Francesco Giberti
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From Socially Conscious to Part of a Movement :
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Giulia Magnani London - 24/09/2018
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We spoke to Francesco Giberti, Founder and CEO of MyFoody.
Last week, through an interview with Olivia Sibony, we explored the importance of investing in sustainable startups. Today, we offer one example of how startups can play an active role in saving the environment. Francesco told us about how, through MyFoody, he is tackling and solving one of the biggest issues our world and society are faced with today: food waste. In the last 9 months, they’ve gone from €0 to €11k Monthly Recurring Revenues, and signing deals with huge companies within the sector, such as Coop and Unes. They’ve gone from 5 to 61 stores across Italy and are looking to expand further: they are in fact in the process of closing a funding round. What is MyFoody? MyFoody is a solution to one of the biggest economic, social and environmental problems we are faced with today: food waste. We work with supermarkets, helping them manage more efficiently the products that are about to be thrown out because of either their close expiration dates or packaging defects. At the same time, MyFoody wants to innovate the relationships between supermarkets and consumers themselves. Through its app, consumers are able to find the supermarkets offering MyFoody that are nearest to them. They can also read about the products that are about to be thrown away and that can be bought at a reduced price. What is MyFoody’s biggest objective? At MyFoody we aim to build a community of environmentally-aware people. On the one hand, we want to help consumers make ethical purchases that also allow them to save money; on the other, we also assist supermarkets in reaching this community and bringing more people within their stores. Where was the idea of MyFoody born? It came from a personal experience of mine. I was studying in Ghent, Belgium, and one day I went grocery shopping in a regular supermarket. I bought a pack of cookies, only to realise, once I was home, that they expired the next day; and I had bought them at a full price! It got me thinking that, if I were to have checked the expiry date at the shop, I probably would have left it there in exchange for another one, causing for the packet to be thrown away. I reflected on the fact that if this had occurred to me, then probably it was an issue concerning many, which needed a big and concrete solution. Do you think there is a part of the population that is more inclined to use MyFoody? People’s awareness and attention to environmental issues, such as food waste, is increasing over the years. We see this by reading the comments and emails our users send us daily: they are enthusiastic of the service MyFoody offers, and want to feel as if they were part of an actual movement. This being said, we have noticed a particular trend in the use of MyFoody. The majority of our users range between the ages of 25 and 34 years old. They are usually college graduates and are living on their own. They have formed a social conscience during their studies and are also more inclined to use apps and technology in general. Are there other companies that offer a similar service? Luckily, yes. However, the services we offer may vary in scale or location. For instance, LastMinuteSottoCasa, located in Italy like us, concentrates on smaller and local shops, such as bakeries, greengrocers or markets. Others I know of are Optimiam in France and TooGoodToGo, born in Denmark but present in the UK as well. We differ from the others in the sense that we allow supermarkets to manage their products without having to change their operative systems: we offer them an automatic system that is fully capable of managing and curating their relationship with the final consumer. What future do you envision for these sorts of companies? Our main objective at the moment is to grow. We want to reach the same level of other big companies, so that we can work together and collaborate on environmental projects. We’ve already seen collaboration on several levels: for instance, a couple of our investors work for GreenFlex, a multinational company that is now part of Total. Francesco told us how being a founder is especially difficult on a psychological level: dealing with huge amounts of stress, being confronted with up and down moments all the time, and having to accept and adapt to different forms of criticism, is definitely challenging. However, resolving a problem that concerns the whole world, and seeing people wanting to be part of a “revolutionizing” movement is what has kept him driven and motivated. MyFoody will grow thanks to its latest funding round and at CEO we can’t wait to witness and foster the growth of this socially-driven community. |
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