Until he was almost 40, nothing in Mustafa Koita’s career path would indicate a love and passion for the milk business. He was born in Princeton, NJ and raised in the Chicago area. After graduating from Northern Illinois University, he began a career with U.S. Robotics and worked at several other jobs in the IT and tech fields.
In 2010, he was recruited by Boeing to supervise the defense contractor’s Middle East cyber division based in Dubai. Three years later, feeling a bit burned out and anxious to begin a career as an entrepreneur, Koita left the world of high-tech and formed Koita Foods, processors of organic milk products – both plant-based milk and milk from cows.
But to hear Koita’s story, shift from tech to agriculture isn’t so far-fetched at all.
“I’ve always been passionate about health. While living in Dubai for three years, I noticed my three children didn’t have many healthy eating alternatives. Even when living overseas (he also lived in London), our family would visit the U.S. for a month, and we liked to shop at Whole Foods. I noticed that dairy products from Horizon and Organic Valley commanded a lot of space in the stores, so I thought pursuing an opportunity to introduce organic milk into Dubai would be a sound idea,” Koita explained.
In 2014, using his life savings, Koita embarked on a year-long journey visiting dozens of countries in search of the best milk, the best cows and the best farms. “We scrutinized every aspect of the process without compromise – from treatment of the cows to the environmental impacts of farm operations,” he noted. When the process was completed, he decided that Italian organic grass-fed cows produced the best milk.
“I was very impressed by the ways organic farmers in Italy treated their cows, the attention they gave to the particular grains they grew and the perfection of the soil quality they insisted on. Plus, the way they managed their overall operations was impressive. “The cows fed grass from the very rich soil created by Mount Vesuvius was a critical factor, too,” Koita stated.
The company contracted with two Italian processors – Newlat and Sterilgarda – to co-pack Koita Foods’ line, which was first introduced in Dubai in 2015. “We had no marketing budget, so we started slowly with two products,” Koita recalled. “It was literally all word of mouth and social media. We organized hundreds of focus groups with local moms and we were off and running.”
By 2016, Koita began to grow rapidly in Dubai, achieving distribution through most food outlets. The company then expanded successfully to nearby countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The growth story was so notable that Harvard Business School decided to write a case study about Koita’s journey (which they now teach to the Executive MBA class in Boston).
Mustafa Koita then began thinking about the possibility of expanding into the U.S. In 2017, while at a trade show in Dubai, Koita met a U.S. military broker who did business in the Middle East. He wondered if Koita would be willing to sell his products to the U.S. Military in the Middle East if such an opportunity arose. That began a relationship that continues today with Koita Foods serving several government bases in the region.
Meanwhile, the company had further grown geographically and was serving such countries as the Philippines, Singapore, Mauritius and Vietnam (Koita milk is now available in 10 countries). Its product line was also increasing with the addition of several new items including lactose-free and a full range of plant-based milk offerings. Buoyed by its regional success and the exposure to American soldiers and civilian personnel at their military installations, Koita made the decision to test the U.S. waters on a much broader level.
“Truthfully, it was a painful experience,” he noted about the bureaucratic procedure of getting the necessary approvals to gain U.S. entry. “It took about a year for the entire process to be completed, but we are now ready to test the waters.”
Actually, it was only six weeks ago that Koita Foods’ first container of their Milk products arrived in New Jersey. Prior to that, much of the time was devoted to developing an infrastructure that could manage its U.S. business. That included two U.S.-based executives in sales and marketing and the selection of a food broker familiar with Koita’s type of products.
After many interviews, Koita Foods selected Wayne, NJ-based Gourmet Specialties, Inc. to represent the company in the Northeast, Koita Foods’ first targeted marketing area.
One critical decision the company made before entering the U.S. was to sell only plant-based milk products. Those would include organic almond milk, organic coconut milk, oat milk, rice milk, soy beverage and soy for coffee beverage. A seventh item, organic almond/coconut blend, will be introduced later this year. Koita will provide one of the first Italian plant-based milk ranges in the US. All products are UHT (Ultra High Temperature) and sold in shelf-stable aseptic packaging made of recycled paper with a 12-month shelf life.
“The decision not to sell fresh cow milk in the U.S. was rather an easy one,” Koita declared. “We had no desire to compete directly with U.S. dairy farmers. They control the fresh milk market and frankly there was no opportunity for us.”
Koita Foods’ U.S. expansion plan will also focus on building a distributor network (products have been approved at Mansfield, MA-based Chex Finer Foods) and selling to upscale regional and independent retailers whose customer base would seemingly be attracted to Koita Foods high quality, healthy product line.
For Koita, his entrepreneurial mission has come full circle – he’s back in the country where he was born and said that he plans to move back in a few years. He’s eager about the opportunity to sell Koita Foods milk in the U.S. and grateful that his brainstorm of seven years ago has paid off thus far.
“We’ve got a lot more to accomplish and the next phase of our journey won’t be easy,” he said. “But I’m really confident that the quality of our products is superior and distinctive. “We’ve also got a great team (about 25 people) based all over the world who are equally excited about our business. Even my kids don’t think I’m that crazy anymore.”