Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize: Kick Off Dinner

Want to learn about start-ups like Bevi, Cambridge Crops, and Inari that are disrupting the global food and agriculture system? Do you have your own start up, but need resources to get it off the ground?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, then sign up to attend the kickoff dinner for the Rabobank-MIT Food & Agribusiness Innovation Prize!

What you’ll get:

• Meet start-up leaders in food and agribusiness and hear their innovative solutions to these problems
• Learn about the application process for the prize
• Pitch your idea to the audience to recruit new teammates, or find a team to join
• Eat some great food!

Agenda
6:00 to 6:30 pm: Doors open - Dinner & Networking
6:30 to 6:45 pm: Introductory remarks about the prize

• Zhenya Karelina, Director - MIT Rabobank Prize & MIT Sloan MBA 2020
• Jennifer Jiang, Strategy & Business Development, Rabobank
• Renee J Robins, Executive Director, Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab

• Sean Grundy, Co-founder & CEO - Bevi
• Manuel Waenke, Head of Corporate Development - Inari
• Adam Behrens, CEO - Cambridge Crops (Winner of Rabobank Prize in 2017)
• Pablo Ducru, Co-founder - Velaron (Winner of Rabobank Prize in 2019)

7:50 to 8:00 pm

• Open pitch (30 seconds to pitch your idea or make an ask)

IMPORTANT: You do not need to enter the competition to attend this dinner. Anyone from the Boston area interested in the industry is welcome.

About the Prize: The prize, sponsored by Rabobank and supported by MIT J-WAFS and the MIT Food and Agriculture Club, is a premier student business-plan competition. The competition will take place in two stages. First round applications will be due January 12, 2020. Finalists teams will then be paired with mentors to their ideas. At the final pitch event on April 29, 2020, finalists will present their business plans and compete to win $30,000 in total prize money.

About Rabobank: Rabobank Group is one of the largest banks in the world. In the Americas, Rabobank is a premier bank to the food, agribusiness and beverage industry, providing sector expertise, strategic counsel and tailored financial solutions to clients across the entire food value chain.

About J-WAFS: The Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab, J-WAFS, was established in the fall of 2014 as an Institute-wide effort to bring MIT’s unique strengths to environmentally benign, scalable solutions for water and food systems.

Photo credit: Lara Ortiz-Luis

• Not Applicable