Interview with Faith Mwende & Collins Nyamu, Co-Founders, Sea Ventures Kenya – Access to affordable, quality feed is a critical factor for the growth of aquaculture and animal production. In Kenya, Sea Ventures is developing locally produced feed solutions for fish and livestock through its Zuri Feeds brand, linking entrepreneurship, food production and new opportunities for coastal communities.
Feed is one of the key inputs determining the viability and growth of aquaculture and animal production. Its cost, quality and availability directly affect farmers’ capacity to increase production, improve performance and build sustainable businesses.
In Kenya, Sea Ventures Kenya, founded by Faith Mwende and Collins Nyamu, is addressing this challenge by developing locally produced animal feeds for aquaculture, poultry, pigs and pets, alongside organic fertilizers. The company markets its feed products under Zuri Feeds, its dedicated brand for locally produced animal feed solutions.
Based in Mombasa, the company has grown from an initial prototype developed in 2022 into an operating agribusiness working across fisheries and farming value chains. Today, Sea Ventures supplies feed solutions to more than 200 farmers and is progressively expanding its production capacity.
Website: www.seaventureskenya.com
For Blue Life Hub, Faith and Collins share the story behind Sea Ventures, the role of local feed production in supporting farmers and aquaculture development, and their ambition to build a scalable enterprise with a positive impact on Kenya’s coastal economy.
From a local challenge to a business opportunity
The idea behind Sea Ventures emerged from direct experience with coastal fishing communities and from observing two challenges occurring side by side: valuable fish by-products being discarded and farmers struggling with the high cost and limited availability of quality animal feed.
For Faith, a marine biologist, this connection offered an opportunity to bring together technical knowledge, entrepreneurship and the needs of local producers.
“Our starting point was to look at fish waste differently, not as something to be discarded, but as a resource that could be transformed into value, create livelihoods and support food production.
The turning point was seeing fish processors pay to dispose of waste while farmers nearby struggled to afford quality animal feed. That disconnect and gap made it clear that a waste-to-value model could solve both problems at once. Once we successfully processed the first batches of fish waste into usable feed ingredients and saw immediate demand from farmers, I realized this model could truly transform coastal livelihoods while protecting marine ecosystems”.
Producing feed locally
For aquaculture and livestock farmers, reliable access to feed is essential. Through Zuri Feeds, Sea Ventures is developing a local production model designed to respond to challenges related to feed affordability, quality, availability and continuity of supply.
The company currently works with more than 200 farmers across aquaculture, poultry and livestock value chains, providing locally produced feed solutions and creating a direct connection between Kenya’s fisheries and agricultural sectors.
Production currently stands at approximately 10 tonnes of animal feed per month, or around 120 tonnes per year at the present production rate. Sea Ventures aims to increase this to 240 tonnes annually as it invests in machinery, processing capacity and quality-control systems.
This growth is particularly relevant for aquaculture, where the availability of appropriate and economically accessible feed is an essential component of farm management and the development of commercially viable production systems.
Technology, quality and production capacity
Moving from small-scale experimentation to reliable feed production requires investment not only in capacity, but also in processing efficiency, hygiene and product consistency.
Through the AECF Investing in Women Program, Sea Ventures introduced modernized feed-processing machinery that improved the efficiency, hygiene and consistency of Zuri Feeds. This technology has enabled the company to scale production, reduce post-processing losses and move towards the market standards required by commercial poultry and aquaculture farmers.
The programme also supported improvements in quality assurance, market linkages and gender-inclusive operations. For Sea Ventures, strengthening these elements is a necessary step towards increasing production and reaching a larger number of farmers.
Creating opportunities along the coastal value chain
The growth of feed production also creates economic opportunities beyond the farm. Sea Ventures works with more than 200 fishermen and Beach Management Units (BMUs) involved in the collection and supply of fish by-products used as raw materials.
Women and young people play an important role in this value chain. The company currently collaborates with six women’s groups, creating opportunities in collection, processing and other value-addition activities.
“Empowering women and youth has reshaped community dynamics by turning them from informal, low-income participants into skilled contributors within a structured value chain. Through fish value addition and feed production, women have gained technical skills, stable income and confidence to participate in decision-making, while young people see the blue economy as a viable and dignified career path.
One standout success story is a group of young women who started as casual fish waste collectors and are now trained in processing, quality control and packaging. Their incomes have increased significantly and some are now supporting their households and educating their children independently. Seeing that transformation-from vulnerability to leadership-remains one of my greatest motivations.”
Feed production within a circular blue economy
The raw material at the heart of the Sea Ventures model comes from a resource that would otherwise often be discarded. Fish by-products are collected from fishing and processing activities and brought back into the food-production system as ingredients for animal feeds and fertilizers.
This circular approach provides an additional source of raw material for feed production while reducing the amount of organic waste entering the coastal environment.
The environmental benefits are already visible in communities adopting better waste-management practices:
“From our perspective, communities that adopt sustainable waste-management practices show clear environmental improvements-reduced dumping along shorelines, cleaner fish-landing sites and lower organic pollution entering coastal waters. These changes directly improve local marine health and community well-being.
However, gaps still exist. There is an urgent need for better waste segregation at source, stronger enforcement of environmental regulations, and more investment in small-scale circular enterprises. Education and infrastructure must go hand in hand to ensure sustainability is maintained as coastal populations and fish-processing activities grow.”
The challenge of scaling production
Increasing feed production requires machinery, working capital and the ability to maintain quality as volumes grow. Access to appropriate finance therefore remains one of the main barriers facing Sea Ventures as it moves into its next stage of development.
“The most difficult barrier in our scale-up journey has been access to appropriate financing for growth-stage machinery and working capital. Circular-economy businesses often require upfront investment before impact and revenues fully materialize.
We navigated this challenge by building strong partnerships, demonstrating proof of concept, and leveraging support from programs like AECF that understand both impact and enterprise growth. Staying resilient, data-driven, and transparent with partners has helped us keep Sea Ventures Kenya moving forward despite these challenges.”
The challenge is now to translate demonstrated demand into greater and more consistent production capacity, while strengthening quality assurance and market access.
Looking ahead: scaling the Zuri Feeds brand
Over the next five years, Faith and Collins aim to establish Zuri Feeds as a leading regional brand for sustainable animal feeds and organic fertilizers, expanding processing capacity and reaching more farmers while continuing to create opportunities for women and young people.
“I envision a future where Kenya’s coastal communities are leaders in a thriving, inclusive blue economy-one that balances marine conservation with sustainable livelihoods. Waste will no longer be seen as a problem, but as a resource that drives innovation, jobs, and food security.
In the next five years, I hope to scale Sea Ventures Zuri Feeds into a leading regional brand for sustainable animal feeds and organic fertilizers, expand our processing capacity, and deepen our impact among women and youth. Ultimately, our goal is to prove that science-driven, community-centered solutions can transform coastal economies while protecting the ocean for future generations.”
For Faith Mwende and Collins Nyamu, growing Sea Ventures therefore means more than increasing production. It means building a locally rooted feed business capable of supporting farmers, strengthening aquaculture and animal production, creating employment and contributing to more resilient food systems.
Their entrepreneurial ambition brings these elements together:
“Our entrepreneurial dream is to build a sustainable and scalable business that creates value from what is often wasted, supports farmers and fishing communities, and shows that environmental impact and economic growth can go hand in hand.”
Interview with Faith Mwende & Collins Nyamu, Co-Founders, Sea Ventures Kenya
