Greek yogurt, fiber, very low ingredient list, as you can see.
11:51And that is great. And when you say something is a superfood, for us novices, what qualifies something
11:59as a superfood? So it has like super health benefits for your body. So like Greek yogurt is a superfood
12:06already. There are some fruits and flowers that are just like superfoods. For example, we have the
12:14superfoods that we have on here are like coffee bean extract, acai berry, turmeric extract, blueberry,
12:22broccoli, kale. Those are superfoods.
12:24Got it. So it doesn't taste like this kale in that.
12:28No, I would never have guessed that there's kale in this. Well, you guys make sure that you follow Sweet Kiwi USA.
12:36They have a wide range of products there. You can shop their whole entire products or shop the ones that are pinned
12:42here in this stream. Ahime, you are so inspiring.
12:48And incredible. I love for you, before we, before we wrap up, if you can just share with those that are watching,
12:54and you couldn't even help, you had to taste yourself. If you could share with the people that are watching,
13:02what is that thing that keeps you going, right? I'm sure that this journey was not easy for you.
13:08What did you, what was your affirmation for you to tell yourself that you're going to make this happen?
13:13I would say for me, the one thing that I really hold on to is faith.
13:17And knowing that we're all called to, to do something and to make a difference.
13:22And I know that this is what I've been called to do and trusting that God who put me on this journey
13:28is going to get me to the, to, to where I need to be. And that's what I hold on to.
13:33I love that. Well, you have been so great. Remember guys, when you purchase here at Shop Essence Live,
13:39you are purchasing directly from these black owned businesses, please do support,
13:44help her continue to grow. I am so excited for what the future holds for you.
13:48And sweet Q, y'all don't go too far. I'm coming back with some demos with the puff cuff.
13:54Stand by. Thank you. Thank you.
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