This interview details Vertical Gardens Ltd, an indoor farming company based in Kenya. The interview is with Fred Mwithiga, Co-Founder of Vertical Gardens Ltd.
I grew up on a farm with my cousin, Fred when our parents were commercial conventional farmers. Growing up in that environment meant we spent a lot of time learning how to grow different crops, drive tractors, deal with pests, and ultimately deliver our produce to the market. After we had both completed our degree studies, we did our research on hydroponics and built our first prototype system in 2018.
After continuous research, we launched our business in April 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. It was the perfect time to launch as there was a growing concern about food safety and traceability, the effects of climate change, and self-sustenance. To date, we have installed over 200 residential gardens and over 15 small-scale commercial farms around Kenya.
Developing our hydroponic systems calls for innovation. It is insanely difficult to work with existing plastic manufacturers to come up with updated systems (they demand 10,000 MOQ aside from the cost of a mould). This means that we are now looking to design & 3D print our new updated gardening systems.
The main challenge is in a country that has the potential to be the food basket of Africa, the able industry players and the government do not consider hydroponics as a means to alleviate hunger throughout the country.
To ensure the success of our gardens, we emphasize on following a strict data-driven process that combines daily water quality analysis backed up with photographic evidence from the farms. This enables us to solve issues as they arise. This keeps us on top of our customer relations and allows us to schedule follow-up training sessions.
We also pride ourselves on being innovative through our systems that are locally designed and built. Unlike our competitors, we continue to test, build and improve our systems to make them as world-class as possible for a fraction of the cost.
Our residential systems on average take up 3SQM while our commercial units take up an average of 120 SQM.
They can reach us via social media on Facebook and Instagram as Vertical Gardens Kenya. They can also reach out to us at +254729476598, +254796858867, or via email verticalgardenskenya@gmail.com
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