And it all starts in Afghanistan. We went there looking to provide stability and peace. How did you get in? We recommend using one of the following browsers for an optimal website experience. “A lot of the buyers that we’ve talked to are very sceptical,” Kimberly Jung, CEO and co-founder of Rumi Spice, told FoodNavigator-USA. It was a seed of an idea that connected saffron farmers in rural Afghanistan to the international market, created jobs for women and helped drive economic development in the region. We realized that these women needed food-safety-training classes. All their investees were white males, and then they invested in us. I was there for three years, and during that time, I was deployed for one year in Afghanistan and four months to Bulgaria. KJ: My GPA was a 4.5 or something. DL: What was the most dangerous moment? Season 3 Episode 1 – Cultivating Peace with a Little Spice w/ CEO & Co-Founder of Rumi Spice, Keith Alaniz ‘04. To get the business off the ground, the company had to develop relationships with local Afghan farmers, and building trust in the community was critical for success. The company started about four years ago when a team of US military veterans partnered with Afghan farmers to cultivate saffron in the country. You might fail, but what entrepreneurs realize is, Oh wait, that’s not a failure — you just have to try another way. DL: When did you decide to join the armed forces? I loved the physical and mental challenges, as well as the opportunity to become a leader. Ultimately, we made the decision not to go in because there were other ways that we could neutralize the threat. DL: Is it accurate to say that on a daily basis you were in a life-threatening situation? Running a Business or Self Employed? Jung and two fellow officers, Emily Miller (cultural support team, Special Operations Command) and Keith Alaniz (a program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), noticed that Afghan farmers were growing opium, a huge cash crop, on acres of land that could potentially be used to grow an even more lucrative crop: saffron. Saffron, which can cost as much as $13 per ounce in specialty grocery stores, is considered to be the most expensive spices in the world and used mainly in cooking rice-based dishes. Get exclusive benefits when you open a FedEx account. He’s a Republican; he will throw a cigar party and say things to me and Emily like, “It’s now time to put your big-girl pantyhose on,” and I actually love it. “He said he thought he could sell more if only he could expand to other buyers,” Keith explained. One Man’s Story, Jobs After the Military: How One Former Marine Started Podcasting. It was an alternative to growing opium. KJ: The men are the farmers. My experiences in Afghanistan working with the local population made me believe that we weren’t doing anything necessary to help Afghanistan in the long term. Nearly 1,000 flowers are needed to generate one ounce of saffron, making it both scarce and costly. He has embraced me and Emily, and in turn, we embraced him. Bunker Labs network has been absolutely important to our growth. Once you have this fledgling business, you can meet other CEOs to talk about issues that you wouldn’t be able to talk about at work with your coworkers, [talk] to people who have maybe gone through the same thing either emotionally or operationally, and get advice. They’re a group of mostly former military personnel who invest only in military-academy-graduate start-ups. I’d grown up in downtown L.A. I’d been used to a certain way of urban life, and I’d never been to the outdoors and I’d never done any real camping out in the woods. David C Collins III, CEO David has worn many hats through his career including, soldier, governance adviser, consultant at a Big 4 consulting company, factory worker, and construction worker. It was getting dark as well. KJ: In the beginning, they weren’t, because I think they knew I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. DL: Were they supportive of you entering the service? First up: our 2020 Industry Expert Interview with Patti Doyle, CEO of Rumi Spice. That was a critical decision that we made. The Bunker, which is run by veterans for veterans to help empower their community to become entrepreneurs and leaders, is currently located in nearly two dozen cities. DL: The women are doing the actual fieldwork. You could get hit by a bus. Keith was telling us about a farmer named Haji Yosef who was growing saffron and trying to sell it to aid organizations. Rumi Spice helps stimulate the local economy and give women greater freedom by providing them with job opportunities and a way to earn direct wages. We’ve hired upward of 3,700  women, and we now work with more than 300 farmers. I was speaking through an interpreter, and I was thinking, This is so surreal. I was swept up in the romanticism of the military. Saffron is grown in only a few places in the world. Their structured classes and online classes are geared to veterans. They basically outsource their entire job to private companies, and you’re not allowed as a citizen, who can read all the regulations, to do it yourself. They didn’t even have drying machines. Kim Jung, a Rumi Spice co-founder, and an Afghan farmer show the saffron that had been farmed there for the company. They