https://www.listennotes.com/e/c5722ed1830e45fea824a56d04c9cbc7

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Welcome to Executing the Vision podcast. I'm your host, Brad Hunter, president of Emerge Labs. On the podcast, we'll get to know the person behind the vision, their successes, their challenges, and their plans for the future. If you're interested in becoming a guest or know someone who might be a good fit, stick around to the end and we'll discuss how to apply. Now, enjoy the show. All right, everybody. Well, welcome to another episode of Executing the Vision. I am your host, Brad Hunter, and today I have Narjees Shakir. Is that correct? Did I get that right?

Correct.

All right. Okay. And I'll just let. I'll let you talk about what you've done. There is definitely a laundry list of accomplishments here, so I'll let you take over.

Thank you. Thank you, Brad, for having me. Happy to be part of this episode. Perhaps quick background on me. I was born and raised in Morocco, born in Casablanca, and I moved to Morocco where my family is still living. I come from a family of farmers. So this also triggered some curiosity of mine around the whole agri food industry. And Since I was 18 year old, I moved quite a lot between countries. So I lived between France in the United Arab Belgium, and now I'm living in Spain and Barcelona. I also spent a few months in Japan, but yeah, it was a small. Most of my professional experience has been in the food industry. What I worked in marketing, innovation roles within multinational like General Mills and Kellogg. And my favorite roles, to be honest, were in the innovation and product development side of things, working specifically with R and D teams. I really loved tasting and baking cakes and new desserts or Betty Crocker, for example, that we were developing for the Middle east, being in the lab, sitting with consumers in their houses. And what was really fascinated was how you come up from an insight that you discovered by sitting with a consumer in their house, in their kitchen, to building a new concept that turns real prototype and then seeing it really come into life on shelves. I really love process of design thinking.

And I have a question about that. Okay, so you're working with these big, you know, multinational companies, right? And I mean here in America, like Kellogg's has got their Kellogg's products that we're used to, you know, seeing on the shelf. Do they, do they take some of the products? How does it go to determine what they're going to sell over there? Do they just totally start from scratch? Do they take some of their popular products and try them and see what happens? Like, how does that part of the whole system work?

It's A very good question. I think the way it started initially is by really importing those products through a normal distributor. And then when they see that there is a good traction and good potential in the market, then there is a new team that is set up there, including the marketing and sales team and consumer insights. Right. When, when I joined these companies in Dubai, which is the headquarter for Middle east, there was this shift happening that the local insights and the local taste should be taken into account when bringing in such products from the US and there was a combination of things happening when it comes to innovation. So either could be bringing a product from us that we would say, okay, this is the chassis, but then we're going to work on it and improve it and fine tune it to meet the consumer's needs. But there was also a big evolution that we see happening, which is that consumers like their local desserts. For example, when I was working on Betty Crocker, what we've seen is that Ramadan period, which is the important time of the year where Muslim fast, there are some specific traditions that come out. And even being an American company, we had to adapt to the local means and bring in desserts that are fitting the needs of those companies. Other challenges were also specific to this part of the world, especially if we look at low income countries like Egypt. What we were seeing is that affordability, for example, is a key element. So obviously all the products had to be redesigned and rethought differently while bringing in additional dimensions to them. So I think things evolved compared to maybe 20 years ago, where used to be markets where we just ship products and review them as they are. And now we see that the consumer insights are really taken into account into building relevant pipeline innovation for consumers there.

Okay, that makes perfect sense. That makes perfect sense. So they, the general way it would all work is they start with, hey, we've got this product. Let's, you know, for the most part test them over there, see how they're going to. Some of them will succeed, some of them will fail. The ones that succeed, great. Also, at the same time, we're working on innovating new parts, new things specific to that market. So a combination of the two.

Yes, Correct. Yeah, I think it's, it's the type of solution that seems natural as the market is getting bigger and as the needs of the consumers are also being taken into consideration and build this pipeline.

Okay, got it. Okay. Okay, so then talk to me then about the. I know what your focus right now today is. Is it the accelerator program is that correct?

