Fouad Mhadji Issa looks to his adopted home of Nebraska when searching for a comparison to describe the role of vanilla in his home country of Comoros.

“Vanilla is farmed widely in Comoros,” he says, “like corn is in Nebraska.”

The marriage of those two disparate places lies at the heart of Issa’s business, Koponi Vanilla. The company launched in Grand Island four years ago selling vanilla extract and has since expanded to sell coffee, syrups and body oils — all of it infused with vanilla sourced from Comoros, an island nation off Africa’s southeast coast.

The business has gradually built a following in the Grand Island area and beyond, which recently led Issa to move into a larger space. Like many small business owners, Issa has had to learn and make sacrifices along the way.

Excruciatingly long days and being away from his wife and kids, who live in France, top the list. But the sacrifices are worth it, Issa says. Though the business is still in its infancy and profits are slim, it’s already achieving Issa’s goal: Creating opportunity for people in his home country.

“I need to help those vanilla farmers gain that sustainability and help their farms grow to be able to pass down to the next generation and so on,” he said.

Airplanes — literally and figuratively — brought Issa to Nebraska the first time around. He grew up in a large, upper-middle-class family with five siblings. His father built a comfortable life by growing his vanilla farm into a thriving business.

“My dad did well, and we always had money for the eight of us to take family vacations all over the world. We had cars and things nicer than most others in our area had,” Issa said.

As he reached young adulthood, a cousin in Tennessee told Issa he would be better off if he attended college in the U.S. He took his cousin’s advice and, with some help from his dad, headed to Tennessee. He was interested in aviation and, through research, found Western Nebraska Community College in Sidney. The school’s aviation maintenance program has a strong reputation nationally.

He enrolled in classes in 2009 and met Dillon Tagtmeyer, who grew up nearby in Chappell. Tagtmeyer said the two connected immediately. They started hanging out all the time. Issa started tagging along with Tagtmeyer on trips back to Chappell. The Comoros native became like another older brother to Tagtmeyer’s younger brothers.

“It was like from day one, we were just buddies,” Tagtmeyer said, “and then it turned into more of a family.”

Issa completed his associate’s degree but then moved back to Comoros. His father had suffered a stroke, and Issa was needed back home. While there, he started brainstorming what he could do. That’s when the idea came to him: vanilla. He latched onto the idea, recognizing it would be an opportunity to help people in Comoros. That was important, he said.

“Growing up in Comoros, my parents gave away land to house public schools and other public places to help the community thrive,” he said. “They also gave land to other people to allow them to farm and have a stable business for their families to run for generations.”

Issa had to confront some difficult realities, though. He had no experience in the world of business. And while he was familiar with vanilla and how it grew, he didn’t know about farming or harvesting the product.

He turned to his dad. Though he had to stop farming after the stroke, Issa’s father still had connections in the industry. Issa leveraged those connections to network and meet more farmers in Comoros.

He moved to France, having vacationed there as a kid, and started creating vanilla extract using vanilla from Comoros. While there, he got married and started a family. But while his personal life was flourishing, the business struggled. Then he learned how much vanilla is consumed in America and quickly realized he needed to make a change.

“The U.S. is the No. 1 consumer of vanilla in the world, so this was an easy decision,” he said.

Tagtmeyer said he and Issa had not seen each other for about eight years by the time 2019 rolled around, though they had stayed in touch during that time. Tagtmeyer was living in the Grand Island area and flying back into Omaha from his honeymoon when he heard from his friend early that year.

Issa said he was back in the U.S.

Where? Tagtmeyer asked.

Omaha, Issa answered.

The two met up, and Issa told his old college friend about his dream. And he talked about how much he missed Nebraska, Tagtmeyer recalled.

“He fell in love with the people and how welcoming everyone was, and (he) just felt like it was home,” he said.

Tagtmeyer suggested Issa move to Grand Island and try to launch his business there. Issa took his friend’s advice. He lived with Tagtmayer while he worked numerous side jobs to save money to start his business in those early days.

“I worked on farms, in construction, jobs calling people, whatever I had to to get by and save money,” Issa said.

Then in early 2021, his dream started gaining momentum. In April, Issa had a meeting with the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corp. Mary Berlie, the group’s president, recalled Issa came into that initial meeting with an entrepreneurial spirit and a lofty dream, but he didn’t quite know how to connect the dots. She and others offered to help him connect those dots.

“Back then, and even now today, he was just a sponge for information and guidance,” Berlie said.

The meeting proved pivotal for Issa.

