FOOD Product Development & Open Innovation Consultants
Facilitating Unique Partnerships to Harness Traditional Food & Health Technologies
to Help Your Company's Growth
Our Mission
Mission - Building Relationships
Leveraging Open Innovation best practices to connect Global Food companies with local Technopreneurs who develop unique food technologies in Africa. We assist companies to develop new markets for their products and introduce innovations from abroad. Thru seamless international trade and branding, new technology scouting, and familiarization in this foreign market, we will bridge your company, leverage our international partnerships and advise as an experienced diplomacy officer.
Facilitate Africa Innovation (FAI.LLC) implements customized Open Innovation techniques and tools to mentor and train local food companies to enable them to deliver unique solutions to the global food systems. FAI.LLC champions mutually beneficial partnerships between local and Global entities to add value to existing traditional food technologies and current product categories.
Vision:
- New Food Product Innovation & Commercialization Solution Providers.
- Facilitate partnerships and collaborations between companies in Africa and Developed Markets to create the right environment to harness and develop key food technologies and indigenous solutions to support global food systems.
- Implement appropriate guardrails and legal agreements critical to protecting technical know how and future IPs.
- Facilitate appropriate Food Industry solutions between traditional and established systems.
- Deliver product innovation opportunities via comprehensive and actionable technology scouting activities.
- Help minimize company expenses and mistakes in launching new markets and new product development.
Our Experience
Our Team and partners have decades of experience and global technical networks in Open Innovation, New Technology Development, Product Development and Commercialization, Controlled Clinical study design, plus a strong understanding of the legal and trade governance to ensure the appropriate transfer of technology and international products.
Each partner has special talents and skills as originators of successful patents, copyrights, trademarks, product formulations and commercialization. In addition, the work experience provides the entrepreneurial spirit with corporate fiscal responsibilities, as each has worked in several of the world's largest companies.
Our Management has pioneering and world-wide experience in health and wellness, ingredient manufacturing, pharma, medical devices, food science, nutritional supplements, and other consumer goods and retail products.
Our resourceful global partners from food and health industries, R&D clusters, academia, and regulatory agencies offer professional skills in product development, food science, health sciences, manufacturing, packaging, safety and QA to expedite new technology development and transfer.
About Facilitate Africa Innovation
Facilitate Africa Innovation (FAI) is a global food, beverage and nutritional supplement ingredients and technology solutions provider. FAI.LLC offers collaborative support and innovation solutions, ahead of trends, to create products with game-changing sales.
We enhance the development of new products, with an emphasis on unique traditional innovations originating from Africa and other parts of the global, to provide game changing solutions. FAI strives to drive growth through facilitating partnerships which impact global companies and local entrepreneurs in Africa (focus on Ghanaian food systems). FAI champions innovative African-led and African-driven entrepreneurial initiatives to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes for all partners. FAI has offices and expertise in the USA and Ghana with high profile partnerships in several global technology transfer centers and industries.
Services
Solution Providers: Hands-on Consultation
We offer project-based consulting services to bring focus and product enhancement in your business or product development goals. We often recommend an appropriate service for your needs. Our staff will be an extension of your own Company and provide the professionalism and guidance needed to succeed.
Strength in our Services:
• Food System Innovators
• High degree of global marketing, and a focus on Africa
• Technical writing, design and audits for BRC Certification
• Work closely with governmental agencies and international delegates
• Focused on the food and beverage, ingredient and natural product industry
• Improving Food Security
• Collaborating on research initiatives
• Building favorable and dependable global supply chains
• Supporting Brand Introductions
• New agritech and food system trailblazing
• Reducing food waste and unproductive practices
• Experienced in HACCP, SQF training, and cGMP manufacturing practices
Trade Missions & New Technology Partnering
Being available at the right place and the right time is our specialty. FAI knows how to leverage its broad Global Technical networks to connect, and make the appropriate introductions to deliver business solutions. Connecting and creating African innovations one client at a time.
