New name, same purpose:

Mill Cities Community Investments + Foundation for Business Equity have become Nectar Community Investments.

Waku Testimonial


John BrzezenskiStrategic AdvisorJuan GiraldoCEO of Waku, and Steve LaddExperience Manager

Childhood friends, Juan Giraldo, Chief Executive Officer, and Nico Estrella, Chief Operating Officer, founded Waku in 2018, a prebiotic herbal tea company based on recipes from their home country Ecuador. Their inspiration to start their company was an opportunity to have a positive impact for their homeland and to unlock further demand for innovative products in the growing gut-health industry. According to Market.us, the global digestive health market is estimated at $104.4 billion by 2023. Therefore, Juan and Nico were ready for their next stage of growth when they enrolled in the Business Equity Initiative (BEI) program in 2022.

Challenges:

A couple of months after enrollment, a “perfect storm” of events occurred that required the BEI and Waku team to pivot from their original strategic goals and to focus on the following:

  • Unexpected withdrawal of investors
  • Delays with a major retail distributor
  • Supply chain issues with contract packer in Ecuador

Solutions:

The BEI team shifted their attention to helping Juan and Nico to use their limited resources to focus on
actions to advance sales and go-to-market goals and to have enough funding to be able to continue to
operate. The BEI team supported Waku with the following solutions:

  • Reworked cash flow model and financial projections.
  • Provided guidance on opportunities to recapitalize and conserve cash.
  • Managed communications with a lending partner, Business Equity Fund (BEF) at the Boston Foundation; and collaborated to secure short-term funding and a revised list of potential investors.
  • Helped develop key short-term metrics to advance toward growth goals.
  • Conducted interviews with peer companies that confirmed that the short-term hiring strategy and plans best fit Waku’s short-term growth goals.

Results and Impact:

Waku was able to successfully work through their challenges and meet the following accomplishments:

  • Retired over $200K debt and restructured $140K to lessen cash impact.
  • Obtained $400K of investments and loans including an $80,000 emergency loan through the Business Equity COVID-19 Emergency Fund at the Boston Foundation with more company-friendly terms to support short-term working capital requirements.
  • Secured Wholefoods distribution contract for 22 northeast stores, then expanded into the entire region (55 stores) with near-term visibility to expand to over 60 stores.
  • Increased revenues by 100% vs. the previous year.

“The Business Equity Initiative (BEI) made a world of a difference to my company because it was customized to support Waku’s needs. Prior, I had enrolled in other classroom-type programs, but nothing came close to the level of guidance that I received from my BEI strategist.”

Juan Giraldo, CEO of Waku