Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku, Google TV or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube.
Devin: What is your superpower?
Felix: My superpower, if I can call it that, is a combination of curiosity and creativity. For me, I don’t think you can really separate those; they kind of lead into each other.
Sanku is proving that hidden hunger can be fought at village scale by adding essential nutrients to the flour families already eat without raising the price mothers pay.
In this episode, I spoke with Felix Brooks-church, cofounder and CEO of Sanku, a social enterprise working across East Africa to make food fortification practical for small local millers. The problem he is tackling is easy to overlook because the hunger is often invisible.
Felix explained, “Hidden hunger means you’re eating carbs, your belly’s full, but full bellies aren’t enough. It’s a 3 billion person problem.”
Sanku’s model starts with a simple insight. In rural communities, families are not usually buying packaged food from big brands in supermarkets. They grow grain locally, mill it locally and eat it locally. So, Sanku had to bring proven nutrition science to the village mill.
“We’re literally adding nutrients to the food that people already eat at the village level, avoiding behavioral change, avoiding cost barriers,” Felix said, “essentially getting every plate that every mother, every child eats with the essential nutrients they deserve.”
The company invented a machine, the Sanku Dosifier, to add precise amounts of nutrient powder to flour as it is milled. But the technology alone was not enough. The economics had to work for millers and families.
Felix told me that the first attempt, selling nutrients directly to millers, failed. After two years of trying, he asked a better question: what are millers already buying? The answer was flour bags. Sanku began producing and selling discounted flour bags bundled with nutrients, allowing millers to fortify flour without increasing the cost to mothers.
That market-based model has helped Sanku scale dramatically. Felix said Sanku grew from reaching about 1 million people in 2020 to more than 80 million people through roughly 2,000 millers in Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.
The impact is profound because the change is invisible to families but vital to health. “It doesn’t change the look, the taste, the color,” Felix said. “But the impact is enormous. It literally saves lives.”
I love how Sanku combines invention, business model innovation and respect for local food systems. Rather than asking families to change what they eat, Sanku improves the food already on the plate. That is a powerful recipe for scale.
tl;dr:
Sanku fortifies village-milled flour with essential nutrients families already eat every day.
Felix Brooks-church built technology and business models to make nutrition affordable at scale.
Hidden hunger leaves full bellies undernourished, harming billions and killing thousands of children.
More than 80 million people now benefit through 2,000 millers across four East African countries.
Curious creativity keeps Felix close to problems, prototyping solutions others have not imagined.
Tap below to add Superpowers For Good as a trusted source.
How to Develop Curious Creativity As a Superpower
Felix describes his superpower as “a combination of curiosity and creativity,” saying, “I don’t think you can really separate those; they kind of lead into each other.” That mindset began in childhood when he was “obsessed with trying to figure out how the world around me worked.” As CEO, he still applies the same approach: “I cannot solve this or lead this organization sitting from an office high up away from the problem.” Instead, he goes to the front lines, gathers information and turns it into solutions. “I need data. I need information,” he said. “With that information, I’m able to design something, create something.”
Felix’s best illustration of this superpower came from Sanku’s earliest days. Asked to invent a machine that could someday help reach 100 million people, he flew to Nepal with a backpack and rough designs from Stanford students. For two years, he worked in dirt metal shops, building prototypes, breaking things and trying again. In 2012, he installed a prototype in a small village. It worked. The machine dosed nutrients without blowing up. In honor of that village, Sanku named both the device and the organization after it.
Stay close to the problem instead of trying to solve it from a comfortable distance.
Gather raw data by talking with customers, partners, frontline workers and the people affected.
Ask what people already do and buy before designing a new solution.
Prototype quickly, expect things to break and treat failure as useful information.
Return to the drawing board when conditions change rather than forcing an old solution to fit.
Design for sustainability, including business models that reduce dependence on grants.
Hand off clear designs to your team so curiosity becomes organizational capacity.
By following Felix’s example and advice, you can make curious creativity a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.
Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you!
