What inspired you to launch Nilus as “an impact-driven company that applies technology to fight against food insecurity”?

“We just couldn't believe that one-third of people suffer from food insecurity and, at the same time, one-third of all the food in the world is wasted.”

How does the company’s food distribution process work?

“We focus on resolving the nutritional needs of community kitchens by distributing high-quality nutritious food and providing training on the best way to prepare it. We source products directly from small- and medium-sized farms and ship it to our warehouses, where we prepare the orders. After the order is prepared, we ship the orders using a decentralized network of drivers to the group buyers, who handle the last-mile-delivery logistics.”

What are your short-term goals for the company? What are your long-term goals for the company?

“In the short term, we are raising a new round of financing to boost our growth in Mexico and to launch an operation in Brazil and in Central America. In the long term, we aspire to be the largest retailer in the Americas.”

What’s a typical day like for you at Nilus?

“There is no such thing as a typical day! What I love the most about Nilus is that sometimes I have to put on my suit and tie to meet senior executives at a large company, and in the same day I may also spend five hours visiting families in favelas to run customer research.”

How did the pandemic impact you and your work?

“The pandemic actually helped us, because it raised awareness about the importance of social and environmental responsibility. Also, customers became more prone to online purchasing and technology penetrated the base of the pyramid faster than we expected.”

How did you and your company address the challenges that came with the pandemic?

“Honestly, right now our biggest problem is keeping up with demand. We hired the head of product of the largest delivery app in Latin America to help us continue scaling.”

How are you using technology to address food insecurity?

“Our technology has two main modules: Our sourcing platform uses artificial intelligence to maximize the amount of nutrients and minimize the total cost of the products, and we have a social buying platform that empowers our network of group buyers.”

More generally, how do you use what you learned at HBS in your work as cofounder and chief growth officer of Nilus?

“At HBS, I gained full access to the global startup ecosystem. Additionally, the school gave me the confidence to start my own company in the middle of a pandemic and in a not-so-common market segment.”

What’s your favorite HBS case and why?

“My favorite was on Enron. It triggered a lot of hard conversations that we all must have in order to be prepared to hold leadership positions.”

Which HBS classes or professors had the greatest impact on you and why?

“I loved every second of Professor Bussgang's launching tech ventures class, and the field X courses taught by Professors Cohen and Sutton.”

What did you like to do when you weren’t studying or in class?

“FOMO is real! I invested a lot of time working on my startup and making new friends. The people I met were definitely the best part of the experience! There was not a single day where I spent more than fifteen minutes alone.”

What was your favorite spot on campus?

“Definitely the iLab! There I met my cofounders and some great mentors, like Professor Javier Segovia.”

Can you finish this statement? “Ending food insecurity means…”

“A world where everyone can reach their full potential, a world where the place you were born does not matter."

Learn more about Nilus at https://www.nilus.online/about.

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