On April 27th 2022, we hosted an amazing conversation among top international Alternative Protein startups on making food production more efficient and sustainable in the UAE and MENA region.

The UAE and MENA Food Systems

At Forward Fooding, our mission is to showcase the global startup talent at the intersection of food, technology and sustainability. This time, we are doing so by diving into a region where the scarcity of water resources and fertile land represent a major challenge to agricultural production. Also due to their growing population, countries such as the UAE are now seeking to overcome their reliance on food imports and start local production boosted by the latest innovations in AgriFoodTech.

The focus of this webinar, the second episode of a 3 virtual events series, was Alternative Protein. From plant-based and fermentation to cellular agriculture technology and beyond, we brought together international startups and scaleups operating in the Middle East. The insightful conversation sparked between these inspiring founders highlighted current and future trends in the sector, existing and upcoming challenges and what is needed to solve them.

The session was moderated by Anne Le More, United Nations Food Champion, Co-Founder at Chefs 4 the Planet and Advisor at Forward Fooding.

See the full event in this video.

Want to know more about the protagonists of this event? Keep reading!

The Speakers 

Guy Hefer, CFO of MeaTech

Guy Hefer has vast international business experience and a successful track record of transaction generation and execution. Mr. Hefer was CFO of a tech-focused holding company and an investment banker at Bank Leumi and Barclays Corporate and Investment Bank in Israel and the UK. Guy holds a BA in accounting and economics from Tel Aviv University.

Get to know more about MeaTech in this video.

 

Miguel Neumann, CFO at Eternal

Miguel is an entrepreneur, former banker and early blockchain adopter. He is currently Eternal’s CFO, and has co-founded a number of startups through his career. A former J.P Morgan Investor Services banker, he has more than 20 years of international experience, including 2 exits. Miguel is an advocate for behavioural economics. He holds an MBA from Durham University and studied finances at Harvard Business School.

Get to know more about Eternal in this video.

Guido Mercati, Co-Founder and CSO at PROTe-IN

Impact Entrepreneur, Business Strategy and Innovation Advisor and Board Member for ESG-driven startups, former WPP, Publicis and Accenture Strategy Leadership, last post at Accenture Interactive as Lead for Italy, Central Europe and Greece for Automotive, Travel and Industrial industries.

Get to know more about PROTe-IN in this video.

Dr Lana Zivanovic, CSO of InnovoPro

Lana brings over 20 years of experience leading research teams in academic and industrial settings. She holds B.Sc. in Food Science and Technology, M.Sc. in Biotechnology, and Ph.D. in Food Biochemistry. During her tenure at the University of Tennessee, her research program on multifunctional biopolymers was funded by the USDA, USEPA, USDOD, NASA, and the food industry. As a Global R&D Director in a major CPG company, she successfully led the development of alternative proteins, from scientific discovery to applications in the finished products. In May 2021, Lana joined the Innovopro team, where she leads science and sustainability programs. 

Get to know more about Innovo Pro in this video.

The FoodTech Challenge

This virtual event was organised in collaboration with the UAE FoodTech Challenge, which just launched its second edition. This competition, presented by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and Tamkeen, in association with ASPIRE, is seeking the world’s most innovative agricultural technology solutions that will help address food security challenges.

It focuses on two critical tracks: 

• ‘Food production’ to address the availability and abundance of food and explore next-gen nutrient-rich alternatives 
• ‘Food loss and waste’ to ensure sustainability across the food supply chain and the planet more broadly

The tracks chosen by the UAE FoodTech Challenge actually perfectly reflect the need for solutions to some of the most pressing Food System issues, not only relevant to the Middle East. Indeed, the challenges faced are not unique to the region and, as we are unfortunately aware of, with climate change consequences becoming more and more evident, the need for solutions is becoming increasingly global.

Winners will be offered the unique opportunity to incubate their technologies in the UAE, with the support of leading local entities, including ASPIRE, ADQ, Silal, Emirates Foundation for Youth Development, Abu Dhabi Global Market, ADGM, Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development and Catalyst UAE. The total pool prize is valued at up to US $2M, consisting of cash awards and opportunities for R&D grants, incentive schemes, and startup acceleration support.

Ready to rethink the future of food? Apply now here.

 

Thanks to all the speakers 

We want to thank all the speakers and the people who are working hard to tackle the current food crisis and the challenges of the modern world head-on.

If you missed the event, you can watch it on our Youtube Channel.

 

Next webinar

And don’t miss our third and last webinar for this series. Register here to join the next conversation that will be all about Food Waste and enhancing the Food Supply Chain.

Forward Fooding is the world’s first collaborative platform for FoodTech Data Intelligence and Corporate Startup Collaboration.