are taking risks and focusing on sustainable change. By the most recent harvest (the fourth one), the team developed a network of more than 300 farmers and hired nearly 3,750 Afghan women. “Three years later, the farmers doubled and tripled production because they felt confident we’re able to fulfill our side of the deal,” Keith said. Kimberly Jung, CEO & Co-founder, Rumi Spice Stacy Ratner, Founder, Open Books; and Co-founder, Chicago Literacy Alliance imagination, and innovation. Get Access to an Online Accountant. I assume the men are in the factories. Kim Jung, a Rumi Spice co-founder, and an Afghan farmer show the saffron that had been farmed there for the company. I took my entrepreneurship professor, Shikhar Ghosh, with me and met with Keith, who was still deployed. KJ: Our platoon was a horizontal construction unit, so we had a bunch of loaders, grazers, dozers, and excavators. But I was at the best business school in the country, and if anyone was going to make a difference, it was going to be someone like me, Emily, or Keith. Rumi Spice | 816 followers on LinkedIn. CEO Kim Jung and COO Emily Miller are featured on the cover of Vetrepreneur, the official magazine of the National Veteran-Owned Business Associtaion (NaVOBA). They are a Chicago-based sustainable local food group, so they believe in sustainable food and being part of the food system. You do things like bridge building and route reconnaissance and explosives. You can commission as an engineer into the Army and not have an engineering background. Our first veteran spotlight is on Kimberly Jung, co-founder of Rumi Spice. DL: How much does a kilogram of saffron go for on the open market today? We were going to enter the house and this woman came to the door with a dog barking like he was about to attack everybody. FedEx Small Business Grant Contest winners. But I didn’t run into any saffron farmers while I was deployed. By giving farmers access to markets and an alternative to growing opium, Rumi Spice hopes to lay a long-term foundation for peace in Afghanistan. Kimberly Jung will share her journey from the Military to Co-Founder and CEO of Rumi Spice and now as COO of Pickle Robot Company Navigating Career Transitions with Kimberly Jung, COO of Pickle Robot Co. Tickets, Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite Doug Doan [a general partner of Hivers & Strivers] — he’s so great, isn’t he? “This grant will not only help us improve our supply chain logistics as Get Your Business an Unlimited Business Checking Account Plus a Bonus Feature Included Here. Saffron gave farmers up to seven times more income than opium poppies. So I would like to become tomorrow’s spice company, tomorrow’s post-conflict goods-trading company. “That’s when the idea of the business emerged, opening up international markets to Afghanistan’s world-class saffron product,” Keith said. CEO of Rumi Spice, Kimberly Jung said, “We are very excited to have been named the grand prize winner of the 2018 FedEx Small Business Grant contest. There were no procedures for how to properly pick the saffron and dry it. That doesn’t mean he needs to change anything about himself. In 2008, when Kimberly Jung graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as a mechanical engineer, becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business was hardly on her mind. All we're doing is opening up markets of saffron for these Afghan farmers," said Jung, a 29-year-old Los Angeles native who serves as CEO of Rumi Spice. KJ: There are three, all in Herat, Afghanistan. “He said he thought he could sell more if only he could expand to other buyers,” Keith explained. DL: West Point is competitive. Entrepreneurs already have so many disadvantages, so being female doesn’t really matter. They dried it on the ground, and the women worked in their own homes as part of the family economy. That’s why “Rumi Spice is dedicated to providing quality training and leadership roles to its Afghan women processing staff,” Patti said. They were finally happy that I went to Harvard and that I was going to be some big businesswoman working for some large company or an investment bank, and now I was starting a saffron business in Afghanistan. And what greater way to connect ourselves to these post-conflict countries than to buy goods from them? Contact Email info@rumispice.com. (Photo: Kim Jung/Rumi Spice) (Photo: Kim Jung/Rumi Spice) “Our favorite saying when times got tough was: ‘Drop by drop, a river is made,’ which is an Afghan proverb,’” Miller said. Within three years of its founding, Rumi Spice opened three processing facilities in Afghanistan. In 2017, we partnered with Purdue University’s agricultural faculty to do some actual training for quality assurance managers in Bangalore, India. In this episode, we are glad to welcome Kimberly Jong, the CEO, and Co-founder of Rumi Spice. DL: When you started out as an entrepreneur, what was the biggest challenge that you faced? Patti Doyle - Chief Executive Officer - Rumi Spice | LinkedIn I grew up super nerdy. We are independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own, and not those of any partner [bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline], or other partner. Need to Refinance Your Business Debt?
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