From Quartz Africa

You could say the global economy was built on instant noodles.

From East Asian cram schools to dorm rooms across America, the global ubiquity of this meal in a packet speaks to its role as a staple in the diet of young people worldwide. Even in Africa, instant noodles have crept into youth culture. But like so much processed food on the continent, they are primarily imported.

Outside traditional open-air markets, food in Africa is largely a spin of the non-African globe: Marie biscuits from Dubai, butter from Ireland, rice from Thailand. This reality is reflected in an annual food import bill that is almost double that of the sector’s export earnings ($81 billion vs. $45 billion, according to MD Ramesh of Olam International).

The upshot being that the continent is spending some $36 billion a year on products from wheat to cooking oil, tomatoes to canned soup. Putting aside the question of why Africa imports tomatoes, the business opportunity represented by agriculture generally and processed foods in particular screams for recognition.

Monica Musonda, CEO of Zambia’s Java Foods heard the call. Quitting her job as a lawyer, Musonda started what she says is a rare thing: an African-owned agribusiness company. Java’s first product? Instant noodles. “I wanted to develop a product for the youth market that was affordable and nutritious,” says Musonda, who was a panelist on the “Food Challenge” session at the World Economic Forum Africa Summit in Cape Town last week.

Java won’t be the first to produce noodles in Africa, but it will be one of the first African-born brands.

Read more at Quartz Africa