How NJIE built a functional foods company worth millions
Launching a product in a market dominated by a few players is difficult. But that didn't stop Assan Njie from starting a dietary supplement company. A decade later, NJIE has sales of SEK 360 million. We met the founder to learn more about how the company succeeded.
One in three start-ups goes bankrupt within three years. But that didn't stop Assan Njie from applying for a loan to order a container of an aloe vera drink. With discipline and quick decisions, he has developed the company – which has twice been nominated for Product of the Year by Svenska Dagligvaruhandeln.
In the early 2000s, Assan was an elite European MMA fighter. That involved a lot of travel, and this was when he found the product that would be the beginning of one of Sweden's leading functional food companies.
“The first time I had an aloe vera drink was at a training camp in the Netherlands. I was mainly attracted to the great flavor, and when I got home to Gothenburg, I realized this drink wasn’t available on the Swedish market,” says Assan Njie.
Assan decided to contact the supplier and ordered a batch of the aloe vera drink. The minimum purchase from the Korean factory was 33,000 bottles, which Assan had neither the capital for nor the space to store.
“Since I was only involved in sports and just had a few odd jobs, I couldn’t take out a loan myself. But with my mother as a co-signer, we took out a bank loan to finance the first order.”
It was just enough money to finance the purchase. But as Assan stood on the sidewalk outside his mother's apartment to receive the container, he realized he had underestimated the size of the delivery.
“Since I didn't have the money for a warehouse, I asked our housing association if I could borrow the ping-pong room in the basement.”
He was granted permission, and he and a few training buddies began unloading the container. Pretty soon, the ping-pong room was full. Then Assan asked his mother if she could sit a little closer to the TV for a while. They rearranged the furniture and stacked the rest of the boxes in the living room.
Selling large volumes requires going through the major grocery chains. But that is difficult. Competition is stiff for space on shelves, which are already dominated by the major suppliers. Assan planned out his strategy early. His initial goal was just to sell to cafés, health food stores and gyms. He wanted to create exclusivity.
“My strategy was to build strong demand among a conscientious target group.
Traveling on a red moped, he went around to the trendy cafés, gyms and health food shops in Gothenburg. Assan offered several shops the option of paying only once the drinks were all sold out, a method that allowed him to get the products exactly where he wanted them to be. After a while, Assan got his business going and placed additional orders from the Korean supplier. Two years later, his phone rang.
“We were approached by grocery stores and kiosks who told us that a lot of their customers were asking for the aloe vera drink, so they wanted to buy my products.”
But Assan declined. He wanted to continue building exclusivity around the product and continued to sell only to cafés, gyms and health stores. With stronger demand, he hoped to sell larger volumes to Sweden's biggest grocery chains in the future.
Six years later, sales began taking off in earnest. That is when Assan began to consider ways to broaden the range.
“I noticed in 2014 that the market for quark and protein was growing. I had mixed my own protein pudding when I was an elite athlete, and since that category was missing from the market, there was an opening for us.” For NJIE’s pudding to be able to compete with quark from the major dairy companies, it was important to differentiate the product as much as possible.
“We put a spoon on the lid and made a protein pudding that was lactose-free and entirely sugar-free. The first year, Svensk Dagligvaruhandel nominated us for Product of the Year. We came in second that year, but the next year, our protein milkshake won Grocery Product of the Year.”
According to Assan, employee commitment has been the key to the company's success. NJIE now has 65 employees, and the product range has been expanded to four branches: foods, dietary supplements, sportswear and events.
“Our primary focus over the next few years will be on developing the company. We want to broaden the selection and have sustainable growth. We want to be a relevant supplier for people who are interested in fitness.”