Aud Guo, co-founder of start-up Innovafeed, has won our 7th Business with Attitude Award. On the jury: Bruno Bonel, who directs the France 2030 program. Fruitful and virtuous exchanges.
Madame Figaro . – What do you remember about the Business with Attitude award?
Oud Guo. – All the energy was shared with the other four finalists, but also with the jury and the public. I felt that a very diverse crowd of people were mobilizing around the same issue: the visibility of female entrepreneurs.
Bruno Bonnell. – I would even say a deep sense of collective joy and cooperation. From the stage, I saw the finalists backstage, supporting and cheering each other on before their pitch, in real tension but mixed with complicity.
In the video “Business with attitude. dive behind the scenes of the award.”
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Did you know each other before the price?
AG: – It just so happens that Innovafeed, as an innovative company dedicated to decarbonisation, is also the winner of two programs implemented by France 2030 and benefits from its financial support in the form of a subsidy or a refundable advance.
BB: – Innovafeed is one of the companies identified by France 2030 experts, who select about a third of the companies applying for funding. In total, the State has supported Innovafeed to the tune of 12 million euros since its inception through various operators: Bpifrance, the Agency for Environment and Energy Management (Ademe) and others. But no one knew at the awards, and I didn’t need to tell fourteen other judges for Od to win.
And this, despite the great technical complexity of this project… How did you come, Od, to defend such a subject as fly breeding?
COME – Globally, food production is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. To limit temperature rise to 2°C, we need to cut those emissions by 70% within twenty years at the latest… Hence the idea of feeding farm animals insect-based proteins that “cost” nothing. Earth and emit 50 to 80% less carbon than crops typically fed to animals.
Having one or more partners then a team adds credibility to the project
Bruno Bonnell
How did you convince the market? Not everyone dreams of eating insect-fed pork or chicken…
AG: – My colleagues and I helped a lot in the beginning to be our first critics. Is there a real market? Is our solution the most suitable? Is it technologically feasible? We questioned everything, anticipated each other, and learned to embrace criticism with enthusiasm. This allowed for a virtuous exchange with our interlocutors, be they investors, local authorities or state representatives.
BB: – It reminds me of my entrepreneurial beginnings as the founder of Infogrames, a video game publisher in the 1980s. At that time these two words did not exist. Explaining to the bankers that I wanted to become a world leader in a still nascent market was not easy. But Od is right. self-criticism and pedagogy come into play. There is also a mass effect. Having one or more partners then a team adds credibility to the project.
AT. C.- Yes, I saw him facing the Mayor of Cambrai. We wanted to build our pilot plant in its urban area of Guzokur in the north. After our pitch, he told us. “I don’t understand everything, and if one of you came alone, I wouldn’t support him. But there are four of you, strike me as serious and, honestly, you have everything to lose. We, nothing. Why aren’t we following you?’
Entrepreneurship, innovation must necessarily face risk. How do you perceive it?
BB: – I would say that I have a calculated risk factor. The audacity of the entrepreneur is accompanied by great rigor of execution. Like a tightrope walker, we don’t fly to fall. On the other hand, you have to know how to admit it when you’re wrong. In entrepreneurial parlance, “failure” is called experience. What matters is what you do with it next.
AG: – The risk also depends on the size of the bet. We created Innovafeed because together we need to decarbonize our food production by 70% within twenty years. After demonstrating the success of our product, we need to move up. This is our risk today. size and complexity grow together. But moving slowly, with limited ambition, will miss the mark.
This requires accepting some uncertainty, especially in the current context…
AG: – Of course. You counter this by surrounding yourself with the right people. First his colleagues, then the team, and finally, outside the company, his colleagues and the ecosystem, two important words for Innovafeed. It takes time. When we started, we had to buy a direct copy assembly line in China, the country where I grew up. turnkey factory for which we raised funds. I had seen it alone before taking my companions there. And there, arriving, nothing. The factory was empty. Nothing was ready. We had to build one from scratch and without a model within six months. Too bad we did. Breaking your word was out of the question.
BB: – The world is going through a phase of metamorphosis, that’s right. In this process, which will still take years, players like Innovafeed play the role of an intermediary; they help society take a step forward.
I am sure the impetus will come from women
Oud Guo
This is also your role as France 2030’s main…
BB: – Yes, the General Secretariat of Investments, under the authority of the Prime Minister and in cooperation with the concerned ministries, manages investments of 54 billion euros in the fields of health, energy, automotive and aviation industry, decarbonization of agri-food industry, training. the skills and professions of the future, but also the exploration of new frontiers such as space, the deep sea or quantum physics… We are working towards 2050, or even 2100, to change our country.
AG: – As for Innovafeed products, they already emit 50 to 80% less carbon than conventional ones and guarantee better animal growth. It is a significant step. The next level is to replicate this technology everywhere to have a systemic impact.
BB: – A question of this scale is crucial. Some entrepreneurs assure us that they will one day build better rockets than SpaceX, or more powerful quantum computers than IBM. We are here to give them the means to realize their ambitions. It’s a game, sure, but it all starts there: ambition.
In the face of the climate crisis, some rely on innovation, others on behavioral change. Where is the balance point?
BB: – It’s a bit of a chicken and egg thing. We innovate to respond to new habits, but new products also create behaviors… Take the cell phone; it has changed our daily lives, our relationship with information and knowledge. And at the same time, it led to the need for innovation, for example, to compensate for the reduction of time devoted to books. The only certainty in my eyes is that we are genetically programmed to grow and reproduce like any living species. Technology must allow us to do this in a sustainable and livable way.
AG: – Imagine that we all stopped eating meat. It would be incredibly effective at decarbonizing our food… But it’s impossible without a totalitarian ban. Another solution is to save energy in food factories. Will that be enough? No. That’s why we developed our product and continue our research. We invest a lot to make the insect tasty and also desirable for human consumption. It will be even more effective than feeding it to farm animals. Technology is still needed to achieve this.
Finally, what serious changes do you expect in society?
AG: – I would say pig. And I am sure of it, this one will come from the women. They must take leadership in numbers, en masse, in enterprise, as in investment or industry, everywhere. Because a break can be brutal, we must make a strong but calm transition without denying the friendship we inherited. And I believe that women are best able to lead it.
In the video Od Guo, co-founder of Innovafeed, the engineer who grows flies for our food
Source: Le Figaro
