The 100+ Accelerator, a global incubator program founded in 2018 by AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, and parent company of International Breweries Plc, has announced that applications for 2022 Cohort 4 are open. The application is open till Saturday, April 30, 2022, and would attract companies providing sustainable solutions such as capturing atmospheric CO2; Industrialising photosynthesis to expand food supply; ecological wastewater, soil and air pollution treatment solutions; renewable energy from organic waste, and transforming waste into reusable packaging among others.
100+ Accelerator program was founded to engage and assist startups by providing solutions to key sustainability challenges for large global corporate partners. In addition, the program offers winners expert training, mentorship, preferred payment terms, access to tools and business funding up to 100,000 Dollars.
The program is a collaborative effort with The Coca-Cola Company, Colgate-Palmolive Company and Unilever. Together the four corporate partners have been overhauling supply chains and scaling innovative solutions that create a better, more sustainable world and a new way of doing business.
“Collaborative partnerships allow us to harness the scale, speed and transformation necessary to propel sustainable innovation. Since its inception, the 100+ Accelerator has driven projects globally across a diverse range of sustainability challenges from water sanitation to reducing microplastics,” says Anna Voronkova, entrepreneurship lead Europe, AB InBev.
100+ Accelerator also partnered with One Young World (OYW) for the Lead2030’s Sustainable Development Goal Challenge 5 Summit which emphasized gender equality for the building of a more circular and productive economy.The aim of Challenge 5 was to find and support solutions from innovative startups founded by women that address pressing sustainability issues around renewable energy, carbon emissions reduction, smart agriculture, circular packaging, water stewardship and upcycling waste.
According to one of the beneficiaries of the program, CEO, Erthos, Nuha Siddiqui, “The 100+ Accelerator played a transformational role in our technology validation and business trajectory. By unlocking an opportunity to pilot our solution with a company like AB InBev, we were able to build a more compatible and sustainable solution to existing value chains. Our plant-powered alternatives to plastics will be launching for the first time with AB InBev and have since sparked additional interest from more than 50 other CPGs, brands and manufacturers globally. Thanks to the 100+ Accelerator, we are now one step closer to making all single-use plastics plant-powered for our planet.”
The 100+ Accelerator program delivers six months of remote programming and training to accelerate the collaboration and growth of cohort companies in addition to a pilot or alliance with partner companies. Winners will receive support from a global team champion, access to a network of mentors, and up to $100,000 toward pilot execution.
Speaking on the benefits of the program to entrepreneurs, Legal & Cooperate Affairs Director, International Breweries Plc, a proud member of AB InBev, Temitope Oguntokun, said, “Sustainability focused start-ups are very crucial if we must attain the target of a cleaner and safer world. International Breweries Plc on its part has gained international recognition for its role in making the world a better place by setting high standards when it comes to achieving the sustainability development goals.”
She continued, “Last year at the SERAs Award the company and its brands won ‘Best Company in Circular Economy, and ‘Best Company in Poverty Reduction. The company was runner-up in the awards for ‘CEO of the Year’, and ‘Most Responsible Company in Africa’. International Breweries Plc currently has the largest state-of-the-art solar technology powered brewery plant in Sub-Saharan Africa in Ogun State, Nigeria.”
The 100+ Accelerator program, according to Oguntokun, builds on Ab InBev’s 2025 sustainability goals launched in 2018. In Nigeria, Ab InBev is working with Recycle points to increase post-consumer waste collection by creating incentives for consumers and waste pickers in two cities. The 100+ Accelerator program and other sustainability projects by AB InBev alongside its subsidiary, IBPLC, is a testament to their commitment to building a company to last whilst bringing people together for a better world, now and for the next 100+ years.
