Khalifa Fund, UAE FBMG launch second edition of F&B Innovation Lab

Khalifa Fund and the UAE Food and Beverage Manufacturers Business Group (FBMG) have launched F&B Innovation Lab 2.0. The incubator programme will commence on April 20 and finalise by October 30.

The programme’s first edition saw four new innovative products go to market in the UAE.

The F&B Innovation Lab 2.0, which has been launched in partnership with Mintel, Tate & Lyle and the Federal Youth Authority, will follow the same format as the first programme, where applicants will be enrolled into a specialised boot camp to develop their F&B products, as the first step towards validation and product-market fit.

The second stage of the programme will be to enroll qualified applicants into a market research boot camp to help to identify their target market and take into consideration the needs of their discovered target audience, before going through the post-validation phase, graduation and eventual commercialisation deal.

.@KFED_Official
and F&B Manufacturers Business Group have launched the second
edition of the F&B Innovation Lab, to accelerate
entrepreneurship in the food and beverage industry #inAbuDhabi.
Applications will open from 20 April and close 20 June 2022. pic.twitter.com/SBGoZ0kEJ7

—
مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@admediaoffice) April
19, 2022

Alia Al Mazrouei, CEO – Enablement Sector & Non-Financial Services of Khalifa Fund: “Khalifa Fund, alongside our esteemed partners, are delighted to launch the F&B Innovation Lab 2.0 as part of our ongoing commitment to enhancing the UAE’s F&B sector. In this iteration, the programme will incubate the entrepreneurs with the most viable and scalable F&B concepts, rooted in sustainability, health, and convenience.”

She added: “The first edition of the F&B Innovation Lab was among our most successful initiatives to date, and I sincerely look forward to building upon our previous success. The main aim of the F&B Innovation Lab is to create the early foundations for ideation and innovation for UAE talent in the F&B sector, while actively contributing towards the further enhancement of our advanced food security levels.”     

Saleh Lootah, chairman of UAE Food and Beverage Business Group, said: “Food sector has faced the most challenges and disruptions in recent times. Our aim is to drive innovation and new product development in the food manufacturing sector making way for more resilient food products. With F&B Innovation Lab programme, we bring together food manufacturers and innovators to co-develop the next big F&B products and support national development.”

Entrepreneurs have the opportunity to participate in the F&B Innovation Lab until registration ends on July 12. Following registration, UAE talents will be supported by programme partners to develop and validate new F&B products; those that show potential through the development of a viable product-market fit will have the option to commercialise with the partnering F&B manufacturers.

Successful incubates will gain access to mentoring from F&B experts in addition to becoming a potential manufacturing partner through their participation in the programme.

Khalif Fund has been actively supporting SMEs over the years. Most recently, its e-Empower initiative for digital and e-commerce enterprise development  partnered with noon.com’s homegrown payments solution and gateway for local businesses. The partnership will support Abu Dhabi-based SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs expand their businesses online, with noon payments waiving setup costs and reducing monthly fees.

Read: Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Fund and noon payments to support local SMEs