PepsiCo has announced an open call for entrepreneurs to take part in the PepsiCo Nutrition Greenhouse, a collaborative incubator program designed to nurture the growth of emerging nutrition and health and wellness brands in the food and beverage sector. 
 
The new program focuses on products aimed at European consumers and seeks to identify up to eight breakthrough brands in the nutrition space. The selected companies will receive funds as well as the opportunity to partner with PepsiCo experts from brands such as Quaker, Alvalle, Naked and Tropicana. These PepsiCo partners will work with the companies to help them realize their market potential. Entrepreneurs whose brands deliver sales of €2 million or less are invited to find out more about the program and apply at www.nutritiongreenhouse.com by May 15, 2017.
 
Each of the chosen companies will receive a €25,000 grant and entry into the 6-month incubator program with in-person and virtual events, including being paired with executives whose industry expertise can help them address their immediate market challenges in order to achieve accelerated growth in the market place. At the end of the program, one winning company will be awarded a €100,000 prize to continue its expansion. 
 
The PepsiCo Nutrition Greenhouse program is part of PepsiCo’s commitment to open innovation and to collaborating with the entrepreneurs and innovators that are helping to shape the food and beverage industry. Juan Ignacio Amat, vice president nutrition for PepsiCo Western Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa and leader of the program, commented: “In 2006, PepsiCo started on a journey to transform the way we do business so that we can deliver strong financial returns in a way that is sensitive to societal needs. We call this ‘performance with purpose,’ and it includes a strong focus on transforming our product portfolio and offering healthier options. Our goal is for the rate of sales growth of our nutrition products to outpace the rate of sales growth of the balance of our portfolio.
 
“Consumer demand for more nutritious foods and beverages continues to rise and this is an exciting space for our industry,” he continued. “We have a tremendous opportunity to use our global scale and resources to influence positive change and our ‘Nutrition Greenhouse’ program aims to help nurture some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs in the food and beverage sector.” 
 
Jim Andrew, senior vice president global strategy and venturing for PepsiCo added: “We believe people all over the world should have access to convenient, great tasting nutritious products. It will take collaboration to make this happen and we want smaller innovative companies to see PepsiCo as the place to help them scale their business. We want to connect with entrepreneurs who share our performance with purpose vision to deliver growth in a way that is sensitive to societal needs. By working together, and harnessing the best of both of our organizations, we can put innovative new nutritious products into the shopping baskets of people across Europe.” 
 
The PepsiCo Nutrition Greenhouse will focus on helping emerging brands reach market potential by providing guidance on brand optimization, product development, supply chain management, customer acquisition and distribution. The program will also address critical early-stage business issues like business planning, corporate structuring, and fundraising.