Rohan Shah
Interview with Rohan Shan
FOUNDER, UMWERO TERROIR SPIRITS
Lives in: Kigali, Rwanda
Rohan Shah educated as a improvement economist at Harvard College, however his weekends had been outlined by a unique pursuit: bartending. After acquiring his diploma, he labored with small-scale farmers in Africa and India for a non-profit organisation. Nevertheless, when Covid-19 struck, he was pressured to maneuver again to Singapore and function remotely. This allowed him to moonlight at an area Singapore bar known as Native, a venue that tremendously impressed Shah with its deal with Southeast Asian spirits and elements.
This expertise influenced Shah to mix his background in improvement together with his ardour for cocktails. He relocated to Rwanda to construct a spirits model that tells Africa’s tales and helps native farmers. In June 2022, he formally registered Umwero Terroir Spirits within the nation.
Umwero’s flagship product, Imizi, is a craft rum infused with six African herbs and spices. This provides it an earthy, botanical profile distinct from the sugary sweetness usually related to Caribbean rums. It’s branded as a ‘forest rum’, differentiating it from conventional rum advertising, which frequently emphasises island life.
The spirit is constructed from sugarcane sourced from small-scale farmers in Rwanda. Shah’s expertise in improvement work revealed to him {that a} main problem confronted by smallholders in Africa is discovering dependable consumers. Rwanda has only one sugar refinery, which doesn’t buy from the smallholder farmers Umwero collaborates with. These farmers usually promote their sugarcane in native markets, the place it’s purchased for chewing. By sourcing from them, Shah has offered a marketplace for their crops at considerably higher costs than they’ve acquired previously.
The enterprise was initially self-funded. Shah spent his first months in Rwanda experimenting – fermenting and distilling to create a liquid that excited him. He then established a small manufacturing facility and secured the required licences. With every part in place, he started restricted gross sales to gauge the market’s response.
Imizi secured its first listings in eco-tourism lodges. To drive additional consciousness, the corporate additionally hosted a month-to-month pop-up bar, utilizing the occasions to teach shoppers about rum and showcase the product.
Validation adopted in early 2024, when Shah was named the Worldwide Wine & Spirit Competitors’s Rising Expertise in Spirits.
Later, in October, he introduced on a Rwandan co-founder, Pierra Ntayombya. Her background in trend retail proved invaluable. Shah notes that Ntayombya introduced a luxurious intuition to the enterprise, particularly the power to “construct a world round a model” and determine strategic partnerships.
By the tip of that yr, Umwero had raised US$500,000 from a various group of traders from throughout Singapore, Rwanda, the UK, and North America.
Umwero’s flagship product, Imizi, is a craft rum infused with six African herbs and spices.
A part of the funds has been allotted to a brand new distillery, at present underneath development, to tremendously improve manufacturing. In the mean time, the corporate is proscribed to a few hundred bottles a month, sometimes including night time shifts to fulfill additional demand.
As soon as accomplished, the power will permit Imizi to begin exporting. The model has already seen success throughout exams in London and Boston, attracting curiosity from worldwide distributors. Nevertheless, Shah explains that the present low volumes make the unit economics of exporting unviable given the excessive price of logistics. Scaling up manufacturing will decrease the fee per bottle, making world distribution financially possible.
The funding additionally supported the launch of the Imizi Residency, a cocktail bar in Kigali. This venue serves a twin function: it generates income whereas appearing as a advertising engine for the rum. Shah describes the idea as “advertising that funds itself”.
Each cocktail on the menu is made with Imizi, giving prospects concepts for the best way to combine the spirit at residence. Friends additionally obtain a welcome drink of contemporary sugarcane juice, a refined option to educate them on the rum’s uncooked ingredient.
The bar is Imizi’s method of attaining what the alcohol business calls “liquid on lips” – merely getting shoppers to style the product. Normally, manufacturers spend closely on sponsorships and free samples to make this occur. Missing the finances for that, Imizi makes use of the Residency to realize the identical consequence. As a substitute of the corporate funding the distribution of free samples, prospects pay to style the rum in a cocktail. This technique permits Imizi to construct a following with out the heavy advertising price ticket.
The model has since grown its footprint, securing further listings in luxurious accommodations, choose eating places and bars, and the duty-free retailer at Kigali Worldwide Airport.
Reflecting on the journey up to now, Shah acknowledges that every part took longer than deliberate. “I in all probability endure the identical feeling that every one entrepreneurs have,” he says, “of being far too optimistic about what will be carried out in how a lot time.”
He admits he was stunned by the product’s uptake in Rwanda. Priced at round $45 a bottle, he reasoned that his predominant markets could be Europe, the UK, and North America. Nevertheless, because the timeline for exporting stretched out, the enterprise needed to rely fully on native gross sales to remain afloat.
“We underestimated simply how a lot the model would resonate with native prospects,” he says. “There’s a cosmopolitan, hip Kigalian who is prepared for these kinds of experiences. No one was serving that buyer.”
With the brand new distillery set to open, the corporate will lastly have the quantity to fulfill each its native followers and people ready overseas.
This text is an excerpt from our newest guide How we made it in Africa II. Buy the guide from the official web site or from Amazon.
