We’re honoured to announce that INSEACT has been named start-up winner in the IAA Singapore 2022 Business as a Force for Good Awards! These awards honour Singapore-based companies who have:
- Demonstrated thought-leadership with respect to “Business as a Force for Good (BAFG)”
- Created a vision, mission statement and strategy clearly demonstrating their BAFG commitment
- Developed corporate social responsibility best practices
- Achieved remarkable economical results and meaningful societal impact to the BAFG initiatives including but not limited to Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Diversity & Inclusion (D&I), Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Sustainability.
“We congratulate INSEACT for winning the IAA Singapore 2022 Business as a Force for Good (Social Enterprise category) Award,” said IAA BAFG lead Tan Eng Hwa TIEMBA’16. “INSEACT’s award reflects their commitment to engaging in responsible business practises that serve society’s needs in a sustainable way.”
Michael Badeski MBA’19J, INSEACT Co-Founder & COO and Tim Van Vliet MBA’19J, INSEACT Co-Founder & CEO of INSEACT added, “We are honoured to be named the winner and we look forward to doing Business as a Force for Good”.
About INSEACT
INSEACT was founded as an INSEAD 19J student project to sustainably bridge the protein-population gap. Last January, the company had no employees and only partially secured seed funding. Today, they have 8 Singapore-based employees producing insect protein from the most advanced insect pilot facility in the country. Their first commercial-scale facility is scheduled to be built in Malaysia later in the year. After winning the 37th INSEAD Venture Competition and Coromandel Social Impact Awards, co-founders Tim Van Vliet MBA’19 J and Michael Badeski MBA’19 J raised US$1.3mn of seed funding. The company will raise a Series A later in the year.
INSEACT’s core impact in relation to BAFG
Today it takes 2kg of wild-caught fish from the ocean to produce 1kg of farmed fish. INSEACT solves this by producing protein from insects called the Black Soldier Fly (BSF). INSEACT produces the BSF by feeding them with agri-waste from the palm oil industry which is currently thrown into landfill where it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
BSFs grow extremely quickly with low energy and water input, and the protein they produce is a high-performing feed ingredient for farmed fish and shrimp, which replaces a product made of wild fish called fish meal. By upcycling the waste as feed, not only is it closing the loop in the circular economy, but all of the methane emissions from the palm waste in landfill are averted because the emissions source is eliminated when the insects eat it.