Naeches Nourishment is serving up savory meat pies with a side of its student founder’s Nigerian roots, Chinecherem Ihenacho shared, noting she started the business to make her culture more approachable to people who otherwise might not see the richness of its flavor.
“I just kind of wanted to erase some of the stereotypes and the misconceptions that the media was portraying and just tell my own story,” explained the University of Missouri-Kansas City senior, Trustees’ Scholar, and Regnier Venture Accelerator alum.
“I’m never afraid to show up authentically,” Ihenacho explained. “I embrace my culture, my heritage, and who I am. And I think when you’re genuine, other people are able to see that, too. I guess it’s easier to want to fit in. But fitting in is boring. Might as well stand out.”
Made using her mother’s recipe, Naeches Nourishment offers classic beef, chicken, halal beef, and turkey pies, available through pre-order or at popups. She originally just offered beef but has added a halal option upon the requests of her Muslim customers, chicken for her customers from India, and turkey, which is her grandma’s favorite.
“The meat changes, but everything else stays the same,” she added.
Ihenacho — who moved with her family to the United States in 2010 — started the business while a student at Raytown South High School. She originally thought about making jollof rice or other Nigerian staples, but quickly learned she could really only rely on her mom’s meat pies.
“I realized that a lot of cultures also have their own variations of meat pies,” she continued. “There’s Scottish pies, Jamaican pies. There’s pestolitos and empanadas. There’s so many variations. So I think pie was something that I knew that people had a sense of and wasn’t something new to them.”
Click here to pre-order from Naeches Nourishment.
Meat pies from Naeches Nourishment; courtesy photo
Once people started trying her pies, Ihenacho noted, they became curious about her culture — even doing their own research — helping to dispel some of the misconceptions she confronted when she first moved to the U.S. (like thinking that Africa is just a country).
“I always got crazy questions for my classmates like, ‘Did you used to live with animals?’” she explained. “It was funny, because I’d never seen a lion until I came to an American zoo. So I think people just have their own ideas about Africa that just wasn’t what I lived and I wanted to change that perception.”
‘The entrepreneur dream’
Not being afraid to be unapologetically herself, Ihenacho shared, is something her summer as a YEPKC intern in 2021 helped her to learn. She isn’t afraid to share her Nigerian recipes or her thrifted fashion finds, which used to embarrass her as a kid.
(The “Naeches” name for her business actually comes from an old family nickname.)
Chinecherem Ihenacho, founder of Naeches Nourishment; courtesy photo
“When you’re yourself,” Ihenacho added, “you just glow differently, you shine differently, and you have a better understanding of who you are.”
The YEPKC program — which is designed for students who want to make a difference in their community and their world by way of entrepreneurship — also provided support and taught her such skills as customer discovery, networking, curiosity, and not being afraid to fail that she has carried with her now in her role as a founder.
“That internship has given me so much confidence that I carry on throughout my life,” she said. “It really taught me to take pride in what I offer, to be a good listener, and to have grit and be tenacious.”
Last summer, Ihenacho — also a past member of the KC Scholars program — got to share her meat pies and entrepreneurial journey with YEPKC interns and the team at C2FO, which are both under the leadership of founder Sandy Kemper.
“I was very grateful for that full-circle moment,” she noted.
Kemper added: “We brought her back to last year’s celebration, well first, because those meat pies are exquisite and, second, she is doing what she loves to do and building a business out of it.”
“That is the entrepreneur dream.”
Seeing Ihenacho build her own successful business is precisely why YEPKC was formed, continued Erin Jenkins, the program’s executive director.
“We develop the next generation of entrepreneurs through real world learning internships and networking opportunities,” she explained. “We want them to know that Kansas City is a great place to start a company and have the contacts around them to support their entrepreneurial journey.”
Tabling taboos
While Ihenacho, a psychology major at UMKC, hopes the future includes selling more of her Nigerian meat pies — especially during the World Cup where she wants visitors “to have a taste of home” — she is also applying to graduate programs for social work.
“As much as I love my business, I’m also very passionate about mental health and bringing more awareness to it,” she explained. “Especially as a Nigerian, I think in general in African countries, mental health is still taboo. I think we are doing a little bit better and I think people are talking more about mental health issues and just bringing more awareness to it. But it’s still something that a lot of people still struggle with that isn’t being dealt with.”
