KAEVO: Two founders, one vision and a bigger plan for African ambition.
As the famous quote says, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
And in this story, we hear about KAEVO and how the duo behind it sees the brand in 10 years’ time. But first, let’s start by getting to know them and understanding their current journey.
KAEVO was founded by South African entrepreneurs Shaq Sutton and Mark Akakpo, who both come from investment banking and private equity backgrounds, with much of their work focused on Africa.
It was while operating in those fast-paced professional environments, surrounded by people constantly moving between meetings, deadlines and demanding schedules, that they began noticing something. The drinks available to people working at that level did not necessarily match the standards they applied to other parts of their lives.
That observation became the beginning of KAEVO - a premium ready-to-drink iced coffee brand built around clean, considered ingredients and convenience without compromising on quality. And instead of trying to become another coffee brand competing with the traditional coffee-shop experience, the founders decided to solve a different problem.
KAEVO is for those moments when there simply isn’t time to wait for coffee to be prepared - between meetings, while travelling, during deadlines or when the working day keeps moving. The product is retort-processed and shelf-stable, meaning it does not require refrigeration or a cold chain before it is ready to be served. The founders see that convenience as an important part of fitting the product into the realities of a busy professional’s day.
But the coffee itself is only one part of what they are building. The workplace has become an important part of KAEVO’s strategy through its corporate subscription model. Instead of companies investing in additional infrastructure, KAEVO places branded coolers in workplaces, manages the restocking and charges a flat monthly fee.
For Sutton and Akakpo, the office is also where the product must prove that it has a genuine purpose. “If KAEVO earns its place on a corporate floor, it’s because it’s genuinely useful there, not because it was marketed well,” they explain.
It is an approach that says quite a bit about the business they want to build. Even visually, KAEVO deliberately stays away from what people may traditionally associate with coffee. There are no warm browns, handwritten café-style branding or language encouraging consumers to “treat themselves”.
Instead, deep red, black and gold form part of a visual identity inspired more by premium fashion and performance brands. The thinking is that if its customer applies a particular standard to the clothes they wear, the vehicle they drive and the environments in which they work, the drink in their hand should not feel like the compromise in the room.
That same discipline carries through to what is inside the can. KAEVO currently has just two options, Original Latte and Midnight Mocha, and that limited range is intentional.
Rather than quickly adding flavours and chasing trends, the founders say quality and consistency remain central to the brand. Everything from the fibre blend and mineral composition to the ratio of coffee extract to milk went through iterations before they were comfortable putting the KAEVO name on it.
The products also carry Halaal certification through SANHA, requiring ingredients, packaging artwork and product claims to go through the necessary approval processes. For a brand that talks frequently about focus, it seems they are applying the same thinking to their own growth.
“We’re less concerned with flooding the market with several sub-par flavours or variants, and more concerned with putting the right product in the right hand.”
One thing that shows KAEVO is about more than just selling iced coffee is KAEVO Lab. The private, nomination-only community brings together entrepreneurs, professionals, athletes and investors.
The founders believe ambitious people already have enough networking events and digital platforms available to them. What is often harder to find are carefully curated rooms where the right people can genuinely connect.
“We didn’t set out to build a coffee company in the narrow sense,” they explain. “We set out to build something for a specific kind of person, and the coffee was the first product. The community is the second.”
This also explains why the brand is not chasing every possible customer. Sutton and Akakpo believe trying to serve everyone can ultimately result in serving nobody particularly well. Their approach has therefore been to clearly understand the environment they want KAEVO to occupy and build specifically for it.
That does not mean they view ambition as belonging to a particular income group, profession or background. Quite the opposite. They believe ambition is something every South African has the potential to possess.
But there is a bigger question behind everything they are building: where does this go? For two founders whose professional backgrounds have given them significant exposure to Africa, their answer extends well beyond selling more cans of iced coffee.
Where do you see KAEVO 10 years from now?
“As African founders passionate about growing this continent, KAEVO is meant to encapsulate the immense talent and work ethic that Africans possess, qualities that are too often under-represented, or misrepresented, in the international community.
“Ten years from now, we want the KAEVO cooler, the drinks and the community around them to be symbols of African success, perseverance and standard.”
And there is an important distinction in that ambition. They do not want KAEVO to become an African interpretation of something that has already succeeded elsewhere. They want it to demonstrate that a business conceived and built by African founders can set its own standard and take that standard beyond the continent.
Their hope is that whether someone encounters that KAEVO cooler in Johannesburg, Cape Town or eventually somewhere beyond South Africa’s borders, it represents something bigger than the drink waiting inside.
A generation of African entrepreneurs building confidently on their own terms. For now, there are two founders, two flavours, corporate coolers and a growing community. Ten years is still some distance away. But if Sutton and Akakpo are right about going further together, KAEVO’s journey may only just be getting started.
For more, visit: KAEVO
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