Herbalife is inviting companies, entrepreneurs, and nutrition industry visionaries to apply to present their product ideas in front of the top Herbalife executives at their North American Innovation Meeting in May. Herbalife has strong interest in cultivating the flow of new ideas through introduction of novel ingredients and technologies into its existing product line and creation of line extensions.

At its last innovation meeting in November 2014, the company received more than 120 proposals from which they selected 10 finalists to initiate discussions with. At this time, with four of these finalists, the company has either launched a product or is in the late stages of the commercialization process. Herbalife hopes for a similar rate of success with the upcoming meeting.

This will be a 1.5-day event hosted by Herbalife on May 18-19 at its facility in Los Angeles, CA. The finalists will be announced by April 19 and will be invited to the meeting.

Herbalife is seeking entries for innovative technologies and products in the following areas:

1. Innovative meal/snack food bars
2. Non-egg-based breakfast food/snacks in powdered format—just add water/milk (could be omelet, pancake, or bake mixes, etc.)
3. Novel delivery formats for vitamins, minerals and nutraceuticals (especially chewables and orally-dissolving technologies)
4. Innovations in plant nutrients and botanical ingredients

Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Interest from worldwide and regional marketing champions
• Value proposition and ability to create a viable cost-benefit proposition within Herbalife’s direct selling model, especially around Nutrition Clubs (To familiarize yourself with Herbalife product offerings, review the Herbalife product line. If you are not familiar with Herbalife Nutrition Clubs, review this video that describes the primary Herbalife business model.)
• Level of scientific substantiation
• Supply-chain availability and fit with Herbalife’s manufacturing infrastructure and distribution model
• Fit with the Herbalife nutrition and ingredient philosophies

A selection committee of Herbalife and Nutrition Capital Network (NCN) executives will evaluate and interact with applicants to determine finalists and meeting participants. Each selected company will be assigned mentors from Herbalife and/or NCN to help develop their presentation prior to the meeting. Post-event mentoring from an Herbalife executive will be available on a case-by-case basis and all selected candidates will be considered for partnering with Herbalife if interests are aligned.

The application process is free and submissions are due by April 4. You can submit your application here: Apply for 2016 Herbalife Innovation Meeting.

If you have any questions regarding the event or application process, contact Mike Dovbish at mdovbish@nutritioncapital.com or 415-254-1116. If you prefer to receive the application form as a Word document, please also contact Mike.