“Why build Africube when multinational giants already dominate the market?”

In a recent episode of Cache & Truth, the Paykko podcast, Teddy Kossoko sat down with Ayité Ajavon, founder of Africube.

His mission is bold: challenge a market dominated by global corporations like Nestlé and Unilever by creating a 100% natural African seasoning cube, produced locally from African spices.

Behind this simple idea lies a powerful ambition:
To transform Africa’s agro-processing sector and reclaim value that has long left the continent.

Growing Up Without Financial Education

Ayité did not grow up in an entrepreneurial household.

Born in France and raised between Brittany and Togo, he grew up in a modest family where money was rarely discussed. Like in many African and diaspora households:

• You are taught to work hard.
• You are taught to endure.
• But you are not taught how money circulates.
• You are not taught how to build wealth.

His first relationship with money came through 90s American brands—Nike, Jordan—symbols of aspiration but financially out of reach.

His first real business emerged in the United States. He imported hip-hop clothing to France through a website called XL Import. It was informal, but profitable.

The lesson was clear:
👉 Identify an unmet need and act.

Africube: Questioning the Industrial Bouillon Model

The idea for Africube started with a simple Facebook post about the health risks of industrial seasoning cubes.

Curious, Ayité began researching.

He discovered:

• High salt content
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• Artificial additives
• Different product formulations between Europe and Africa

One question stood out:

Why don’t multinational companies sell the same cubes in Europe that they sell in Africa?

At the same time, he noticed something structural:

Africa exports raw spices—ginger, nutmeg, pepper—without transformation.
Then it imports processed products made elsewhere.

The issue is not just health.

It is structural.

• Africa remains at the end of the value chain.
• It consumes what others transform.
• It exports raw value and imports finished products.

Africube’s ambition is simple:

• Use African spices
• Transform locally
• Create jobs
• Keep value within the continent

Financing the Dream Without Institutional Support

When Ayité decided to launch Africube, he had no capital.

No French bank would finance an agro-processing project in Togo.
No Togolese bank would finance a founder based in France.

His solution?

A €40,000 personal consumer loan.

With that money, he:

• Traveled to China to purchase packaging machinery
• Bought marketing materials
• Installed operations in his grandmother’s house in Lomé

One year of development.
One year without income.
One year of burning through savings.

When Africube officially launched at the Made in Togo fair in 2018, the product attracted attention—but traction would take much longer.

The Invisible Cost of African Entrepreneurship

We often hear about fundraising.
We rarely hear about sacrifice.

For years:

• Ayité slept inside his factory.
• He lived far from his wife and six children.
• At times, he had only 5,000 CFA francs in his pocket.
• He borrowed money to pay electricity bills.

This is the invisible cost of building in Africa.

The loneliness.
The pressure.
The doubt.
The family misunderstandings.

But also the deep conviction that quitting would make the sacrifice meaningless.

Why Don’t Major Funds Invest in Local Transformation?

Ayité observed a clear pattern in the African startup ecosystem.

Most investment goes into:

• The tertiary sector (FinTech, digital platforms)
• The primary sector (raw material export)

Very little goes into the secondary sector—local industrial transformation for African consumers.

Why?

Because transformation reduces dependency.
It keeps value inside Africa.
It shifts economic power.

Africube does not produce for export markets.
It produces for African households.

That makes it both an economic and political project.

A Community-Funded Vision

Facing limited institutional support, Africube launched a fundraising round targeting the African diaspora and individual investors.

Ticket size:

• €500 to €25,000

The objective is clear:

Build a company funded by Africans, for Africans.

A model that echoes traditional community-based financing systems.

Consumer Power as Economic Leverage

Ayité closes with a powerful message:

Even the poorest individual holds power: purchasing power.

If consumers stop buying certain products:

• Markets adjust.
• Models shift.
• Supply changes.

Money is a language.
And it is often the only language corporations understand.

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