Julian Lampietti
Practice Manager, World Bank
Julian Lampietti is the Manager for Global Engagement in the Agriculture and Food Global Practice. His responsibilities include strategic planning, donor outreach, and oversight for global knowledge and advisory programs. Previously, he managed the Agriculture and Food program in the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Julian used to be based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and he has published books and journal articles on a broad range of topics including poverty, economics, agriculture, food security, logistics, and energy. He has a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master’s in Natural Resources Economics from Duke University.
Kishan Vasani
CEO and Co-Founder, Spoonshot
Kishan Vasani has worked in the food-tech industry since 2011. He is the Co-Founder & CEO of Spoonshot, an AI and food science-powered insights company helping the industry uncover the future of food by predicting consumer needs, trends, and innovation opportunities. Before starting his own venture, Kishan worked in 2 leadership roles for 3+ years at a global online food ordering giant, JUST EAT. Since 2008, Kishan has been the Co-Founder & Chairman of One Cause, an education-focused nonprofit that has raised over $1M to date for grassroots initiatives. Kishan has been a featured speaker at Future Food-Tech, Seeds & Chips, Food Tech Live at SXSW, FoodeShow, Food Tech Invest Days, and Gulfood Innovation Summit.
Pranav Sharma
CEO and Co-Founder, Awsum
Pranav Sharma is a young and passionate food innovator. He has been part of the Food and Nutrition industry for almost eight years. He is the Founder and CEO of the world’s first Ayurveda inspired Food and Beverages brand “Awsum”. The vision of the brand is to create an alternative to modern day pharmaceutical by creating products that are powered by natural herbs and botanicals by using the age-old wisdom of Ayurveda which happens to be an ancient Indian alternate preventive healthcare practice. Awsum keeps real whole food as the delivery format to create products that are effective and delightful. Before starting Awsum, Pranav co-founded one of India’s first Healthy mid meal snacking brand “Poshtick”. Pranav has been recognized as an emerging young food innovator at various industry forums in India.
Seun Sangoleye
Founder, Baby Grubz
Seun Sangoleye is an experienced Nutrition Educator and manufacturer of packaged Infant meals and snacks made from grains, fruits & vegetables called Baby Grubz Nigeria ®, a social enterprise based in Lagos Nigeria with operations in Ghana and United Kingdom. Seun has published eBooks on child nutrition and provides online mentoring to over 350,000 Nigerian Mothers across her social media platforms. As part of her passion about reducing high levels of malnutrition in Nigerian children, she started a food sensory play project called Grubz Food Play dates which encourages children to play with food while exploring their senses of smell, sights, sound, taste and feel as a novel idea to reduce picky eating and force feeding. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Lagos State University; Programming for Infant and Young Child Feeding at Cornell NutritionWorks in conjunction with UNICEF and Business and Entrepreneurship Training from Clark Atlanta University, Georgia, USA and Social Sector Management from Pan Atlantic University, Lagos. She creates income opportunities for women everywhere.
Molly Abende
Production & QA Manager, Burton and Bamber Co Ltd
Molly Abende is the Production & QA manager at Burton & Bamber Co. Ltd. She is a leader who is passionate about food security particularly: reduction in food loss & food waste, food safety, value addition and sustainability. She has in-depth knowledge and experience in food processing operations, product development, food safety and quality management systems. In the past 3 years, she has helped Burton & Bamber Company triple its production volume, reduce post-harvest losses, introduce new products into the market and increase employment for women and youth. Molly holds a first-class honours degree in Food science and Nutrition from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. She has been a keynote speaker at the Africa Food safety Summit. In 2021, She was awarded Emerging leader of the year at the Africa Food Industry Excellence Awards. As a 2022 Mandela Washington Fellow she is looking forward to learn and foster further collaboration between Kenya and USA in food tech and agri-entrepreneurship.
Parmesh Shah
Global Lead, World Bank
Parmesh Shah is the Global Lead for Data Driven and Digital Agriculture at the World Bank. He provides leadership and supports the development of global knowledge and learning in these areas to offer solutions to clients and other development partners. His current areas of interest are making markets and public services work for the poor, social entrepreneurship, digital and data-based innovations in agriculture and rural development, climate smart agriculture, agriculture and technology enabled start-ups, venture and patient capital for innovation, promotion of on-farm, off-farm and digital jobs and public-private and people partnerships for rural poverty reduction. He is currently involved in developing a global program on scaling up data driven digital agriculture involving data platforms and establishing ecosystems for innovation, entrepreneurship and incubation. He holds a DPhil in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a BTech degree in Agricultural Engineering from Pantnagar in India.
Barry Lee
Principal Industry Specialist, IFC
Barry Lee is a Principal Industry Specialist for processed foods and beverages in the global agribusiness team at the International Finance Corporation which is part of the World Bank that provides support for private-sector finance. He is IFC’s anchor for investments in the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) sector, and also works closely with cross-cutting groups including venture capital and innovation, trade finance and sustainability. Barry has worked in both the private equity and the food processing industry in Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. Barry has over 35 years of experience in business management and technical operations in the food industry. He holds a Science degree and a Masters in Engineering Science degree; and has attended many post-graduate courses including the Agribusiness Program at the Harvard Business School. He is also a guest speaker at the Elliott School of Business, George Washington University.
Questions Submitted
Ahmed
- Jul 20, 2022Ki
- Jul 20, 2022jose luis
- Jul 13, 2022