Winners announced for inaugural ‘Future Food Shark Pitch’ during UN climate week   

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Winners of the world’s first ‘Future Food Shark Pitch’ have been announced after 14 food system entrepreneurs pitched their sustainable food solutions to investor judges during UN Climate Week. Joint first prize was awarded to Yolélé Foods and Aliet Green. Joint second prize was awarded to Toothpick Company and Burgreens.  

The ‘Future Food Shark Pitch’ aims to raise the profile of small businesses with innovative and investable solutions that make the food system better for people and planet. 

Over 120 entrepreneurs applied to be part of the Shark Pitch. 14 were chosen as finalists to pitch their sustainable business models, hoping to take home the ‘Future Food’ prize. Each Shark Pitch finalist received training ahead of the event from NatureBased Ventures, WBCSD and others. 

Entrepreneurs pitched a range of solutions from emerging markets including agro-forestry coffee and nuts, forest-friendly honey and food colouring, plant- and ocean-based protein alternatives, sustainable aquaculture and many more. Find out more in the Shark Pitch investment portfolio.

Collectively, these entrepreneurs are protecting thousands of hectares of Amazon rainforest, preventing millions of tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and generating income for local communities worldwide. Empowering women is often at the core of these businesses. 

Shark Pitch judges came from leading banks, impact investors and accelerators working to scale investment into emerging market food systems.

“There has already been huge investor interest in the finalists. This proves that there is a strong, investable pipeline of nature-positive opportunities in emerging markets seeking capital across the risk/return spectrum,” said Katherine Stodulka, Director of the Blended Finance Taskforce. She added that “The Shark Pitch aims to help reduce the transaction costs of accessing and deploying that capital to transform food systems.” 

the Winners

Winners received a cash prize from system-change firm SYSTEMIQ, which runs the Food & Land Use Coalition & the Blended Finance Taskforce during an online award ceremony.  

First place:

  • Aliet Green is a women-led social enterprise that produces and trades organic coconut sugar from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with a focus on employing female farmers. It was founded in 2009 with the aim of driving growth in rural economies in a sustainable way. Today, they have a strong international presence in the food ingredients sector, processing and selling certified organic coconut sugar in high-end markets. Aliet Green collaborates with over 1,000 individual small-scale producers, of which 90% are women. 

  • Yolélé Foods brings delicious and nutritious African foods to a global audience with a compelling, aspirational brand focused around the ancient West African grain, fonio. People buy Yolélé products to enjoy tastes of Africa, and in doing so they support smallholder farmers growing climate-resilient crops in regenerative systems. Yolélé started selling fonio grain at a single Whole Foods Market store in Harlem, New York City, in 2017 and has enjoyed triple-digit growth every year since. Now Yolélé fonio is sold in 2,000 stores across the US, with fonio chips being launched at leading New York City retailers. Yolélé also operates a strong direct-to-consumer channel. Yolélé has set up a joint venture, West African Ancient Grains, with local agri-processing partners to develop a new fonio processing factory in Mali to meet the ever-growing demand. Yolélé has featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Food & Wine, and on Bloomberg, Reuters and more.  

Second place:

  • Toothpick Company uses biology to fight biology in one of the biggest battles against weeds globally. Their bioherbicide innovation uses a local plant disease to attack Striga (witchweed), Africa’s worst pest threat to food security. The FAO estimates that Striga causes an annual crop loss across Africa of $7 billion, affecting over 300 million people. The costs of this parasitic weed are predominantly borne by women: 85% of maize labour in Kenya is performed by women. Toothpick’s solution is being used by over 125 farmers. Proof of concept trials showed a 50% increase in crop yield in paired plot trails on 500 farms.   

  • Burgreens is Indonesia’s leading plant-based food chain with a farm-to-table concept. Founded in 2013 by Helga Angelina and Max Mandias, Burgreens now has 15 outlets, where they serve delicious Western and Asian dishes made from organic and natural ingredients, which are mostly sourced from local farmers and artisans. 

