Do whatever is needed to make your startup succeed. No job is job is too low for you.
1. Tell us about your upbringing and company?
For the past 17 years I have been a serial entrepreneur for healthy eating and wellness because of my passion to food and nutrition. I learned it from my grandmother that was the cook of Kibbutz Ma’anit, where I was born.
As a young boy she used to wake me up at 4am and drag me to the kitchen to crack thousands of eggs and feed hundreds of people.
And my grandfather was the chairman of that Kibbutz that established to companies in these fields: Gal-Am that is today the largest corn processor in Israel and Ambar which is today the largest feed producer in Israel.
2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?
When I tackled the global protein challenge about 7 years ago I remembered a story my grandparents used to tell me as a young boy. It was about Israel in the 1950’s that suffered from food insecurity and at the same time from locust (grasshopper) swarms coming from Africa and destroying the crops.
The Kibbutz members used to run to the fields to scare the grasshoppers away while they saw other Jews coming to the same fields to collect and eat the grasshoppers. So from that story I learned that grasshoppers are food for many people around the globe and that they are even Kosher!
Than I realized that grasshoppers are the most widely eaten insect in the world, consumed by over 1 billion people across Asia, Africa, Central America and the Middle East. But the problem is the supply that is limited to collection in the wild during a short season of about 4-6 weeks a year.
This understanding lead to the need to build farms to enable year round production of high quality protein from grasshoppers and this was the birth of Hargol FoodTech.
3. How did you rise to the highest echelons in your company?
I founded the company, built the team and brought to the table vast experience in leading startups from idea to product and market.
4. What does your typical day look like?
At the beginning and end of weeks my day is mainly dedicated to team meetings with our management team, production and sales. While the middle of the week is divided between meetings with investors to progressing our business development.
During off hours my time is mainly dedicated to replying emails and reporters from all over the globe.
Every few weeks I’m leaving some time off to reflect on companies strategy – To make sure we’re on track to meet our goals and see if any updates are needed.
5. What kind of a leader are you and what tips would you have for other leaders?
I have three tips for any entrepreneur out there and especially leaders:
Do whatever is needed to make your startup succeed. No job is job is too low for you. Set an example for everyone.
Orchestra your team – Let them manage their fields and do their job.
Just do it – Don’t wait for others to do the job for you.
6. How do you see the company changing in 5 to 10 years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
Hargol already reached a POC that our technology and unique animal can be the most efficient animal based protein source in the world. With the same infrastructure of the poultry industry we can product X2.5 folds more protein at a 60% lower cost. This a technology that can feed the world with a better quality protein!
In 5 years’ time our technology will be implemented in our production facilities around the globe providing the food and beverage industry a high quality cost effective protein ingredient.
And by this we will meet Hargol’s mission “to deliver a healthier and more sustainable protein and feed the world”
7. Which is your favourite book and why?
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Because it is about chasing your dreams while remembering where you come from.
8. What has been the biggest challenge you faced and how did you overcame that?
The biggest challenge for me is always the team. As a startup you always go through rough times. Keeping the team together, motivated is the key to succeed. It is never about a single person doing everything. It is about a team working together and reaching the goals.
9. What are some of the best qualities of a successful entrepreneur?
Persistence, persistence and the will to excel!
- Website: Hargol
- LinkedIn: Dror Tamir
- Interviewed By Kusum Jha
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