Correct. So maybe to continue on the story, my I had an amazing time at this company is obviously learning a lot and being immersed in the innovation ecosystem. But I reached a point where there was a certain frustration around the level of innovation that was brought to market, which was more oriented towards operational efficiency, risk, trying to get the highest returns short term, obviously the pressure we were getting. So this frustration kind of drove me to look at what was happening in other industries and eventually get closer to the startup ecosystem where I wanted to see more disruptive innovation coming through. I decided then to really focus on the innovation and entrepreneurship by taking the MBA here in Spain and worked for a bit in a tech industry with Amazon where I really wanted to see different industry, how they are approaching innovation in general and switching to a bit of consulting as well to discover different parts also of innovation. Back to agri food and what I realized is that yeah, I really like the agri food part of things and there were other ways to do it and to innovate differently. So I thought the startup space was really where I wanted to work and wanted to get closer. And this led me to the role that I'm taking today within etifud, which is the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, where I'm leading a program that is supporting scale ups across Europe in the agri food space.

Okay, what is a typical, you know, somebody enters this program, what does that company look like?

So the typical company we look for are what we call early stage scale ups. So these are scale startups that are going through a big transformation to become a scale up. So typically they have more or less 10, 15, between 10 and 20 employees, let's say they start developing, they have a very strong tech component, it backed, science backed, et cetera. And we start to see them developing a commercial arm. So they have commercial and technical skills in their, in their companies. They already have some traction in the market, so some revenue, some big customers in their pipeline already. And I mean if we have to position it from investment perspective, they would be close to series A type of company. So we support, support them really in the commercial readiness to expand beyond the few customers that they have at this stage in a more scalable way and on the investment readiness phase.

And is this okay, so the idea of, you know, a guy, say, you know, guy comes up with the idea if he's got this great snack bar idea, right, you know, a Clif Bar ish type product of sorts that he's able to get in some of his like local, you know, maybe A regional store. And it seems to be doing quite, quite well. But it's at that stage. And so it'd be that type of a company then that would come into your accelerator program with the goal of really probably expanding their product line, getting them across all of Europe. Is that then kind of what we're talking about?

It's a bit more complicated than that because our companies are operating mainly in the B2B space, business to business and we're talking about technological solutions. So usually it's not about getting to a store, but getting to a big customer, which means that they reach a point that, you know, they have a really strong value proposition and strong pitch that they're able to engage this big customer, say a PepsiCo Danone, to work with them on their technology. And what we can help them is that if they have today a baseline of 3, 10 customers, how can we expand to more customers within the same segment, eventually expand to a new segment, new parts of Europe because we have different hubs across Europe. So they can also, you know, sell their solution in different parts.

And does that is the natural progression of that tend to be merger and acquisition based? You know, is that kind of typically the end goal in that space is, you know, you've got this decent successful. They get involved with you guys, you guys are helping them really scale, grow with the ultimate, ultimate goal of they're going to get acquired by PepsiCo.

Well, I mean the way we, we look at is that success can come in different ways. And our role in the program is really to understand what success looks like for the companies that join our programs. Indeed, we have some companies that express since the beginning their wish to be acquired by a specific company and then the whole work is done to get them closer to this acquisition. And actually we had a few big acquisitions over the past years, but not only. Some are also looking to still grow the company to become eventually unicorn here in Europe. Some are more interested in to get into next fundraising round and really scaling up their own solution and still want to have the control. But no, it's not only about acquisition for this type of companies.

Got it. Okay. Okay, perfect. So they, you have initial talks with them and it's the idea of hey, sit down, let's figure out what are your goals. And whatever their goals might happen to be, it's a consultative approach of, you know, might be, hey, that sounds amazing, let's do that. Or it might be eh, that might not be the best path for you. You might want to consider this path over here for what you're trying to do might be a better way to look at it and deal with it.