Entrepreneur’s Prize

  • Tilaa produces a variety of sustainable food and feed products from integrated beekeeping and cashew cultivation in Ghana. The venture creates new livelihoods for poor rural women, providing an alternative to activities that contribute to climate change such as burning bush for cooking, hunting bush meat or cutting down trees for charcoal.  

  • Sentosa Marines is seeking to establish and operate an aquaculture and sustainable fisheries project in the Somalia-Djibouti border region, using a conservation model that prioritises local communities. The company was incorporated in 2018 and looks to fill the market gap for reliable and scalable supply of sustainably produced premium sea cucumbers to serve the growing markets in East Asia.  

Winners of the Entrepreneur’s Prize received mentoring from experienced sustainable food entrepreneurs. 

what the winners said  

Philip Teverow & Pierre Thiam, Co-founders Yolélé Foods, Winner Monday 1st place Judge Panel Prize 

Participating in the Future Food Shark Pitch was instructive on every level. Merely completing the application forms forced us to focus our messaging. Once we were selected as finalists, we had to come up with a way to pitch our whole complicated story in just five minutes. The event’s organizers provided effective support and coaching in how to present our company visually and personally for maximum impact. We’ll benefit from that help long into the future. As for exposure, fingers crossed! 

Lastiana, Founder Aliet Green, Winner Tuesday 1st Place Judge Panel Prize 

During the program of the Future Food Shark Pitch we have not only been supported in pitch preparation but also had the opportunity to learn a lot from peer entrepreneurs, business leaders, and consulting team to communicate with impact and help us fine-tune our presentation process.  It is really challenging on how to make our pitch credible, viable and persuasive enough for someone to believe in you and want to put their money on your idea. The organization helped us realise this.  

Claire Baker, Founder and Director Toothpick Company, Winner Monday 2nd place Judge Panel Prize 

It was a pleasure to be a part of the Future Food Shark Pitch program. The team provided a great deal of support as I developed my presentation - and they were quick to respond with thoughtful and constructive feedback which I put to good use. The fellow entrepreneurs were also a great source of inspiration and business knowledge - I definitely noted how they are developing their companies and preparing for the future. I look forward to staying in touch with them and watching their companies' progress.  

Nicholas Kimani, Founder Sentosa Marines, Winner Tuesday Entrepreneur’s Prize  

The Shark Pitch is exactly the kind of event we were looking for at this early stage. We did not want to be placed before investors who were ONLY going to ask us about the bottom line, but who showed genuine concern for human well-being and benefits for biodiversity. We wanted a partner willing to go beyond the extra mile—preparing us with the necessary training and tools required. The Future Food Shark Pitch fits that description perfectly for us. 

Sadik Abdulai, Founder Tilaa, Winner Monday Entrepreneur’s Prize  

"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of sharks" 

what the judges said  

Rt Hon. Nick Hurd, former UK Minister for Climate Change and Industry, & Keynote Presenter 

“The current funding gap is US$170 billion per year for small holder farmers in developing countries. The Future Food Shark Pitch event is an excellent example of solutions to solve this.” 

Ian de Cruz, Global Director, P4G Partnerships, & Investor Judge 

“The Future Food Shark Pitch event is one of the few events globally that I have seen that has pivoted to action via investment in a pipeline of partnerships. In this Decade of Action this type of engagement should be the benchmark of the future. Exactly what the global context needs.” 

Leigh Moran, Director Strategy, Calvert Impact Capital, & Investor Judge 

“The Future Food Shark Pitch event pulled together inspiring, operating businesses with concrete opportunities to create positive change in our food systems. It’s critical to get more capital and support to high-potential businesses like those featured in the competition who often struggle to access capital because they are developing new business models in nascent sectors.” 

