Why did Emma Grede change her initial offer with Kahawa 1893 founder Margaret Nyamumbo on Shark Tank? Details explored

Shark Tank Season 14 aired a new episode after a two-week-long break this Friday. In Episode 14, Emma Grede was a guest shark who invested in Kahawa 1893 business.

Kahawa 1893 is a Kenyan coffee business run by Margaret Nyamumbo. Her backstory and sales impressed all the sharks so much that by the end, four of them were willing to do business with her.

The first shark to offer a deal was Emma - $350,000 for a 12.5% stake. Shark Robert Herjavec wanted to get involved in the business too, therefore, he suggested working with Emma for 12.5%. This meant that Margaret had to give up 25% equity if both the sharks got involved.

She negotiated and counter-offered 8%, which Emma initially declined. Seeing the negotiation, Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner jumped in and mentioned that they were also willing to offer a deal of 12.5%. Robert intervened, stating that he wanted to make Margaret’s decision easier and thus, would agree to 8%.

Emma, then, told Margaret that she would like to change her initial offer and would like to make a deal of $350,000 for an 8% stake. She picked Emma as her shark investor for her company Kahawa 1893 in Shark Tank Season 14 Episode 14.

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Kahawa 1893 founder Margaret Nyamumbo's backstory

Kahawa 1893 founder Margaret Nyamumbo appeared in Shark Tank Season 14 Episode 14 to seek $350,000 for 5% equity.

Her coffee business is different from regular companies because she brings Kenyan coffee to the world. The company's name is derived from the Swahili word “kahawa,” meaning coffee. The “1893” part is added because in that year, the production of coffee began in the ancient forests of Ethiopia, East Africa.

Margaret not only sells Kenyan coffee through her business, but also gives back to the female farmers who are behind those special coffee beans. Her coffee packets come with a QR scan code, from where customers can send rewards to female farmers.

While presenting her pitch on Shark Tank, Margaret explained:

“The farmers don’t always make enough for the delicious coffee that they produce. In fact, 90% of the labor in coffee comes from women, but so many are not compensated because they don’t own the land. That’s why I created a new way, to compensate the coffee farmers.”

She added:

“At Kahawa 1893, we source our coffee directly from women farmers in Africa. But that’s not all, we go one step farther: our customers can tip the coffee farmers and we match the tips.”

In addition to her impressive backstory about the business, Margaret also told the sharks about her background. The founder was raised on her grandfather’s farm in Kenya. She came to the US after she got a scholarship and went to the prestigious Harvard University to get her MBA degree. But it was a difficult decision for her family to send her to the US as they didn’t have enough money for the trip.

At this time, her village held a fundraiser and raised money for Margaret to send her to the US, where she arrived with just $200. She studied and worked hard and brought her Kenyan roots to America.

Currently living in New York City, Margaret set up her business, Kahawa 1893, which makes over a million dollars in sales every year. She has now succeeded in getting a deal on the ABC show Shark Tank.

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Why was Kevin O’Leary not interested in the business on Shark Tank?

While Kevin O’Leary loved the coffee, he found Margaret’s offer “expensive.” Although his fellow sharks threw shade at him for calling the offer as such, he announced that he was out.

Apart from Kevin, all four sharks were interested in Kahawa 1893 on Shark Tank. Emma Grede even changed her initial offer to match the founder’s terms. The SKIMS co-founder made a deal with Margaret for $350,000 for an 8% stake.

In addition to Emma and Kevin, the other sharks on the ABC show included Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, and Robert Herjavec.

Shark Tank Season 14 airs new episodes every Friday on ABC at 8:00 pm ET.