02 Sep Kirit Patel, a freelance agri-food professional connecting with new challenges through the Blendhub ecosystem
More and more freelancers being active in the agri-food industry are coming from positions in large corporations, where they were hired and trained to deliver specific results for years until at some point they were either made redundant due to “restructuring” or simply decided to leave on their own to start their individual projects. Kirit Patel, an experienced dairy, cheese and ice cream specialist, is one of these individuals who decided to work on their own in ad-hoc collaboration with other value aligned individuals to deliver specific projects faster and more flexible to customers in India and beyond.
Kirit is a person who believes that larger and growing enterprises are essential for understanding and scaling the regional and global impact, but who also appreciates the freedom and flexibility of freelancing and its capacity of locally implementing new ideas, recipes, technologies and working philosophies. Being a freelancer based in India, he enjoys the benefits of counting on the possibility to connect and find support in a powerful international network of professionals from his sector while preserving his independency. He has clearly found that in the Blendhub inclusive ecosystem.
The Blendhub ecosystem was started now more than five years ago based on what we initially called the “Friends of Blendhub” idea and was launched as a free space for connecting knowledge with projects for likeminded and respectful individuals. It is an inclusive network meaning that everyone are is free to connect and build their own projects and everybody can, of course, count on the support of Blendhub if required.
The ecosystem is today including both independent agri-food professionals as well as companies that connect and collaborate with or through us in different types of agreements. Some are members of allfoodexperts®, an independent open innovation space and community of food professionals which we refer to as a Blendhub Initiative, and others decide to take active part in the Blendhub Professional Network (BPN). BPN members work closely together with us, share our vision and values, and agree to sign a specific MOU agreement with the objective to create shared value with our company and its network. At Blendhub, we call it being open and anywhere.
Kirit is a good example of how a person being active in the Blendhub ecosystem can make their own path towards the creation of results. Kirit is actually a member of the allfoodexperts® platform and he is actively pursuing opportunities for the creation of shared value inside the BPN. He was earlier this year responding to a challenge launched on the www.allfoodexperts.com platform and later recruited by a large Irish dairy company whom he convinced about his skills to solve their challenge. After this successful personal experience, he is now not only more convinced about the value of ecosystems and communities but actually thinking of how to further collaborate with Blendhub as member of BPN while still preserving his freelancer status.
The allfoodexperts community of agri-food experts was initially started by Blendhub to connect with the global freelance community to create joint value. But today, we have today fully understood the need for a completely independent community allowing freelancers to access new projects and receive the entire income, which their work and knowledge generates. Our involvement is offering a platform and facilitation by charging a small fee for the connection between challenger and problem solver.
Blendhub Professional Network (BPN), on the other hand, is now aimed at integrating and empowering different agri-food industry professionals who are passionate about and interested in using our value proposition “Food Powder Blends Anywhere” to connect projects with their clients to the novel Blendhub offering.
During many years independent food formulators have been working in a similar way, offering food product formulations as IP transfer with the delivery of a report to the food producer, including a specific validated formulation and the corresponding production process. An invoice was sent and paid for by customer and the food formulator had to move on to find a new challenge.
However, more and more freelancers are searching for alternative ways to insure ongoing income streams and participation in the upside, based on the success of their work related to the performance of the food product in the market. It is no longer enough for a company to simply pay a ”finder‘s fee” and, after, take all the upside themselves. As a members of the Blendhub professional network, freelancers get part of the success while their customers are also most happy to share part of the success with committed collaborators. This is what we at Blendhub refer to as ”integration of the agrifood value chain”
Kirit explains in the video how our network offers him the possibility to discuss a challenge with different colleagues all over the world, share knowledge and income streams, and the possibility to access labs, pilot plants and different tools to carry out tests and trials.
BPN allows Kirit to combine the flexibility of working as a freelancer with likeminded individuals in a unique network.
At Blendhub, we truly believe that talented professionals like Kirit Patel are vital for introducing a positive change in the global Food and Beverage industry, which will improve the access to food and will help final consumers better understand the products they buy and eat. This is why we have believed in networks for years and, since the early idea of “friend of Blendhub”, have moved on to the creation of allfoodexperts®, first, and, now BPN, all being part of a unique ecosystem for agri-food professionals and stakeholders.
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