Concordia

Concordia Winter 2019 7 Concordia Winter 2019 6 farmed vertically and don’t need a lot of space, which is similar to how they would live in their natural environment. They can also be farmed in rooftops and basements – one of their key attributes – and this is why we believe so strongly that they could be a widespread future food source, since they can be farmed by individuals. That’s the way they’re farmed in countries like Thailand. Farmers will go out in the day and then supplement their livelihood or nutrition with a tank of crickets that they farm at home. As for the future, we want to take the business worldwide: we are already present in European retailers such as Lidl Germany, and we are in talks about US expansion. Ultimately our vision is to normalise the eating of insects in the West. My degree in International Relations certainly prepared me well for this career change. I guess it also gave me a bit of a head-start in terms of perceiving future trends. Of course, I’m still one of the generation where we took things for granted. We grew up in a stable, prosperous time and I feel with the younger generation there is an underlying frustration with the current status quo. My generation and the ones before us have sat back and enjoyed the good times without thinking too far ahead. I’ve just had children myself and while I’m aware of the changes we need to make, I don’t feel panicked: there are a lot of smart people working towards it, and we are doing our part through our very mission and vision. The awareness that is currently being raised is only going to help accelerate the moves that will get us to the place that we need to be. Even the big financial institutions realise that the system at the moment needs to change and there are opportunities within that. Change is inevitable and people will start waking up to that fact; it just takes a little bit longer than one might hope. Life as an entrepreneur is a rollercoaster. One month you are flying, and another you are wondering what on earth you have done! But while I miss the stability of working a regular nine-to- five, I don’t regret the change. Interestingly, if I talk to students now, their aspirations seem to be different, and pursuing their own ideas is definitely more acceptable than it was when we started in 2014. Whereas in the past they may have wanted to be a doctor or a banker, many now say they want to start their own company. Looking back, my path probably wasn’t the standard Merchant Taylors’ path. Although I did reasonably at school and went to university, when I joined a bank in corporate finance, I hated it! I then took the opposite route. I felt passionate about international development, perhaps because of my background. I worked in the sector and really did enjoy it but at the same time I felt I wanted to start my own thing and it took me around ten years and the right idea to make the jump. It’s great to hear that Careers provision at Merchant Taylors’ has evolved so much. I feel quite strongly that boys should be encouraged to take varied paths. There are so many different options and presenting these at a young age can make such a difference. many ways. For us, therefore, the challenge is how to effect a change in behaviour and that is where marketing comes in. We’ve seen examples of this in the food sector before and sushi is a really good example of this. When I was young, sushi wasn’t a common food. Raw fish was a taboo and perhaps for some generations this may still be the case. But now sushi has become a staple of the high street. We have recruited brand ambassadors from a wide range of backgrounds. The nutritional side of it helps attract athletes and sportspeople and then there are the adventurers, outdoors specialists, and nutritionists. A lot of brands and start-ups pay for ambassadors and influencers but, being a bit like Marmite, means that those people who buy into us really understand what we’re doing and promote us for free. As well as having stockists like Sainsbury’s, which is great for raising awareness, we have obviously had to build a strong online presence. We have a large number of recipes “The nutritional side of it helps attract athletes and sportspeople and then there are the adventurers, outdoors specialists, and nutritionists. A lot of brands and start-ups pay for ambassadors and influencers but, being a bit like Marmite, means that those people who buy into us really understand what we’re doing and promote us for free.” to show that our foods can be integrated into everyday meals. We try to ensure high-quality images as we are presenting the product like any other tasty premium snack. As a result of starting the business, Neil and I have certainly changed our eating habits. We do eat meat now and again but far less than previously. The broader challenge the world faces is that if we were all to go to a fully plant-based diet it would require a lot of land, most likely leading to deforestation and also soil degradation. If you keep intensively crop farming, you don’t let the soil regenerate, and even if animals are grazing, it replenishes the soil with nutrients. So it’s all very complicated and I think it’s very important that the awareness of veganism has brought all of this into the limelight, but at the same time, it’s swung too far the other way and there needs to be a more nuanced analysis of the whole issue. In terms of sourcing the grubs, they’re all farmed for human consumption, and we get most of ours from Europe. We considered farming them ourselves but we thought it was probably one step too far at this stage. A lot of these farms in Europe have already had millions invested. The whole idea of rearing insects for human consumption on a mass scale is that the farms can be automated, similar to Amazon where you have robots selecting and packing from shelves. The insects can be