Strategic Business Planning & New Product Development Assistance
FAI provides enterprise solutions and insights by collaborative innovation and problem solving backed by decades of technical experience.
FAI develops originality. It has partners and resources for marketing, knows how to scale up, has proficient technical detail and presses for social impact.
At FAI, we create a plan for successful open innovation (OI) implementation. This includes an experienced OI team, risk analysis, planning, scientific research modeling, establishing goals, understanding cultural dynamics, idea review, engaging a senior level champion, identifying and embracing problems, offering external perspectives, creating the objectives and streamlining solutions.
Our Team
Dr. Nikos Linardakis
Dr. Nikos Linardakis
Dr. Nikos Linardakis
Health & Nutrition Consultant
As an Associate and Innovation Specialist, his responsibilities include the development and execution of specific scouting strategies/briefs, external technology mining, and technical due diligence of potential new opportunities within the Health and Beauty products categories.
Dr. Nikos has over 20 years of c
Health & Nutrition Consultant
As an Associate and Innovation Specialist, his responsibilities include the development and execution of specific scouting strategies/briefs, external technology mining, and technical due diligence of potential new opportunities within the Health and Beauty products categories.
Dr. Nikos has over 20 years of combined industry experience in the areas of nutritional product development, new business development, in addition to being an accomplished medical writer and editor. Nikos was Humanitarian Innovation Director for Blossom Health Care Center, as well as the Open Innovation Champion and Research Associate at Nutrilite in Buena Park, CA, the world’s largest supplement manufacturer. Prior to Nutrilite, he was the Director of Tharos Laboratories, a privately-held phytochemical company. He was an Editor-in-Chief at McGraw-Hill Companies in New York, and Medical Director for HGM Medical Laser Systems in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he helped business development with new products and endo-ocular laser probes.
Nikos has a Medical Doctorate and completed an M.S. program in Applied Physiology from the University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School, and a B.S. in Biology from Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois.
Dr. Marc Lemay
Dr. Nikos Linardakis
Dr. Nikos Linardakis
Clinical Research & Claims Consultant
Dr. Marc Lemay has completed over a dozen IRB-approved, controlled clinical studies of dietary supplements, foods, and beverages with healthy adult volunteers in the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. Lemay holds a PhD in psychology (experimental neuropsychology) from the University of Montreal. During Lem
Clinical Research & Claims Consultant
Dr. Marc Lemay has completed over a dozen IRB-approved, controlled clinical studies of dietary supplements, foods, and beverages with healthy adult volunteers in the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. Lemay holds a PhD in psychology (experimental neuropsychology) from the University of Montreal. During Lemay's thesis project on stress, depression, and memory in seniors, he found that the #1 predictor of depression as well as memory complaints was having few or no friends. Since then he's always been interested in how healthy foods, the judicious use of quantified-self technologies, and select dietary supplements can help people be more engaged, healthier, and happier, with rich social and inner lives.
Dr. Lemay has travelled the world to find emerging technologies and forge mutually rewarding partnerships to bring health innovations to market. Some of his successes include a selective anti-inflammatory compound from hops; the first government-approved, DNA-repair-and-protection dietary supplement in South Korea; a controlled-release vitamin C product that by itself alone generated in excess of $100 million in topline revenue; and an all-natural seasonal allergy product that was shown in a peer-reviewed publication to best placebo and be at least as effective as a pharmaceutical active control.
Working as an independent consultant for the dietary supplement and other industries since 2016, Dr. Lemay has helped companies ranging from single-person startups to large multinationals evaluate, select, develop, and launch new and exciting offerings with compelling, yet truthful-and-not-misleading copy and claims, in diverse realms ranging from memory and attention-boosting nootropics, to workout and recovery snacks, to vascular endothelium-protecting supplements, to cannabis or hemp products and services.
Nii Martey Armah
Dr. Nikos Linardakis
OPEN - Assoc Consultant - Startups & Project Management
Associate Consultant
Next Gen Health Opportunities
Nii Martey Armah completed his undergraduate study at Drexel University where he majored in Biomedical Engineering and minored in Materials Science and Engineering.