Tanja Havemann, Co-founder and Director, Clarmondial, & Investor Judge 

“Investors are increasingly looking for opportunities that address financial and non-financial (SDG) targets. These are interlinked, and business models must consider poverty, hunger, gender, and life on land. Showcasing practitioners with real-life examples will help transform calls to action into actual investments.” 

Bas Ruter, Director of Sustainability and Climate, Rabobank, & Investor Judge 

“The Future Food Shark Pitch event marked the promising possible contribution of entrepreneurs with passion and purpose to the urgently required global food system transformation. We look forward to work with them to help them build a successful business with impact in the years to come!” 

Mauricio Benitez, Food Systems Sector Specialist, responsAbility, & Investor Judge 

“To match the need for an increase in food production with the Paris Agreement, it is critical to invest in the transition to a low-carbon and nature-positive global food system. At responsAbility, we see significant growth opportunities resulting from this need and increasing interest from public and private investors. The pitches seen during this event are a reaffirmation of the market potential and our long-term strategy in the sector.” 

Frederik de Ridder, Managing Director, Vaalbara, & Investor Judge 

“A salient empirical feature of innovation activity is that, generally, the social return from ongoing innovation typically outstrips the private return. While there are clearly individual winners and losers in the short run, ultimately, investment into innovative entrepreneurs actually does typically make the world a better place in the long run. The organisers and partners behind the UN Food Systems Summit and Future Food Shark Pitch clearly appreciate the importance of supporting an ecosystem that helps unlock capital for sustainability. In the next century, banks, investors and financial institutions can definitely benefit from adopting a similar approach – taking more risk – and supporting businesses /entrepreneurs that not only provide opportunities for people to improve their quality of life through market choice, but also underwrite new products that encourage sustainable business models.” 

Benedikta Atika , Impact investment Lead, Angel Investment Network Indonesia, & Investor Judge 

"Future Food Shark Pitch is an important opportunity to bring diverse groups entrepreneurs and capital providers. It is indeed not easy to align expectation across the different angles. But with the wide range of solutions and innovations, it is an enlightening session to explore the growth opportunity we have not been exposed otherwise." 

Lisa Genasci, CEO of the ADM Capital Foundation, & Investor Judge 

“The Shark Pitch showed that there is a huge pipeline of investable food solutions in emerging markets. The capital is there. The Shark Pitch could be a game changer to help unlock that capital. Only with the right investment and technical support will we be able to accelerate regenerative business models that are good for people and planet. The Shark Pitch is a step in the right direction. We now need to scale it up 10x to transform the way we finance food systems.”  

Katerina Trostmann, Head of Sustainability & ESG, BNP Paribas, & Investor Judge 

“The latest IPCC report makes it clear how we urgently need transformative, rather than incremental, climate action if we want to curb global temperature rise. Agriculture is interlinked with so many issues including climate, water, energy, biodiversity, livelihoods and human rights. So transforming agricultural and food productions affords us the systemic, transformational climate action we need. The Shark Pitch addresses this opportunity through a justice lens, by engaging forest, agricultural, and rural communities in the much-needed just transition to a sustainable food and agriculture system. As financiers, it’s our responsibility to understand and engage with emerging business models that we can support, promote, and learn from.” 

Santiago Cortés, ESG Manager, Amerra Capital, & Investor Judge 

“I think these types of spaces and events are very valuable to i) learn and have visibility about new ideas and business models aiming to transform the food system, ii) further connect investors with entrepreneurs from all over the world, and iii) from the entrepreneur's side, ensure they understand what investors are looking for and get trained on how to put together presentations and deliver 5-10 minute pitches!” 

Sabrina Mustopo, Founder and CEO, Krakakoa, & Entrepreneur Judge 

"The fundraising process is very time consuming for both companies and investors, so having an event like Shark Pitch makes the process a lot more efficient. For entrepreneurs, that's very important as it allows us to get back to building the business as quickly as possible."