Correct? Yes. I mean, we try to respect their definition of access as much as possible, but also advise them on, you know, the right way and the right timing to get there with the support, of course, with the mentors and network of experts we work with. Because it might be that the type of funding they are going after is not correct. There is not only the option of having VC support, you can look at different grants or loans to find your next stage of scale up. It might be that also sometimes is not the right time to expand to a new market. Maybe you have to consolidate your presence first in this part of the world and grow there before going to this part of the market. And something very rewarding that the startups tell us from the program is that it helps them avoid certain big mistakes that they would have done and would have costed them. Of course, time, money, energy, resources, without the support of experts guiding them in the right direction. And I think that's also one of the big reason that a lot of startups fail is because they, they burn their cash very quickly on opportunities that are not the right ones for them at the right time.

Yeah, perfect. So that was kind of the next thing I wanted to dive into, was the, the consulting side of things. So tell me first, what do most companies do wrong that you know, that you see come in? Like what are they from a consultant perspective, what do you see they're doing wrong?

Well, I mean there are many things that can go wrong obviously for startups and obviously the numbers speak for themselves because we see now that the numbers are less than 5% of European startups end up scaling. So they're probably doing a lot of things wrong. But what we try to do in the program is to help them on self awareness part and the diagnosis so they can understand what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong in order to scale up. So we look here at different aspects from the team capabilities, their leadership capabilities. I mean one important aspect we look at is how when you are trying to scale up, not anymore about being a founder, especially coming from a tech background is about becoming a CEO and driving a company with a vision, mission clear organization to scale up in a rapid and sustainable manner. So leadership is something that really that a lot of startups, especially in the tech space underestimate. Right. What we see as well is that some company don't spend enough time on their pitching skills and storytelling before jumping into talking to customers. And investors, and obviously they burn their chance of having a good first impression. Right. So this is something we also push them and educate them to spend time about. Really what's your targeted value proposition to the specific investor, to the specific corporate. If you want to get a successful conversation that might take years eventually to materialize, but at least leave a first good impression in the conversation here. Focusing on really differentiate you as a company, as a business model, et cetera. What we see also a lot and very common also in the scale phase is that some companies are doing what we call premature scaling. So they scale very quickly before being ready for it and preparing the resources and strategy and capability like the example I was telling you, like jumping into the next market or hiring people before even defining a good organization strategy. And these are all mistakes that can cost an early stage company a lot financially and also a lot of resources. And I think in the current context where it's very hard to fundraise, we see also higher rates of bankruptcies compared to what we were seeing before.

And now earlier you mentioned that idea of the transition of, from, you know, from founder to CEO. Right? Of founder. You're just, you have to dream, you're in there, you win it all, right? You're just, you're working, you're figuring out all the different things. And then what would you define that transition that you know, how do they, what skill set does it take to go from that type of person to a true CEO?

It's a very good question, but I would say that what we've noticed over the past years is one of the first skill that we look for as well in the program and we have specific round of evaluation around it is the coach ability of the founders. And I think that's a very humble skill that you have to have. So if you're not open to learn and evolve as your company is evolving and accept that you need coaching because you were managing a company of 5, 10 people and now you need different skill set and different type of people around you to grow a company to 20, 30 and eventually 50, then I mean, there is no further conversation there. Right. If you're not open to this coachability. So that's, that's the first aspect that, that we look at, I think. Yeah. And from it comes all the discussion about are you really able to surround yourself with the right people and admit your kind of shortcomings as a CEO and bring in the right skills with you? And here we look in general at the whole C suite of the startups and Try to help them understand, you know, if they are all sitting in the same type of profiles and then they're lacking someone who's more on the execution or more on the direction or more on the vision side of things and how we can help them bring this kind of skills to, to, to the company. Something really important is to look at how you're thinking about your board as part of your coachability. Right. Because you have your team and you need to reach a point where you're also surrounding yourself by the right governance system and the right board that can guide you as a company and help you to make the right decision from a strategic point of view. And I would say last but not least, obviously reaching a point where you're able to delegate. I think we see this a lot in tech founders. Obviously it's airbaby. They created from scratch and they spent some time here developing it in as part of their PhD or working with the university and then the spin off happened and they still want to acquire whatever they developed so far. But they reach a point where you're not a business person or you're lacking certain skills and you have to accept to delegate to the right people in your team and focus more on the strategic aspect. I mean, we call it ambidextrous leadership. So you need to reach a point where you have to be also connected with the outside world and knowing the opportunities and with your internal company. And the only way to do it is that you're able to delegate to the right people if you want to start building opportunities for your companies with the external stakeholders.

