I earned my bachelor’s degree in Animal Science at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, then came to the University of Kentucky for my master’s and PhD in Animal and Food Science. My doctoral research focused on nutrition, gut health, immune function and gut-supporting dietary additives, and I have presented that work at various national and international scientific conferences. That research is really the foundation for everything I do now. I work full-time at GutNurish today, applying that scientific training directly to product development, food innovation, and our broader mission.
What is GutNurish, and what problem is it meant to solve?
GutNurish is a Louisville-based food brand that my wife and I co-founded. We started it because we kept seeing the digestive and gut-health challenges many Americans deal with – and, at the same time, we recognised that Africa has numerous traditional foods with real potential to support better nutrition and digestive wellness. Those two observations came together into an opportunity: combine African food heritage with modern nutritional science to create products that are healthy, convenient, and genuinely enjoyable, not just functional.
Your first products are built around ogi. For readers who have never encountered it, what is that exactly?
Ogi is a traditional West African fermented cereal food, usually made from grains such as corn. The fermentation process produces beneficial compounds generally known as postbiotics, which have been shown to support gut health. Fermentation also improves the digestibility of the ogi itself and reduces certain antinutritional compounds that are typically found in cereal grains. So this is a food that has been part of West African diets for generations, and the traditional process behind it aligns closely with what modern gut-health science is now looking for.
Your LinkedIn profile says your doctoral research focused on nutrition, gut health, immune function, and gut-supporting dietary additives. How directly does that connect to what ends up in a GutNurish product?
Very directly. That research is what let me look at ogi and recognise what was actually happening in the fermentation; not just that it is a traditional food, but why it works the way it does: the postbiotic compounds it generates, the improvement in digestibility, and the reduction in anti-nutritional factors. That scientific lens is what allows us to take a process that is centuries old and apply it deliberately.
So, the products we build are grounded in food science rather than just tradition alone.
Your graduate research was on gut health and feed additives in broiler chickens, not in humans. How did that translate into a human food brand?
That is a fair point. My master’s and doctoral work at the University of Kentucky looked specifically at gut health, immune status and gut-supporting feed additives in broiler chickens. However, animal and human nutrition have such a huge overlap that it’s nearly impossible to separate them. That is why a lot of animal modelling is commonplace even in human research.
The underlying biology and how postbiotics interact with gut and immune function are very similar across different species. In fact, it is commonplace to use data generated from other species to generate hypotheses and make inferences about different species subjected to similar experimental conditions.
That being said, I was privileged to take several courses in Human Nutrition during the course of my master’s and doctoral degrees. That wide range of exposure during graduate work is what gave me the framework to look at a fermented food like ogi and ask the right scientific questions about it. Applying that same framework to human food is the throughline between the two halves of my career.
How do you take something like ogi, which is traditionally a porridge, and turn it into the kind of product people pick up off a shelf today?
At GutNurish, we transform ogi into familiar, convenient formats: cultured parfaits, desserts, and smoothies, so people can get the benefit of that fermentation in a format they already recognise and enjoy. The goal is to make it approachable. Someone does not need to know anything about postbiotics or West African food traditions to pick up a parfait and enjoy it, but the science and the heritage are both there underneath it.
You have described the mission as making ‘culturally authentic, gut-supporting foods’ more accessible. What does accessibility mean to you in that sentence?
It means people do not have to already know West African food traditions to try these products, and they should not have to choose between something culturally rooted and something convenient for a busy week. That is part of why we built cultured parfaits, desserts, and smoothies instead of packaging ogi only in its traditional porridge form: familiar formats lower the barrier to trying something new, while the fermentation science underneath still does the work.
What does day-to-day look like for you now that you are working on GutNurish full time?
Most of my time goes into product development and food innovation, taking the science from my doctoral work on nutrition, gut health, and gut-supporting dietary additives and applying it directly to what we build. It is a shift from the research side of my career, but the throughline is the same: nutrition, gut health, and how food affects the body.
Why does it matter to you that this is specifically African food innovation, rather than a gut-health product built from any tradition?
Because Africa has numerous traditional foods with real potential to support better nutrition and digestive wellness, and that potential has not gotten the recognition it deserves in the United States. Ogi is one example of a food that already does, through fermentation, much of what modern gut-health science is trying to engineer from scratch. Bringing that heritage forward, paired with rigorous food science, is how we want to demonstrate the contribution African food innovation can make to human health, animal health, and economic development here.
Where can people find GutNurish products right now?
We currently sell at various farmers’ markets and in five retail stores across Louisville, Kentucky. Since launching, we have served hundreds of customers, and we are preparing to expand into additional retail locations. It has been a steady, deliberate build rather than a rush to scale, and Louisville has been a good place to start: a market where we can meet customers directly at farmers’ markets, hear from them, and refine the products before we grow the footprint further.
What have you heard from customers so far?
We have received encouraging testimonials, including from people with digestive issues who have reported improvements in their symptoms after incorporating our products into their diets. I want to be careful here, because those are individual experiences, not medical claims. But they reinforce our commitment to developing foods that support digestive wellness as part of a healthy lifestyle. That feedback is a big part of what keeps us motivated.
Your background is in animal science as well as food science. Is that showing up anywhere else in the business?
Yes, our innovation is not limited to human nutrition. Drawing on my background in animal science and nutrition, we are also developing products for companion animals, including pet treats formulated to support digestive health and address some of the gut-health challenges dogs experience. Our long-term product portfolio will extend across both human and animal nutrition, so it is really an extension of the same science applied to a different audience.
Looking ahead, what is the long-term vision for GutNurish?
My vision is for GutNurish to become a household name, providing delicious, gut-healthy alternatives to conventional dairy-based products, especially for people who avoid dairy or have sensitive guts. A fermented, plant-based base like ogi is naturally suited to that role, and it means people do not have to give up the format of a parfait or a smoothie just because dairy does not work for them. Ogi is only our starting point, though. We plan to introduce additional African-inspired and scientifically informed foods that support gut health without sacrificing taste or an enjoyable eating experience.
Beyond the products themselves, what do you hope GutNurish accomplishes?
One of our major long-term goals is to create meaningful job opportunities for people in Louisville as the company grows. We intend to build a strong local foundation, expand our retail presence, and eventually take GutNurish nationwide. Through that growth, we hope to support the local economy, improve access to nutritious foods, and demonstrate the contribution African food innovation can make to human health, animal health, and economic development in the United States.
Any closing thoughts?
Just that this is only the beginning. Ogi has already proven itself over generations in West Africa, and we are excited to keep showing what it can do here, first across Louisville, and eventually beyond it.