How to Build a Fiscally Prudent Business:

Lessons From Two Black Entrepreneurs —Asha Wheeldon & Jason Williamson

Asha Wheeldon has her sights set on international markets. The Vancouver-based entrepreneur is the Founder and CEO of Kula Foods, a plant-based food company celebrating East African flavours in a fresh, new way. The company started small at farmers markets in the city. Now, she’s making trips across the border, looking to identify markets in the United States, and exploring which ones make sense for the Kula brand. She says this research goes beyond North America.
“We’re going to explore Africa!” Asha says with a smile. “I know that, competitively speaking, it's quite saturated in North America. Based on the products we offer, we’re looking at Caribbean islands and Africa, in general. Currently, we’re in Canada but we’re also in the US.”
Asha started Kula Foods in 2018. She had just moved to Vancouver, having spent the first ten years of her life in Kenya, then living in Toronto for 20 years. When she landed on the west coast though, she found herself starving for a taste of home: East African and Caribbean cuisine were (and still are) hard to come by. Shocked by the lack of selection, it sparked within her the solution. By 2020, she became a Mom and with maternity leave coming to an end, she needed to decide what path she would follow. At the same time, she was transitioning her diet to more plant-based foods. That’s when the company was born.
“During my mat leave, I took 3 months to go to BCIT and do some research because I thought it couldn’t just be myself,” she says. Asha was pleased to learn there was a growing need for more diversity within the plant-based sector, one where sales are expected to climb to $250-billion by 2035 worldwide. The demand for plant-based proteins is also on the rise, with growth projections sitting at 14% annually by 2024 — up to a third of the protein market. Year over year, 1 out of every 3 Canadians are making the switch to plant-based meats. Asha says that the shift is also happening south of the border.
“In research, we identified that African-Americans are consuming a plant-based diet 8 times more than any other community in the US,” she notes. Scaling isn’t new to Asha. She has taken Kula, which means ‘eat’ in Swahili, from farmers markets in metro Vancouver to over 150 retailers across Canada.
“I’m not gonna lie: one of the biggest challenges was getting into retail because there just was not a lot of willingness to try something new and fear of not selling the products,” she says. In response to the unwillingness, they then began offering catering services. This approach allowed them to test out new foods, connect directly with consumers, and see what they were gravitating towards. When they launched their plant-based meat alternatives, they saw a spike in interest. After operating out of a commissary kitchen for a long time, Asha says they only transitioned out of there about a year and a half ago – and it was the pandemic that marked a turning point. Unable to do catering, Kula, like so many other businesses during that time, went completely online. It was then Asha says she shut everything down for two weeks and began pre-packaging meals.
“That was a critical moment for us. It was our best year.” The food service industry is a demanding one and Asha says she knew she had to scale when burnout began to set in. Towards the end of 2020, Asha either found herself in the kitchen or delivering meals until 9pm. Realizing the situation was becoming unhealthy, she began hiring casual employees to help with some aspects of the business. These employees went from casual to, eventually, part-time. In just a few years, the operation has scaled to an all-female staff of four, with their sauces and protein products available online and in retail spaces. Asha admits the journey has not been easy.
“It is the most costly point but one of the things that helped for me was grants. Now we have a practice, we look for funding. Every month, there’s something that’s out there. Government funding, looking at any pitch competitions – these are the ways we can supplement.”
Staffing is just one of the aspects Black entrepreneurs have to juggle as they scale from a small enterprise to an incorporated business. Another key factor to consider is taxes. Jason Williamson is a partner at Saklas & Co., a metro Vancouver accounting firm supporting large and growing businesses. His advice to entrepreneurs hoping to follow in Asha’s footsteps and scale their business is to surround yourself with people who know more than you.
            “Have great professionals. It’s hard work and dedication that got you this far. Putting your best foot forward is the only way to move ahead,” Jason says. “Having a team around you is by far the best approach. A lot of entrepreneurs take leaps without knowing the consequences. Not every professional is well versed in growing out of geographic areas. You don’t want something like taxes hindering the progress of your business.” Tools like the Black Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Map (BEEM) are essential to helping Black entrepreneurs connect with other professionals across the ecosystem, empowering them to build a team to help them grow their businesses. While federal taxes are standard, there are different considerations from one province to another. For example, an active business in Canada making under $500,000 is taxed between 9-11%. The lowest marginal tax rate in BC is 15%. Even there, Jason says, there’s a 4% difference between the taxes a sole proprietor would pay versus an incorporated business. A sole proprietorship making $500,000 is taxed up to 53%. These are the kinds of tax surprises an entrepreneur should avoid at all costs, Jason says. Still, he’s seeing a lot of entrepreneurs getting hit with a high tax bill – some as high as $60,000.
“You start a business and the business is going well and you’re working and giving your best effort forward and revenue grows and grows. Before you know it, it’s the end of the year,” Jason says. “The thing with sole proprietorship is once the money is earned, it’s taxable. A lot of sole proprietorship businesses in Canada get to a place where they’re making 6-figures real quick not realizing that everything that’s earned is taxed at their personal, marginal tax rate.”
Making the switch from sole proprietorship to incorporated is one thing; the drive to keep on building and expanding is another. Asha says fiscal prudence is key.
“Many businesses shut down not because their product is not great but because of the cost to continue,” she says. “You may get to a point where you just don’t have cash flow. I definitely underestimated the amount of money it takes to operate.” Her advice for a fellow entrepreneur looking to scale: keep on exploring new markets and remain consistent.
“Then, it circles back to can you afford it? Sometimes it just might not be the right time. Just continue what you’re doing and build out more velocity, more sales within the particular area where you’re selling,” she says, adding that growth takes time but opportunities will come. “Be persistent. Expect the nos, but also know that the yesses will come.”