10 new ‘EWAs’ are now selected for the Portuguese edition of EIT Food’s women entrepreneurship programme

For the third consecutive year, EIT Food and BGI (Building Global Innovators) join forces to revolutionise Portugal’s agrifood sector through EWA - Empowering Women in Agrifood.

The programme aims to promote female entrepreneurship by providing 10 selected candidates - our so-called ‘EWAs’ - with the tools needed to succeed in the agrifood sector and refine their innovative solutions. It does that by offering training, tailored mentorship sessions and funding opportunities.

For our female innovators, the next step on their entrepreneurship journey is the Matchmaking Day, an event where each of them will get the chance to meet several mentors and choose the one who will support them until the end of the programme. It will be held online, on July 25th.

After that, they’re in for a great ride! A Masterclass will be held in which our entrepreneurs will learn the fundamentals of business. Here they will be given the tools to then work with their mentors on 1:1 weekly sessions to create or improve their business plan.

Last - but definitely not least - we would like to introduce our ‘EWAs’:

• Josane Silva aims to shorten the agrifood supply chain and empower local communities through FHLUD, an online marketplace where you can buy, produce, sell and donate fresh vegetables and fruits.

• Irina Regueira wants to create an education centre that will offer workshops and individual appointments focused on the relationship between food and mental/physical health.

• Juliana Silva aims to train, support, revitalise and advertise local restaurants and cafes through the ‘Circular e Saborear’ project.

• Margarida Medlam, through Fumeiro do Mar, is creating delicious and innovative snacks and dishes based on the application of the smoking process to undervalued fish.

• Anabela Teles is promoting sustainable agriculture practices among the younger generations by merging farming and technology in her ‘Seeds4Kids’ project.

• Linda Bettencourt, from Madeira Banana Hearts, is creating healthy, sustainable and vegan food/supplements by using the banana blossom as a meat/fish replacement ingredient.

• Rosália Costa, with her brand Zesty, is providing to customers a variety of delicious chocolates that are locally produced, vegan, gluten-free and with no added sugars.

• Raphaela Souza, through Amo Kombucha, brought to the market an alternative to the traditional soft drinks and sodas: kombucha, a fermented tea.

• Sara Cunha is working on a methodology that allows the transformation of marine waste and residues into multifunctional bioactive ingredients with potential to be used in the production of food and cosmetics.

• Inês Silva, with Horta de Fanares, is promoting sustainable agriculture by producing microgreens, which have a much higher nutritional value than traditional vegetables.