Guest Profile
Felix Brooks-church (he/him):
Cofounder & CEO, Sanku
About Sanku: We’re a social enterprise working with African mills of every size, from small village millers to large flour producers. Our model makes fortification simple, affordable and scalable, delivering vital nutrition through the foods millions of people already eat.
Website: sanku.com
X/Twitter Handle: @SankuAfrica
Company Facebook Page: facebook.com/SankuPHC
Biographical Information: Felix Brooks-church is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sanku, a social enterprise on a mission to end hidden hunger by making nutritious food accessible and affordable to millions. Inspired by his experience working with street children in Cambodia in 2007, Felix invented Sanku’s award-winning Dosifier technology and pioneered a sustainable, market-based model for fortifying staple foods. Today, Sanku partners with almost 2000 flour millers across East Africa, reaching more than 80 million people daily, with ambitions to reach 100 million by 2028 and one billion over the next decade. Under Felix’s leadership, Sanku has received the Zayed Sustainability Prize, Elevate Prize, Lipman Family Prize, and Seeding the Future Grand Prize. TIME recognized the Dosifier as a Best Invention of 2019 and named Sanku among its 10 Most Influential Social Good Companies of 2026. Felix is a Rolex Laureate and Mulago Fellow.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/felixbc
Instagram: @sankufortification
Sponsored by:
Join us Monday, November 9th, at 7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific for the SuperCrowd.tv pregame Tailgate Party with Farm to Pet, factory tour and webinar. This event will be unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Scheduled right before the Monday evening game, you’ll enjoy getting into the mood for some football as you learn more about investing in Farm to Pet. Register for free now.
Impact jobs this week
Senior Associate, Underwriting — Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) · Remote (United States) · $93,362–$116,703/yr
Assistant Program Officer — Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) · Virginia, US · Hybrid · $56,748–$70,935/yr
Director of Community Capital Investments — Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) · New York, NY · Remote (United States) · $134,405–$168,006/yr
Coming up
Nov 9, 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT — Pregame Tailgating with Farm to Pet: a special Superpowers for Good episode with a one-hour virtual site visit and barbecue before the game. #ad
Nov 10, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT — Impact Member networking session: a private networking session for Impact and Max-Impact Members, who’ll get registration details by email. Upgrade to join →
Nov 18, 9 AM PT — SuperCrowdHour: The Next Chapter: Accelerating Success After the Raise, with Devin Thorpe. Learn how to keep investors informed after a raise by sharing progress, challenges, milestones and impact — and how to turn early supporters into long-term advocates. Free.
Nov 19, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT — Superpowers for Good Live Pitch: watch Reg CF founders pitch live to active investors, then meet them in the networking room before, during and after the show. Free for viewers and investors. Register free →
Feb 4, 2027 — SuperGreen Live: a global virtual gathering connecting climate solutions with the capital and community to scale them. Learn more →
Anytime — Join the SuperCrowd Impact League: get recognized for your Reg CF impact investments, see how you compare with your peers, and win prizes. It’s free. Start now →
Thank you
Our Max-Impact Members: Alisa Evans, Mission Enrollment | Brian Christie, Brainsy | Cameron Neil, Lend For Good | Carol Fineagan, Independent Consultant | Dion Whitman, Call4USA | Eric Coury, Arthia AI | Joey Hayes, thru | John Berlet, CORE Tax Deeds, LLC. | Justin Smith, Contractor+ | Justin Starbird, The Aebli Group | Ken Steele, Rotarian | Lory Moore, Lory Moore Law | Marcia Brinton, High Desert Gear | Mark Grimes, Networked Enterprise Development | Mike Babbit | Coledger Solutions | Mike Green, Envirosult | Nick Degnan, Unlimit Ventures | Paul Lovejoy, Stakeholder Enterprise | Pearl Wright, Global Changemaker | Scott Thorpe, Philanthropist | Sharon Samjitsingh, Health Care Originals | Add Your Name Here
Manage the volume of emails you receive from us by clicking here.
We share educational information—not investment advice. Some links may generate compensation. See our full disclosure.
We use AI to help us write compelling recaps of each episode.
