During their first semester at HBS, former United States Army engineer officers Kimberly Jung and Emily Miller (both MBA 2015) heard from Keith Alaniz, a fellow officer stationed in Afghanistan, about a farmer there who was concerned about having too few markets for the saffron he was growing. The trio, inspired by the man’s determination to improve his business, decided to see if they could help him and, by extension, cultivate peace and economic opportunity in a region where growing saffron has become a more viable alternative to growing opium. “What better way to use our HBS education than for sustainable agriculture and business in Afghanistan?” Jung says.

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.”

The classmates began in earnest to address the farmer’s dilemma while participating in the second semester required course The Entrepreneurial Manager taught by Shikhar Ghosh, the MBA Class of 1961 Professor of Management Practice and the faculty cochair of the HBS Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. Jung and Alaniz ran the numbers on what it would cost to bring saffron to wider markets and realized it represented a compelling value proposition. “Farmers could make more money, especially as it’s a very high-price crop, and because saffron is so light, it’s easy to transport by air. The margins made sense,” explains Miller, who conducted night raids with Special Forces units while serving in Afghanistan. Saffron currently sells for $2,500 per kilogram because its harvesting and processing are so labor intensive.

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.

When Jung and Miller returned to campus in the fall, “We went all in because that’s when we got our place at the i-lab. It was our second home,” says Miller. There, Adam Melonas, a seasoned culinary-world entrepreneur, advised them in his role as a Harvard i-lab mentor. “We are in debt to him because he changed the trajectory for us,” says Jung. She adds that working at the i-lab with a network of advisors, faculty, and staff was critical to the development of their venture, as was “the vibrant and extremely supportive community it gave us in which to learn and grow as entrepreneurs.”

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.

While Jung and Miller still have a hand in the company, they have taken on new roles: Jung is now CEO of Blanchard House, which produces podcasts, and Miller manages the impact fund for Twilio, a cloud communications company.

“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.”

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