How we failed, lost everything, and built a lifeline from the ashes.
A letter from our founder, Lusabara.
Hey, I’m Lusabara, the founder of Agiza.
And I’m about to tell you a story most CEOs would pay to bury.
It’s a story about a spectacular failure. About burning through my life savings, gaining 33 kilos from pure stress, and watching my first dream die a miserable, public death.
Why would I tell you this?
Because the lessons I learned from that failure are the very foundation of our promise to you today. Because the scars from that experience are your guarantee that we will never make those mistakes again.
If you’re going to trust us with your health, your business, or your investment, you deserve to know exactly who we are and what we stand for. You deserve to know the story of the fire that forged us.
This isn’t just a startup story. This is a story of rebirth.
The naive dream & the spectacular fall (2020-2023)
Picture this. It’s May 2020.
The world is in chaos, but in Dar es Salaam, my team and I are on top of the world. We’ve just launched Agiza, a platform we believe will “democratize the restaurant business” for home chefs.
Our idea was simple: connect talented home cooks directly with customers. We charged almost no commission. We felt like heroes. We were the good guys, fighting for the little guy.
We were geniuses, right?
The reality check hit us like a truck.
Our brilliant chefs were cooking for nobody.
We simply couldn’t get enough customers. One by one, our best chefs left. They’d message me on WhatsApp, their words heavy with disappointment: “Lusabara, I love the dream, but I can’t afford to keep buying ingredients for a platform with no orders.”
Each message was a gut punch.
But did we listen? Did we pause and ask the hard questions?
No. We doubled down on our stupidity.
We thought, “Maybe the problem isn’t our model… maybe it’s our chefs!” So we pivoted. We moved to traditional restaurants, thinking that’s where the customers were.
And then we made the decision that drove the company off a cliff.
The motorcycle mistake that burned our savings to the ground
We declared, “The problem is delivery!”
So we burned through our life savings to build our own delivery fleet. We bought motorcycles. We hired drivers. We became a logistics company overnight, competing with global giants on their turf.
It was a catastrophic mistake.
Let me show you the numbers that should have been a giant, flashing red light in our office. The numbers we ignored out of pride.
The numbers don't lie:
Total monthly burn: TZS 3,000,000
Monthly revenue: TZS 800,000
Monthly loss: TZS 2,200,000
For three years, we ran on fumes and pride. We pretended everything was fine. We told our families, our friends, and ourselves that we were “building for the long term.”
But we were slowly dying. And the stress was physically breaking me.
The revelation forged in loss
By mid-2023, I was a shadow of my former self. I had gained 33 kilos. I was exhausted, defeated, and staring at the ruins of my business. I had become a statistic: another failed startup founder.
But the true breaking point—the moment that would change everything—was yet to come.
While my business was dying, my father was fighting for his life.
From June to December 2024, my family’s world shrank to the size of a hospital room. My father, my hero, was battling the brutal complications of diabetes and high blood pressure.
Our daily, helpless struggle wasn’t for a cure. It was for a meal.
A single, safe meal.
Something with the right ingredients, cooked in the right way. A meal that wouldn’t spike his blood sugar. A meal that could give him the strength to keep fighting.
We searched everywhere. We called restaurants, begging them to understand our specific needs—no sugar, low sodium, specific oils. We tried food delivery apps, scrolling endlessly through menus that were never designed for us.
The response was always the same. Confusion.
Inconvenience. “We can’t do that.”
There was nothing. Nowhere. No options.
On December 26th, 2024, my father passed away.
In those final, heartbreaking months, holding his hand, I was struck by a devastating realization.
For three years, I had been solving the wrong problem.
The real need wasn’t a faster way to get a burger. It wasn’t a cheaper way to get pizza.
The real need was a lifeline.
A lifeline for the millions of Tanzanians just like my father. A lifeline for the caregivers who feel the crushing weight of responsibility with every meal.
It was a problem I was now living with every single day.
His struggle became my mission. His memory became our foundation.
The Rebirth
The New Agiza
From those ashes, the new Agiza was born.
We didn’t just pivot; we started a revolution. We stopped looking at spreadsheets and started looking at the real, interconnected problems we had ignored for so long.
Problem #1: The patient's fear.
2.9 million health-conscious Tanzanians have no way to get truly customized, medically-sound meals.
Problem #2: The Chef's struggle.
Talented cooks are trapped, unable to build a business without capital.
Problem #3: The small business barrier.
Local restaurants and food businesses can’t get the working capital they need to grow.
Problem #4: The supplier's risk.
Ingredient suppliers lose money due to unreliable payment systems.
Here’s the breakthrough we had: These are not four separate problems. They are one interconnected ecosystem.
When a patient gets a meal perfectly tailored to their health, a talented chef builds a profitable business. When that chef succeeds, they need working capital and reliable suppliers.
By providing personalized meal bidding for customers and supply chain financing for businesses, we create a flywheel where everyone wins.
This is the new Agiza.
It’s not a food delivery app. It’s a Health-Tech platform that uses food as a medium for healthcare.
It’s not a marketplace of menus. It’s a marketplace of capabilities.
It’s not a gamble. It’s a guarantee.
Why this time is different
You might be thinking: “Lusabara, it’s a great story. But you failed before. Why should we trust you now?”
It’s a fair question. The answer is simple: Because this time, it’s not built on a naive dream. It’s built on data, empathy, and the right solution to the right problem.
Before our official launch, we ran a 3-month pilot program with the new model. The results were undeniable.
- $47,000 in GMV Generated: People aren’t just interested. They are paying for a solution to their pain.
- 94.3% Customer Satisfaction with an 87% Repeat Customer Rate: We didn’t just find customers. We created fans. They came back because, for the first time, they felt safe.
- 8,392 Customers Pre-Registered for Launch: The word spread because the need is real and urgent.
- 467 Home Chefs Applied to Join: We offered a risk-free path to entrepreneurship, and talented cooks responded.
- $2.8M in Financing Requests from 127 Restaurants: We proved that empowering small businesses is a massive, untapped opportunity.
We have battle-tested experience, a validated model, and a mission that cannot be broken. We are building on Tanzania’s strengths, for Tanzania’s future.
The future we're building
Our journey of rebirth is just beginning. We have a clear, phased plan to scale our impact and build the foundational infrastructure for Tanzania’s new food economy.
- Q2 2026: Official Launch in Dar es Salaam.
- Q4 2026: Scale B2B Financing.
- 2027: Expansion to Arusha, Kahama, Dodoma, Zanzibar & Mwanza.
- 2028: Introduce New Health Verticals (Cardiac, Renal, Fitness).
- 2030: Become the Backbone of East Africa’s Health-Tech Ecosystem.
My personal promise to you
If you’ve read this far, thank you.
Whether you are a customer looking for a safe meal, a chef looking for an opportunity, or an investor looking for a mission-driven return, I want you to know this:
The failure taught us humility. The loss gave us our purpose.
My promise, in memory of my father, is this: I will never again build something that doesn’t solve a real problem for real people.
We are not just building another app. We are creating the infrastructure for Tanzania’s food economy transformation—one where every person can access food that heals, and every entrepreneur has the tools to thrive.
This is not just another startup story. This is a battle-tested team with a proven model, built by Tanzanians, for Tanzanians.
Ready to join the real food revolution?
Stop asking "Is This Safe?" Start knowing it iIs.
Your health shouldn’t be a gamble. Take back control. Get early access to the Agiza platform and receive your first clinician-approved meal.
Lusabara,
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