Have you read this book? Are you familiar with this one at all?

Not really, no.

Great. I would definitely recommend checking this out. I would recommend, it's a lovely thing on how, as a CEO, how to, you know, buy back your time, make sure that you're spending the time doing the right things. And it really does a very good job, I think of actionable, not just explaining the theory, but like, okay, here are some practices we can put in place that you can start doing so we can adjust your schedule so you're working at, you know, proper things.

But yeah, it's amazing that you, you brought this to life. I mean, I'll check the book, thanks for that. But something also we started this year looking at seriously is building. And I'll talk also about the mental health of the founders. We are surrounded also by really good experts in this area and I think it's also about how you manage your time, how you manage yourself that you can Manage a company and we call it like, how can, how can we fuel you so that you fuel your company? And we started these circles of founders where we support them in this journey to really get to know themselves better and put in boundaries in order to drive the company to the right direction.

That's great. So that's what my wife does. She works with. And so, you know, she started kind of in that space working with all sorts of different people. And where it's evolved to now is actually she's launching a program where she works with co founders, you know, because almost a relationship based thing. Right. A marriage. Right. She's worked with couples over the years, she's worked with CEOs over the years and then has kind of come across this niche of, you know, you almost need a relationship course for co founders. Right. Because they, you know, if they're not getting along well and everything, then the whole company, you know, kind of falls apart. Yeah, she works in that space very much. It's super interesting because sometimes we work with the same clients. You know, I do business consulting with clients and she works with them on the other side of things. So yes, that, you know, having both. Right. It's one thing to talk about, you know, the strategy, but then it's another thing to, you know, how are you dealing with the stress, how you deal with the anxiety? You know, that side of things is just as important as the business strategy is. And if you don't have good tools and resources to deal that, you know, then you're gonna. Business is gonna struggle. But that's, that's amazing that you guys have that as part of. And now how are you finding people? How do people find you?

So we, we, I mean, we have been running the program since 18. So the thing is that the program is getting a good reputation now across Europe and very clear positioning as one of the few pan European programs that are supporting companies across Europe. And also the way we put in the program is that it's a kind of partnership that we build with the startup because it's a long term program. So it's up to three years that they can stay within the program. Obviously they renew it every year and decide if they want to stay with us. And the tailored aspect of it is something that I think is helping us on attracting companies at this stage where we know what they need is really more personalized. So I mean, at EIT Food we have, as I explained, different health hubs across different regions in Europe with teams sitting there that are also very well connected. To the local ecosystem so that, you know, drives some referrals coming from them. The alumni that go to the program also bring in their referrals. We go to almost all the events across Europe where we scout for startups there. We work very closely with scouting agencies. But I think what works really well for us is the word of mouth that the alumni are bringing and the referrals that the network. Because we work also with investors and corporates that see the added value of the program and also referring the startups that they work with because obviously they have interest. Right. The companies come to our program and get the right support, then it's success for everyone. Right.

And then what would you say to the, you know, to the, the founder, the CEO of one of these companies that's, you know, a little hesitant, they don't know if they need you. They got their own thing, they seem to be doing fine. What would your message be to that person?