“After just one hour of chatting with (the economic development officials), I decided to … pursue my dream about this business,” he said.

As he started planting the seeds for his business, Issa hit a hurdle. Originally, the idea was to find a vanilla processor in Nebraska and have it produce his vanilla extract.

“I couldn’t find one single vanilla processor in Nebraska,” Issa said, “so I decided to do it myself.”

He worked with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Innovation Campus on product development and testing. He had samples and a business plan — now he just needed money.

Issa continued to work multiple jobs to support his family, pouring anything extra into his new business. He said the hours were hellacious.

“I would start one job at 6 a.m. and get off that last job at midnight then work on Koponi stuff until about 3 a.m. then sleep for a couple hours and do it all over again,” he said.

“I cried many times and thought, ‘Why am I doing this?’”

Despite his efforts, he didn’t have the assets or credit history necessary to secure a loan from a traditional lender. Then he found the Center for Rural Affairs, which offered him financial training and ultimately a loan to jump start his business.

He got another break in the form of local entrepreneur Jack Henry, who leased Issa his initial space in Grand Island for essentially no money, the Grand Island Independent reported at the time.

Issa officially opened for business in 2022 and soon realized there were opportunities beyond just simply selling vanilla extract.

“People would ask, ‘Do you have vanilla this or that?’” he said. “So, I learned to process other vanilla items to fit my clients’ needs.”

Koponi Vanilla expanded into vanilla syrup, body oil and even coffee. He had experience with the latter, having worked for a time at Zabuni Specialty Coffee Auction, another Grand Island-based business started by an entrepreneur from Africa.

Grand Island locals were quick to jump aboard the Koponi bandwagon.

“I have bought the vanilla extract from the first time I knew about it after he opened,” said customer Paulette Kent of Grand Island.

Kent uses the extract for baking. She said she makes everything from scratch — no cake mixes — so authentic taste is important. “This is more of a natural flavor,” she said.

Another loyal Koponi Vanilla customer, Hal Maggiore, said he buys the Koponi Vanilla syrup and coffee.

“We like to put the syrup in drinks, and we use the coffee for making espresso for personal use,” said Maggiore, who started buying Koponi products a little over a year ago.

“Fouad is great,” Maggiore said. “I enjoy him.”

Many businesses in Grand Island now use Koponi Vanilla products.

“Hy-Vee has been with us from the beginning,” he said. “I appreciate them for their continued support.”

From product development to creation, labeling, packaging, marketing and even selling, Koponi Vanilla has always been a one-man operation, with one exception.

He managed to bring his family from France to Grand Island several years ago. When the kids weren’t in school, they helped Dad with the business, including selling Koponi products at area farmers markets. Issa said they gained a greater understanding of what their dad does — and why he does it.

Recently, though, his wife and kids made the decision to move back to France.

“My wife is from there and is a nurse. The education system is a little different, so the kids are going to school there now,” Issa said.

He and the kids talk on the phone at the same time everyday. They miss him and helping with the business, he said.

Being away from his family is hard. Issa said he reminds himself why he is doing this.

“I am able to help so many people, and I did this all by myself,” he said. “It really means more to me that way.”

His homeland looms large, even when he’s nearly 9,000 miles away. His business’ name is derived from the Swahili word kukopa, meaning to borrow.

“Everybody in Comoros borrows and trades goods to survive. It’s just the culture,” he said.

Issa flies to Comoros Island to get the vanilla himself. He transports it back to Nebraska in suitcases.

Tagtmeyer, who moved to the Gordon area in 2022 to pursue his own dream of owning and running a farm, said he’s proud of his friend.

He can still recall the moment in 2021 when Issa received his official business license from the state. The two had been together for plenty of Issa’s American milestones — when he got his driver’s license, when he received his green card. But when the business license arrived, Issa and Tagtmeyer took turns reading it. Then Tagtmeyer told his friend, “Congratulations, you’re a business owner in the United States of America.” Issa started to cry.

“I’m not surprised at all,” Tagtmeyer said of his friend’s success. “From day one, I knew he had something really good. The product is good, and the background is what is the best thing about it.”

Issa is hoping to continue growing the business in 2026. He recently moved into a larger space in the popular Railside district in downtown Grand Island.

“I have a couple goals for 2026,” he said, “to add a couple other new products and to increase my staff to more than just me.”

This story was originally published by Flatwater Free Press, an independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories in Nebraska that matter. Read the article at: https://flatwaterfreepress.org/he-moved-from-comoros-to-grand-island-wit...