10 Great Ideas - Edward Hamod
As per global data and business intelligence platform Statista, the plant-based meat market is expected to be worth US$33.99 billion by 2027. And while that should be incentive enough for one to start an enterprise in this arena, for Edward Hamod, who founded Switch Foods in the UAE in 2022, one of the drivers for his foodtech startup -which locally produces plant-based alternatives to meat- was his personal experience working in the F&B industry.
“I’ve been working in the food business since 2005, and I have owned, operated, and led many successful food companies across the region,” Hamod reveals. “But in 2017, I started to learn more about the effect of our food systems on the individual’s health, and our planet as a whole. In the years since, I have shifted my mindset from being solely commercially-driven, to focusing more on the purpose of what I do, and how I can use my experience and network within the food industry to build something ‘good.’ I quickly understood the severe effects our food systems have on our health and the environment, and that animal meat production and consumption were a major part of the problem. I also quickly found out that the alternative healthy and sustainable choices to meat on supermarket shelves did not taste good, or provide the consumer with a seamless alternative to animal meat.”