I think that the data speak for themselves in general, that when you are a startup and I think a lot of programs or accelerator programs in general have shown that you have twice more chances of success if you join such programs. Right. And I think it's very intuitive if you think about it, right? The amount of mentorship, the amount of the network that you get from our program, not something that you can build by yourself, right. So for example, for us at Yetifood, we have more than 150 partners. We work with 50 plus investors. We are present across Europe. We also are very connected with Asia, with the US for example. So this is really a valuable addition to them. I think something really, really interesting and that a lot of founders tell us is that there is this phenomenon of loneliness of founders or even if you are two co founders, right. You are left by yourself and being part of this community with other founders that are at the same stage, the same challenges. And having this support system around you that facilitates for you is definitely helping you to grow faster and optimize chances for success. You put in all the energy.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think that makes perfect sense. I mean like I said, out of the gates, right? The numbers, the easiest thing is just simply look the numbers, your chances are success double. You know, I mean that makes perfect sense. And so I've been getting in more and more involved in mastermind groups which. It's that idea you're talking about, right? Just the idea of being around other entrepreneurs and business owners and the value that you get out of that. And going into it, I was like, eh, I don't know, we'll see. I don't know how much there is for me to learn. I've been doing this for a while and then coming away from was just like. That was unbelievable. You know, the amount of random things that I learned I can apply to my business, even just in a weekend event was incredible. So, yeah, I can see how both of those things make a ton of sense and be super helpful. Now. Where do you see the industry itself going? What kind of trends in the industry do you like people to be aware of?

Well, I mean, since we cover agri culture and food, obviously there are so many things happen in so many challenges that we're facing at European level. But overall, I would say that even for us at eitifood, we structure it as three big missions that we have. Our first one is about achieving net zero. And here you can put in all the solutions that we see in the area of regenerative agriculture, all the alternative proteins in general, alternative dairies, and the solutions coming there. Also to improve the labels that we're seeing in this, in all the upcycling, et cetera, that we're seeing, packaging solutions as well that are more sustainable. That is quite an interesting area and a priority segment we look at. Then we have the part which is about healthier lifestyle, our mission. And here obviously there's so much that needs to be done in terms of reducing sugar, reducing salt, making sure that there is an improvement of the diets and more diversity in the diet and the alternative solutions that we have to meet. And last but not least, and something probably that we got aware of since COVID is how we can improve our supply chain in general and digitize it. And here we see a lot of blockchain solutions coming to life, but also how we can extend the shelf life of our products with technological solutions that can support the value chain in a better way, in the supply chain in a better way. So yeah, we support around 30 startups per year in the program, hundred more or less across EIT food at different stages. And there's a lot of work, I would say, to be done on the agri and food side of things if we want to achieve this. Three missions, let's say, in the near future.

Great. And then if people want to get in touch with you, what's the easiest way for them to do that?

I would say preferably LinkedIn. I'm quite available on LinkedIn, so you can reach me on Margisha on LinkedIn by messaging me and happy to connect.

Okay, excellent. And we'll make sure we put a link on the podcast itself for that and anything else. It's been wonderful talking to you. I have learned a ton here. I think you've shared a lot of value, valuable information for, you know, the companies themselves and things to look out for. Is there any last words?

I mean, I think for me coming from North Africa or Africa in general, I would love to see more collaboration also going towards other parts of the world that are underprivileged somehow. We're not seeing drastic solutions happening and where. I would love to see, you know, that we start thinking about common goal or global goals that are aligned in general and more collaborations that are thinking holistically and fairly about the future of food and people equally, taking into account Africa, I think that the solutions today that we have, Europe or us, that are the most advanced in terms of innovation are still thinking about their own people, relevant solutions for countries. So I would like to. Yeah. See more holistic solutions happening in the future.

And how do you think that would occur? I agree, I understand what you're saying there, but I'm thinking of like, how. What would be a method of which that would occur, you know, because I would just see these big food companies, whatever, they're based here in America, they're focused on their American products. Like what you're saying makes sense, but I'm just curious as to how would you get them to do that.

I mean, I think it goes back to what I was. We were touching base a little bit at the beginning of this conversation about really understanding the needs and the insights of the population living in these countries and taking into consideration the affordability dimension, different conditions, nutritional profiles that might be needed for them. And I think from there also start building with this insights and needs into account rather than pushing solutions toward them once they are ready and approved in Europe or in America in general. So I think that that would be the approach I would look at.

Got it. Okay. Okay. That makes sense. Got it. Okay. Okay. Well, wonderful. Thank you again for your time today. It's been great meeting you and good luck with everything.

Thank you. Brad was amazing speaking to you as well. Have a great.

