Transforming Kenyan Coffee into Wellness Products With Doris Obondo

Growing up in Kenya, necessities like soap were often inaccessible for Doris Obondo and her family. Today, Doris is making hygiene more accessible with a line of coffee-based beauty products.

BY DANIEL MURAGA
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Photos courtesy of Doris Obondo

What to know:

• As a child growing up in Kenya, Doris Obondo experienced firsthand how poverty can make personal hygiene difficult, with necessities like soap often staying inaccessible to low-income communities
• Today, Doris runs a company called Aloe Flora Products, through which she crafts bath and beauty products out of local botanicals like aloe vera, honey, and coffee
• Through her coffee-based products, Doris hopes to share the beauty of Kenyan coffee with customers while making hygiene and self-care more accessible for all

When many people hear about coffee, they only think of the drink. This is not the case for a young Kenyan entrepreneur named Doris Obondo. Based in Nairobi, Doris is showing how the coffee plant can deliver much more than just a cup of caffeine.

From manufacturing beauty soaps, lotions, candles, shower gels, detergents, cosmetics, and other skincare and cleaning products with coffee, Doris is building a growing venture that leverages coffee value-addition and turns a childhood dream and struggle into an entrepreneurial endeavor.

Inspired by her time growing up in a large family where even necessities such as soap were seen as a luxury, Doris founded Aloe Flora Products: a personal care line that uses locally sourced botanicals like aloe vera, honey, turmeric, and coffee as the base of their beauty and wellness products.

“Growing up, life was not easy for my family, and many of the experiences I went through as a child became the foundation of the entrepreneurial journey I am on today,” Doris says. “I was raised in a humble background in a large family with eight siblings, where meeting even the most basic needs was often a struggle. There were times when simple necessities, such as soap, were consistently difficult to afford.”

Escaping the poverty trap

Because of the challenges she experienced as a child, Doris says maintaining proper hygiene was not always easy. For example, there were times when they would eat with dirty hands simply because there was no soap available at home, and this led to frequent illnesses among them as children. They also struggled with skin-related issues because they lacked access to proper skincare and hygiene products. At the time, these seemed to her like ordinary hardships associated with poverty, but as she grew older, she began to understand how deeply access to hygiene and personal care products affects people’s health, dignity, confidence, and overall well-being.

What some call “poverty trap”—that self-preserving cyclic mechanism where poverty begets abject poverty and traps families in scarcity for generations—can be a hard nut to crack. In 1994, when Doris was born, about 12.5 million others in Kenya were languishing in abject poverty. But Doris is now, three decades later, breaking all economic, psychological, social, and related barriers to overcome the trap using coffee value addition as a springboard. 

“Those childhood experiences stayed with me for many years,” Doris tells Barista Magazine. “Instead of allowing them to discourage me, they became a source of motivation and purpose. I developed a strong desire to create affordable products that could help families maintain proper hygiene and skincare regardless of their financial situation. That is what inspired me to start learning about soap making and product formulation.”

Coffee beyond the beverage

With time, Doris started researching and experimenting with different formulations, learning how soaps, detergents, and skincare products are made. Over time, this passion evolved into the establishment of Aloe Flora Products, a company focused on producing affordable, quality hygiene, beauty, and wellness products.

“As I continued in manufacturing, I became increasingly interested in value addition and innovation using locally available resources,” Doris says. “This is what eventually led me into coffee-based products. Kenya is globally known for its high-quality coffee, yet much of it is exported in raw form. I began asking myself how coffee could be utilized differently beyond being consumed as a beverage.”

Through research, she says she discovered the skincare benefits of coffee, including its antioxidant and exfoliating properties. That inspired her to integrate coffee into cosmetic and wellness products such as soaps, scrubs, shower gels, and candles. In many ways, coffee value addition became an extension of her original mission, transforming everyday local resources into products that improve people’s lives while also creating economic value.

