Global Table Australia: Why 3 start ups got involved
Global Table is an annual summit, established in Milan 2015, it was just held in Melbourne from 3-6 September.
This year over 200 Australian and international experts covering more than 50 topics relating to trade and innovation, came together as the world’s brightest minds to solve the world’s biggest food challenges.
We caught up with Sarah Leung from alg Seaweed, Jessica Wasteney from LEAP Protein and Minerva Jimenez from MINJUMS, to find out why they invested a significant amount of time and money into having a stall within the Innovation Precinct.
Sarah Leung was approached by Mondelez SnackFutures, about having a stand, which was then sponsored through their Big Brother Program which assists start ups. alg Seaweed couldn’t have been there without their support.
By participating “I hoped to get the opportunities to scale the business and have people around me as part of an advisory board to do that – I saw Global Table as an opportunity to seek connections”.
It wasn’t about selling her product, instead Sarah wanted input to her plans to grow her business from different sectors and validation for new products she has been researching. “I have got confirmation that moving into the health snack market is the way to go for my business”. Sarah competed in the SnackFutures pitch event and along with Terviva , won a place. “This wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t keep on looking at strategic opportunities and it helps me stay motivated to keep going”.
Jessica Wasteney got the opportunity to have a stand, after applying for the Mondelez SnackFutures program. “I saw it as a way I could network and make contacts with a lot of influential people and organisations that I couldn’t meet any other way”.
It wasn’t an event for getting leads about stockists, which Jessica knew when she made the decision to participate. Instead she wanted to develop partnerships and collaborative opportunities that would benefit her personally as a new business owner and help grow her new business. “I’ve found the audience to be really open minded, with most being prepared to try my product that includes cricket flour. It was a challenging and fun experience“.
Minerva saw the summit as an opportunity for exposure her business to a huge community of people in the food industry. “I wanted to raise awareness of my new brand and get contacts for when I am ready to expand my business”.
Minerva thought the summit could meet her business needs in a way that a large retail trading event like the recent ‘free from’ expo couldn’t, as that is about direct sales and slowly building a customer base. “I’m glad I got involved, as I have made connections and had interest in my product – including the chance to compete in the FoodTechAccelerator pitch competition.”
It’s clear from Sarah, Jessica and Minerva’s recent experience, that you need to know what you want to achieve from an industry trade show or retail trading event. Then work to make it happen – these three businesses all had great displays at their stand, samples to taste, packed products on display and marketing collateral so people could follow up later.
To find out more about how alg Seaweed, LEAP Protein and MINJUMS got established view our case studies.
And get in touch if you are ready to scale up and need 1:1 food business coaching to support you achieve your business goals.
Sarah Leung, Founder of alg Seaweed at Global Table Australia, September 2019
Jessica Wasteney, LEAP Protein at Global Table Australia Sep 2019
Minerva Jimenez at Global Table Australia Sep 2019