You too. Thank you. And then there, I will just kind of cut it off there, but yeah, that was wonderful. Super. So what do you think, by the way? As far as it seems to me just from an agriculture front, it seems like, you know, over in Europe and everything, there's quite a battle against just farming in general. It seems, I don't even, you know, who knows what's real or what's not real. Right. But I still think of like the farmers protesting and they're trying to ban this and ban that and get rid of cows and all of those types of traditional farming things. It seems like there's a battle to shut that down. I mean, is that a reality that's happening over there or what's going on? Because we haven't really seen that here at all.

You mean the latest protest that we were seeing? Right?

Yeah, I mean, I feel like a couple months ago, even last year, there was all sorts of, you know, tractors all over the place, spraying manure all over Paris and blocking freeways and all of that type of stuff.

Well, I think there are different, you know, each issue that are raising and that are quite fair is that the farmer is kind of carrying the weight for everything, climate related, economically speaking, and so on. Because what ended up happening is that because of the intermediaries that are in between, the price of their goods end up being sold at a very high price and the farmer is not getting anything out of it. Right. So the whole system and value chain is not designed, taken into account the farmer. And I think we've seen a lot of solutions that were trying to cut these intermediaries like these marketplaces or. But it's still, you know, not working at a big scale because at the end of the day, I mean, the control is in the hand of this big retailer chains and big food companies, etc. So I think that's one big issue, like farmers.

So the middleman, if you will, is trying to just take a bigger piece of the pie to make up for any sort of things for climate change or this, that or whatever, they're trying to grab money from the farmer in. Yes, okay, okay. So it's the distribution.

So that's one of the issue. Right. The second is also like all these new practices, regenerative agriculture, et cetera. Yes, it's amazing. But once again, we need to think about the farmer in this session and make sure that he's not the only one carrying the cost of making such a transition. Because obviously it has an impact on the productivity, on their profit and so on. The cost need to be shared in a proportionate way. Right. And I mean, then comes also the issue of pricing. Are we pricing things rightfully? Right. The true, true cost, looking at the true cost of things. If we look at all the sustainability measures or just throwing in there a price that was established years ago because that was the industrialization type of things. And if you want to change things, obviously you have to change the price and, and you know, make a farmer part of this transition. Yeah, yeah. I mean a lot of things are happening in Europe also. Like there are not many young people interested in farming because it's not lucrative anymore. And with climate solution there is also not many control you can have on, on the yield that you're going to get. Yeah. So yeah, big challenges there.

Right? Yeah. I love what you guys are doing. Seems amazing. Seems like you guys have a really good support program set up and everything like that. And I do my best to, you know, whatever, just stay in touch with guests and create a good network. I mean a lot of times different guests I end up kind of, you know, putting them in touch with, hey, you talk to this person, you know, you should talk to that person. So whatever I can do in the future for any sort of networking stuff, I'm happy to help.

Perfect, that would be amazing. And also like from our side, if you have specific topics you want to cover or you know, maybe we can also support on that side because we have startups in different areas. Some of them are, are super advanced now and you know, since they have been in the program maybe since 2018 now, they are super grown up companies and different topics. So if you want to, you know, deep dive on specific topic about cellular agriculture or regenerative and so on. Happy to also if you find the right people to speak about it.

Okay, awesome. Perfect. Yeah, the regenerative thing is certainly a very interesting topic, right?

Yeah, yeah, we have a person actually ATIPU leading this fall of regenerative agriculture initiative at the European level. So so much is going on here and, and we have experts obviously that can help you deep dive further on that.

Neat. Yeah. Be interested in the idea of, you know, being able to pull that off at scale. Right. To me that's always been the thing. Like it seems like, perfect, wonderful answer. Then it's like, but is it really scalable? It always seems to be. The wallet runs up against them but. Awesome. Well, thank you again for your time and I will be in touch here shortly within like a week or two.

Okay, excellent. Like me, Brad.

Thank you for listening to executing the vision. If you'd like to be a guest, go to EmergeLabs US and click on the podcast page. If you like what you heard, please share the episode and subscribe. Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. You can find us on Instagram @BradEmergeLabs as well as X, Facebook and LinkedIn. Where we strive to provide valuable information on business and life. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the show and what you'd like to see in future episodes. Thank you again and have a great day.