Ep90 - "Will you help me bring this fruit to the US?" - Linh and Myron of XOI
The Food Startups Podcast · Hema Reddy
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Show Notes
The title of the episode is a question from Bkrong, an Ede (ethnic minority group) farmer from Vietnam. Bkrong was also the host mother of Linh, cofounder of XOI company.
Linh Tran and Myron Lam met on a 2013 trip to Vietnam on a research grant from Brown university. There, they discovered the Gac fruit growing in Bkrong's backyard.
Upon further research, they realized Gac fruit was packed with beta-carotene and lycopene; a new superfood was born.
How could they bring the Gac fruit to the U.S. and include the Ede in the process? This episode tells their story:
- The challenges faced by the Ede
- How the idea was born
- How to introduce an unknown fruit to the U.S.
- Tackling ethnic inequality via social entrepreneurship
- Changing the supply chain
- All about the Gac fruit
Selected links from the episode:
XOI IndieGoGo Campaign ($34,611)