Having worked in an FDA regulated environment, he understands the importance of quality and strives to uphold quality standard
Associate Consultant
Next Gen Health Opportunities
Nii Martey Armah completed his undergraduate study at Drexel University where he majored in Biomedical Engineering and minored in Materials Science and Engineering.
Having worked in an FDA regulated environment, he understands the importance of quality and strives to uphold quality standards.
In his young career, Nii Martey Armah has demonstrate a great amount of product development and research knowledge which will add value to FAI.LLC’ focus to mine and advance unique medical benefits of traditional African botanicals to drive product innovation across nutritionally enhanced food & nutritional supplements offerings.
Mr. Armah joined Facilitate Africa Innovation on December 1st, 2020 with key accountabilities to be a liaison between global senior consultants and technical strategic partnerships in Ghana, South Korea and Europe.
As an associate consultant, Mr. Armah leverages his Bio-medical expertise to help Sr. Consultants gather health related research data needed to complete due diligence for potential new functional ingredients technologies.
Nii’s unique abilities to leverage social media to identify and share relevant scientific breakthroughs and technologies has already impacted FAI.LLC abilities to share key scientific learnings across various demographics and age groups.
Mr. Armah's technical and academic networks continues to add value to FAI.LLC's mission to leverage a diverse knowledge background to deliver actionable solutions to our partners.
In 2021, Mr. Armah will be supporting high profile Global tech scouting missions to West Africa, South Korea and Europe.
OPEN - Assoc Consultant - Startups & Project Management
OPEN - Assoc Consultant - Startups & Project Management
OPEN - Assoc Consultant - Startups & Project Management
New Product Innovation & Commercialization -
Dr. Sam Asante
OPEN - Assoc Consultant - Startups & Project Management
Dr. Sam Asante
Founder & Advisor
Dr. Sam Asante is a New Product Development Specialist & Open Innovation Champion with 25+ years Food industry experience.
Dr. Asante' previous roles include the New Ingredient Discovery & Dev Manager for Clif Bar & Co., R&D Extrusion Manager with Basic American Foods (Kankakee, IL), Sr. Principal Scientist with PepsiCo
Founder & Advisor
Dr. Sam Asante is a New Product Development Specialist & Open Innovation Champion with 25+ years Food industry experience.
Dr. Asante' previous roles include the New Ingredient Discovery & Dev Manager for Clif Bar & Co., R&D Extrusion Manager with Basic American Foods (Kankakee, IL), Sr. Principal Scientist with PepsiCo (Frito-Lay & Quaker R&D) and Amway (Nutrilite) Global R&D Team.
Since 2005, Dr. Asante has championed several technology scouting activities which resulted in unique partnerships with research institutions and industries in Singapore, China, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Ghana, Russia, Thailand, South Africa, UK, Spain, and Switzerland.
His multi-disciplinary approach to technology mining, assessment and transfer is highly recognized by key technology transfer centers in Asia, Europe, US and Africa. Furthermore, He has also supported the implementation of Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) models in Ghana.
Dr. Asante has contributed to several Innovation programs, including: “Technology Negotiation Program” (Harvard Law), and Yet2.com Executive Round-table Conferences. Furthermore, he has participated in +30 Product Innovation Trade shows in UK, China, Spain, Japan, Korea, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand, US and Singapore.
In 2009, he completed an expatriate assignment in Shanghai, China to mentor and train Amway China R&D staff in New Technology Mining and Commercialization activities.
Sam has technical expertise in African indigenous food systems and was recognized during the 1ST Annual Africa Innovation Forum (Ghana, August 2013).
Dr. Asante holds a B.Sc in Food Science & Biochemistry from the University of Ghana, M.Sc Food Chemistry from Mie University, Japan; and Doctorate in Food Technology from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. A member of IFT.
Case Studies, Projects & Partners
Our Partners
