Entrepreneurs Kudzai Bingepinge and Awa Kone

Entrepreneurs Kudzai Bingepinge and Awa Kone are celebrating African history and culinary culture with their artisan salts under their brand N/UM.

With roots in both Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast, the duo have uncovered one of Africa’s hidden gems, salt.  Through N/Um, they are not only delivering great taste, but African culinary history in each of their five artisanal offerings.

“In terms of the ingredients and in terms of the salts, right, the way we went about it was really… we do have these fantastic salts on the continent, right. How do we bring them out, how do we bring out the stories behind each one of those salts,” says Awa, as she talks about how intentional the entrepreneurs were when look at what ingredient to amplify.

The two crossed paths while working in the financial industry. Their shared passion for Mother Africa and the richness on the continent inspired their venture N/UM launched in the summer of 2023 and includes: Kgalagadi Ancient Salt, African Beechwood Smoked Salt, Sacred Soutini Salt, Benguela Lily Fleur de Sel and Benguela Sea Salt Flakes.

The name N/UM, has its origins from the Khoisan people and means potent healing energy. Kudzai and Awa source some of the salts in the Makgadikgadi region where some communities reside and where it is believed humanity began its great migration from Africa.

During the episode, Bingepinge says, “So the name, it felt really apt to say at a time where as humanity, we could all do with something that is common.” He talks more about this in the clip below.

The salts are currently available on N-Umorigins for delivery within the U.S. and Canada. After listening to the episode, follow along on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok for recipe ideas and more.