A MAN IN MOTION

“This is my baby, and I care for it as you do your daughter.”

“We want to become the world leader in food innovation.”

These two short and direct, but really exhaustive sentences were told me by Mr. Marco Gualtieri, founder, and chairman of Seeds&Chips, the man able to bring President Barack Obama to Italy as Keynote speaker at the last summit in May.

I had the chance to meet him personally some days ago in his office in Milan sharing a good espresso and a chest of clementines; the first playful banter has been enough to make me realize one important thing: Marco is a man who prefers facts to words.

He can boast an excellent track record in entrepreneurship and top management: his long-standing career includes the foundation of Ticketone, actually the Italian leader for online ticketing and reservations. He’s extremely and naturally proud of his “baby” Seeds&Chips, founded in 2015 and have actually become the point of reference for individuals, associations, boards, startups, and SMEs that want to shape a better world through food innovation.

While this article was under proofreading, Marco Gualtieri has been awarded as "Best 2017 food entrepreneur" at the first edition of "Food community awards", a prestigious event promoted by the famous portal Food community, which relied on the participation of the best chefs, entrepreneur, managers and companies of 2017, one more milestone on the excellent path of the Milanese businessman.

THERE IS STRENGTH IN NUMBER

“OUR GOAL IS TO CONNECT PEOPLE, IDEAS AND SOLUTIONS TO SHAPE A BETTER FOOD SYSTEM”

This phrase, pity and exhaustive, carries the essence of Seeds&Chips, giving you a proper welcome on its website just above a real-time world population counter.

This counter’s aim is truly meaningful: it reminds us our population is growing up, the world is changing, the resources are getting scarce, and it’s absolutely needed to build awareness and adopt immediate measures to improve our present and build a great future.

Of course, a man can’t change the world alone, but a single man with a strong sense of WHY has enough power to create a movement able to do it. Seeds&Chips’ mission is clear and enshrined in its motto: shape a better world through the creation of an ideal meeting point for whoever is able or wants to give a positive contribution to food innovation that, consequently, will impact the future of the earth.

Since the foundation, Seeds&Chips has been able to spread its word at the global level, so a pretty impressive number of people have chosen to join its mission: besides on a massive presence of influencers, investors, innovators, startups, companies and associations, the summit can actually rely on trustful and important partnerships such as World Food Programme, European Community, European parliament, Regione Lombardia, and many others. The prestigious and infinite list of people who have been alternating up on the stage includes not only the former U.S.A. President, Barack Obama, but also the former Italian First Minister Matteo Renzi, the Milan mayor Claudio Sala, some presidents and members of different EC committees and boards as European ministers, the Italian superstar Chef Daniele Oldani and the food innovator Marco Ceriani, who I already spoke about in one of my previous articles, all united and committed to revolutionizing the food system.

For sure, you will agree that with such heavy hitters, the summit is a powerful and viable sounding board for every product, idea or action related to food innovation which may be useful to craft a better future.

THE BEST HAS YET TO COME

Seeds&Chips’ commitment to change goes far beyond the summit - that is just the tip of the iceberg. The mission is to bring food innovation in every phase, from farm to fork, from farming to communication.

Being able to rely on a powerful and eclectic team, which includes both seasoned managers and ambitious professionals, the company has been involving in different projects, such as

• Startup incubator and accelerator: even the most fabulous idea can’t be developed without a team of professional and skilled people, so Seeds&Chips is engaged in crafting products starting from ideas.
• Startup funding: Seeds&Chips may provide, itself or through investors, funding for foodtech startups considered interesting and potentially disruptive.
• USA-Europe: one more interesting activity is to operate as a kind of foodtech bridge between USA and Europe to share ideas as well as promote and improve the cooperations between the business operating in the 2 continents.
• Center for food innovation: one more challenging and ambitious project is to create a physical center for food innovation, where researchers, start-uppers, and investors can meet, discuss and craft new ideas.

While this article was being published, Seeds&Chips has officially announced to have close an important joint venture agreement with Specialty Food Association, promoter of Fancy Food, the most important North America Food&Beverage event. Starting from 2018, for 3 years the Marco Gualtieri's summit will be the "partner for innovation" of the 2 events: The Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York.

I would personally wish all my best for this new and emotionally challenge.

“In business, it doesn’t matter what you do; what matters is why you do it” (Simon Sinek- Start with WHY)

Comparing this phrase with Seeds&Chips’ mission may be a clear proof of how strong the power of an idea can be; there’s nothing better than such sense of WHY to support the commitment in shaping a better world and improving the lives of all of us.

Actually, the innovation in Technology, Entertainment and Design means TED, so why do not consider the Food innovation as a synonymous of Seeds&Chips?

If you like this article and think Seeds&Chips can contribute to change the world, feel free to share it with your network.