Anheuser-Busch InBev is the Belgium-based drinks group behind brands like Becks, Budweiser, Corona, Leffe and Modelo. As a consumer-oriented multinational, it has beers in markets across the globe. Such a global presence demands resources, and with climate change a global priority, this is where Maisie Devine comes to the fore.
Devine runs AB InBev’s 100-plus Accelerator, which is dedicated to finding and supporting startups that can help the company meet its 2025 sustainability goals. Those goals are varied, from ensuring that all packaging is either from recycled or reused materials, to making sure that all electricity is from renewable sources. As Devine said: “Given the scale of our supply chains, and the complexity of these issues, we know that we cannot achieve these goals unless we pool together the best expertise and the latest forward-thinking solutions.”
Devine is emphatic about how important the accelerator is for AB InBev. “It is seen as the critical test-and-learning ground for the business. AB InBev operates in nearly 50 countries and the needs of each market are vast and varied, ranging from water insecurity to decreasing our transport emissions.”
The accelerator offers radical opportunity, not just for AB InBev but for the startups themselves. She said: “A huge component of the 100-plus program is the opportunity for each of the startups to pilot their solution within our supply chain. Our teams within AB InBev serve as the main points of contact for the startups and are vital to bringing the pilot to fruition.”
Given that the sustainability goals apply to the multinational’s key business units, it is unsurprising to see that they are involved. What is surprising is the level of involvement. As Devine said: “We have around 175,000 colleagues around the world who help us to source participants. BanQu, for example, one of the winners of our inaugural accelerator program, was already one of our partners for a pilot project providing financial identities to smallholding farmers in Zambia before they won further investment to scale the initiative to other parts of Africa.”
VC investing is often about weighing up the technology risk, the business model and the market opportunity. With a global sustainability-driven investing model, there is another balance to be struck. What works in San Francisco may not work in Lusaka or Sao Paulo. As a global business, AB InBev has to invest in developing markets, places where many other western investors are either too fearful or inexperienced to invest.
Yet the same technologies that excite Silicon Valley can be just as exciting elsewhere. Take blockchain, perhaps the most divisive of technology’s current buzzwords. Blockchain has excited a lot of technology enthusiasts, but real-world use cases have perhaps not been as prevalent. Yet Devine offers blockchain as not just a technology, but an empowerment through technology.
“As a large and complex business operating in nearly 50 countries, blockchain holds a lot of opportunity for us. It is allowing us to make our complex, agricultural supply chains more transparent, efficient and sustainable. Through our accelerator, we have been able to scale up our partnership with BanQu, which is responsible for developing the first and only non-cryptocurrency blockchain platform to help lift people out of extreme poverty by providing them with a platform that records all financial transactions.
“Using the platform in our business, we have been able to make our cassava and barley supply chains in Africa more transparent, by having a means to locate where our product is at each stage of the supply chain journey.
“In talking to our farmers, we realised very quickly that, beforehand, they were not getting the prices that we thought they were – corruption and middlemen were taking a toll and we saw an incredible, potential impact that BanQu’s platform could have on our business, as well as the communities we operate in around the world.”
Blockchain is changing people’s lives in Zambia and Uganda. This is, in part, what makes the 100-plus Accelerator interesting. It is pushing boundaries, and not just from a technological perspective. It is backing entrepreneurs from different backgrounds, backing the value of varied experiences, while supporting those same entrepreneurs potentially to transform AB InBev into a sustainable global corporation.
Almost every nation drinks beer, and that means that AB InBev has to get involved. From using BanQu’s technology to support farmers in Zambia and Uganda, “we also have RSU, based in Brazil, which has developed a technology that is capable of transforming landfill waste into clean energy, while Colombia-based startup AcuaCare has developed a process for converting waste-water sludge into biofertiliser”, Devine said.
Devine and the accelerator’s goals are inherently practical, led by sustainability criteria. That means cutting-edge technology sometimes needs to defer to local experience.
“For us, what is most important is to empower driven committed innovators and entrepreneurs who are solving real-world problems. As such, we take a strictly results-driven approach to our investment decisions – it is about making a real measured impact in the communities we operate in around the world. For example, Majik Water, which is a startup co-founded out of Kenya by Beth Koigi, Anastasia Kaschenko and Clare Sewell, was launched to solve a critical challenge where over half the population in Kenya do not have access to clean water. What we saw was the global potential that this locally-produced solution could provide our business.”
Differing experiences are not only important when it comes to geography. Gender is also key, for investing is still largely male-dominated. That said, the consumer sector is perhaps more open to women than any other. Devine said the consumer sector was friendlier to female investors and entrepreneurs, as a function of the power of female consumers.
“Female entrepreneurs and investors have natural insights, instincts and understanding of the product offerings that will captivate female consumers, so naturally they will be quite successful in the sector.”
Devine herself has been working with startups for seven years, as both an angel investor and in corporate venture capital. For her, climate change represents both a threat and an opportunity.
“Given the sheer number of challenges that climate change presents, there is a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs to bring innovative solutions to market. Between now and 2030, corporates, governments, and non-government organisations will need to spend between $5 trillion and $7 trillion to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, so there is capital available and commercial spend up for grabs. It is the perfect time to use a successful structure to accelerate the growth and progress of startups in the sustainability space.”
The accelerator is in its first year of operation. It is attached to the company’s sustainability-focused 10 Challenges for this year, and next year will bring a new set of challenges, alongside a new set of startups.
“We will be seeing the launch of pilot programs in several markets with some very promising startups from the cohort, for example, Desolenator, a solution that combines thermal and electrical energy from solar panels to make pure water from the ocean, Green Mining, tackling our global recycling problem by tapping into data mapping and blockchain for more efficient collection, and SmartHop, an artificial intelligence-powered mobile platform to make beer deliveries more efficient.”
AB InBev is putting its money where its mouth is. But with climate change a present and increasing threat, things need to move quickly. Beyond this year, what does success look like for the accelerator?
“Success for us is about launching innovative solutions in-market that have the potential to create a measurable impact by decreasing our environmental footprint and improving the lives of those in our extended value chain. But this is just the beginning. Our intention is to launch 10 new challenges each year to support AB InBev’s vision of building a company to last for the next 100-plus years.”