With eco-friendly alternative food practices increasingly popular, thanks to a concern for the climate, sustainable lifestyles are of utmost importance if we are to reduce the effects of climate change. Sandeep Sibal, CEO of Fourth Frontier, talks in that area, which also invests heavily in the alternative protein space. Sibal now also heads Ahimsa VC which invests in ‘early-stage startups that are leveraging and inventing new technologies to create better options for the food and ingredients sectors using plants, cells and fermentation’ .’
Sibal was speaking at Isha Insight: The DNA of Success, the business leadership program of Isha Leadership Academy, on the third day.
Sibal attributed his inclination towards modern development to his mother, who was a nuclear physicist in Germany during the 1960s. Sibal says that his ideas about the world were often through his mother and when it came to asking questions, there was no thought, no question. “My mother was also influenced by Gandhi ji and believed that even one person can change the world in some form or the other. So much at the same time, if these were the factors, I chose to look for a different path to my career, to help create new things.”
Talking about the gradual shift from animal based products to sustainable development, Sibal explains how something similar has happened in the past. “The transportation industry was previously done by animal-drawn carriages and the likes and it took a lot of social engineering but we have switched to another form of transport. The same thing happened with agriculture.”
Sibal elaborates, “The way we buy our food is actually very unhealthy and unsustainable as nearly 3 trillion animals are killed every year due to food including fish and the inability to use it properly means That a large section of the population gets nothing. Citing a recent report, he says, “About 70 percent of the land is used for the production of food using animals, but it supplies only 18-20 percent of the food, resulting in Food is a volatile mode of purchase. And thus, it is imperative that we replace the demand for food with more plant-based alternatives.”
The alternative food industry bases its products on three types – plant based, cell based and fermentation based.
Sibal says that governments of many countries like Singapore, Denmark and USA have invested heavily in R&D in these alternative food industries and CFTRI, IIT Madras are actively looking to collaborate with companies for this.
Sibal also spoke about two startups that his company is funding, one is ‘Brew 51’, which makes alternative meat products using muscle fibers thinning from hair.
The company’s website states that it “believes in creating and transforming whole cuts of meat, starting with fish, using plant-based ingredients, and making products more appealing in terms of texture, taste, nutrition and price.” “
On Thursday, Sadhguru launched a four-day program designed to help entrepreneurs prepare for the next phase of their leadership journey.
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