Mega Green Accelerator: Cairo-Based P-Vita Aims To Reduce The World's Heavy Reliance On Chemical Raw Materials | Entrepreneur

By Tamara Pupic Aug 26, 2024

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The Mega Green Accelerator is an initiative by PepsiCo, one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, SABIC, a Riyadh-headquartered global diversified chemicals company, and 12 other strategic partners. In its inaugural 2024 edition, it selected eight startups to participate in the program, including P-Vita, an Egypt-based biotechnology hub.

"We are empowering advanced molecular tools to unlock the hidden value in millions of tons of agricultural waste, turning it into a treasure trove of essential raw materials," says Mohamed Tarek, co-founder of P-Vita, an Cairo-based biotechnology hub that specializes in producing natural raw materials for cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and food and beverage industries from plant-based material.

P-Vita was founded to contribute to solving the world's heavy reliance on chemical raw materials, which causes a significant environmental impact, while natural alternatives were often prohibitively expensive. On top of that, MENA-based businesses have been crippled by the lack of manufacturing of both chemical and natural raw materials, resulting in the increase of costs, long delivery times, and delays in shipments up to nine months. "Through our cutting-edge research and development in molecular biology, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and deep technology, P-Vita has cracked the code on this challenge," he says. "We've developed an approach that can unlock the hidden value in millions of tons of agricultural waste, and that is how we are manufacturing natural and cost-effective raw materials for cosmetics, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical industries from plant-based solutions through innovative and patented technologies."

With a 10-strong team at P-Vita, Tarek is thus on a mission not only to fill the gap in the MENA markets for raw materials, but also to transform the global supply chain with its natural and sustainable products at competitive prices. But he acknowledges that when being on this path, regulations often pose a significant challenge. "It is because we are doing something new in the MENA region," he explains. "The other challenge is that raw materials in Egypt and MENA markets are in high demand, and most companies face a lot of importing issues."

That said, he expects the Mega Green Accelerator program's network of experts to provide insights and guidance to validate his company's market approach, and to help it to grow and scale over the Middle East, starting with making a pilot project with PepsiCo which will see P-Vita produce raw materials for the food and beverage sector. "The Mega Green Accelerator, connecting us with potential industry partners for licensing, distribution, and co-development opportunities, may provide guidance on navigating the regulatory landscape and complying with relevant standards, and also they can give access to potential investors and mentors who can help us secure funding for scaling up production and commercialization," he adds.

To date, P-Vita has seen a lot of national and international commendations for its work, which include securing the Environment Challenge Winner award at the 2023 Hack for Earth competition staged by Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson and the 28th edition of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28). It also won second place at the international startup competition, Underdog Tech Award, in 2023, and it was also recognized for its efforts in the 2024 Youth Challenge staged by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Related: Mega Green Accelerator: Saudi Arabia-Based Ahya Helps Enterprises Achieve Net-Zero With Accuracy, Transparency, And Environmental Robustness

Since P-Vita's initial development was bootstrapped by its founders, Tarek says that the grants the company secured from these competitions proved to be much-needed support. "These grants helped us to make a small laboratory," he says. "We have now opened our first fundraising round with an aim to scale all our operations."

P-Vita thus has big plans for the future, including expanding their team, and building a manufacturing facility to increase its production capacity in order be able to work with more corporations. "We plan to conduct pilot projects with potential customers to demonstrate the effectiveness and cost-benefits of our technology," Tarek concludes.

'TREP TALK: P-Vita co-founder Mohamed Tarek shares his tips for entrepreneurs in the sustainability domainFind your niche "Think out of the box, and find your passion and the right area in which you want to innovate."

Be determined and persistent "For sure, you will face tens and hundreds of challenges and problems, but it's about how are you going to face your problems—you should position your challenges in a correct way, and use them to support you more."

Related: Mega Green Accelerator: Dubai-Based Mrüna Is Committed To Improving Wastewater Management