Aloe Flora Products was established as she transitioned from learning product formulation into structured entrepreneurship. The business started as a small-scale manufacturing initiative focused on soaps and detergents and has since grown into a broader value-added company producing a range of skincare, hygiene, and cleaning products.

Breaking the raw-export obsession

Kenya is globally recognized for producing high-quality coffee, yet most of it is exported in raw form with limited local processing and consumption. The company identified this gap and began exploring ways to integrate coffee into cosmetic and wellness formulations. This led to the development of coffee-based products such as coffee bathing soap, coffee body scrubs, coffee shower gel, and coffee candles. 

“The coffee-based product line is a key differentiator for the brand and is inspired by value addition within Kenya’s coffee sector, Doris says. “These products are designed not only for skincare and home use but also to create a unique identity that connects agriculture, manufacturing, and wellness. Each product is developed with a focus on affordability, quality, and local resource utilization.”

The company distributes its products through direct sales, partnerships with local shops, customer referrals, trade exhibitions, and its growing social media engagement. Doris’ participation in industry events and exhibitions has also helped increase her brand visibility and attract new customers and potential business partners.

But how does coffee translate to these products? The company processes coffee into usable cosmetic ingredients such as finely milled coffee particles or coffee-derived extracts. 

Lighting the world with coffee candles

Among the most interesting products Doris makes out of coffee are coffee candles. As Kathy Troccoli sang, Doris is giving her clientele a chance to “take their candles and light their world.” Her candles are infused with coffee essence and inspired by the rich aroma of freshly brewed Kenyan coffee. Doris shares that her goal was to create a warm, comforting, and relaxing atmosphere, while also celebrating one of Kenya’s most iconic and resourceful agricultural products: coffee. 

“The idea of coffee candles came from combining two things I am passionate about: value addition and sensory wellness products,” Doris says. “While developing coffee-based cosmetics, I began experimenting with how coffee could be used in other lifestyle and homecare products, and candles became a natural extension of that innovation.” 

From a formulation perspective, the candles are made using quality wax blended with carefully selected fragrance oils and coffee-inspired notes. In some variations, coffee grounds are also incorporated for decorative or textural appeal, giving the candle a unique, natural aesthetic that visually connects it to coffee itself.

However, the company has had its fair share of challenges. One of the biggest challenges that Doris identifies has been financial constraints. Manufacturing requires consistent access to raw materials, packaging, equipment, and working capital, and there have been times when fulfilling customer orders became difficult due to limited finances.

Empowering women and youth

One of the most striking elements in ventures championed by young women in developing countries is the desire to empower women and youth. Aloe Flora Products is not an exception. Doris explains that one of the key ways her company empowers women is through skills transfer in product formulation and manufacturing. Many women are engaged in learning how to produce soaps, detergents, and skincare products, enabling them to start small businesses or improve existing ones. This creates income-generating opportunities, especially for women seeking flexible and sustainable livelihoods.

Doris also exposes the youth to practical entrepreneurship and manufacturing skills, including production processes, packaging, branding, and basic business operations. “By introducing coffee-based cosmetic innovation, the business encourages women and youth to see local raw materials differently and to explore manufacturing as a viable career path. This mindset shift is important in building confidence and creativity in business development,” she says. 

Showing the world what Kenyan coffee can do

When asked if she has anything to add to her inspiring story, Doris says: “I would like to share a message of encouragement and perspective with Barista Magazine’s global audience. My journey with Aloe Flora Products is rooted in both personal experience and a strong belief in the power of value addition. Through entrepreneurship, I discovered that coffee is far more than a beverage. It is a powerful agricultural resource with untapped potential beyond the cup.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Muraga (he/him) is a communications expert, researcher, writer, and editor based in Kenya with over 10 years of experience in the industry. His mission is to highlight Africa’s contributions to the realms of science, technology, innovation, culture, food, and related fields. He has done extensive research and written widely in the coffee niche for Sprudge Media, as well as in related areas for Life & Thyme and CQ Researcher, among others. When not writing, he is always outdoors communing with nature. You can find him on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

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