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Cultivating Prosperity in Afghanistan
Kimberly Jung, pictured in a field of crocuses, returned to Afghanistan to understand how she and her cofounders could import saffron to the United States. Photo courtesy of Kimberly Jung
Today, she and Miller are cofounders of Rumi Spice, a venture they incubated at the Harvard Innovation Labs in 2015, which brings saffron and other spices from Afghanistan to market in the United States and provides jobs for more than 1,500 farmers and other workers in the country’s Herat region.
When Jung and Miller, friends since their West Point days, entered the military, “it was because we wanted to be part of something greater than ourselves,” says Jung, who was a member of a unit responsible for clearing bombs while deployed in Afghanistan. She explains that she and Miller were motivated to attend HBS after leaving the army to find new ways to continue their commitment to service, but that when they started at the School, “we didn’t know how we were going to do that.”
During the summer after their first year at HBS, Miller served as a brand marketing intern for Eli Lilly during the day and worked on Rumi Spice’s website and social media presence at night, while Jung went to Afghanistan so she and Alaniz could learn more about how they might set up a supply chain to import the slightly sweet and floral saffron threads used extensively in Middle Eastern and Indian cooking.
Each crocus has three stigmas, which are picked by hand and dried into saffron threads. Photo from istockphoto.com
After earning prize money as runners-up in both the HBS New Venture Competition and the Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge, the founders secured funding from a variety of sources, including two angel investors who were members of Golden Seeds, which invests in women-led companies; Hivers & Strivers, which provides early stage financing to ventures led by US military veterans; and Mark Cuban, who was among the judges during their appearance on Shark Tank. Rumi Spice saffron has been used at the Michelin-star restaurants The French Laundry and Daniel and in recipes for meals offered by Blue Apron. It also can be found on the shelves of Whole Foods and Dean & Deluca, as well as on the company’s website, where a range of products are available to US-based customers.
Named after the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, the company has grown into a successful for-profit social enterprise that ships spices directly from farmers in Afghanistan to a certification plant in Turkey, then to their Chicago office for distribution. In addition to Jung, Miller, and Alaniz, Carol Wang, who worked on a rural development program in Afghanistan, is a founder, and former naval officer Ben Bines (MBA 2015) worked initially with the team.
Rumi Spice cofounders Kimberly Jung and
Emily Miller, pictured holding saffron,
were runners-up in the student business tracks of the New Venture Competition and the President’s Innovation Challenge at Harvard. Photo by Anthony Tahlier
“Rumi Spice is in a good place. We’ve been able to maintain a stable supply chain, even with the Taliban in power,” says Jung, who adds that the Afghans they work with are equal partners, especially the women serving in leadership positions. “We’re all working together towards a common goal.”
As the founders note on the company’s website, they see “spice as a force for good,” which, Jung explains, aligns with an outlook she and Miller share: “I’m a huge believer in business being a force for good and in the ability of a for-profit social enterprise to lay a sustainable foundation for our partners in Afghanistan to connect with people around the world.”
“What better way to use our HBS education than for sustainable agriculture and business in Afghanistan?”
Kimberly Jung
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