Glasgow company Drink Baotic is today launching a crowdfunding drive as it seeks to boost the range and profile of its “super-superfood”-based drink made from the fruit of Africa’s iconic Boabab tree.
Drink Baotic, the trading name of Hippo & Hedgehog Ltd has already won prizes on the strength of its business concept and potential.
It has been supported by Scottish Enterprise, Business Gateway and Glasgow Caledonian University, and has so far attracted about £20,000 of investment and support from various programmes, most notably DEFRA’s Innovate UK new product programme and Virgin Media’s VOOM 2018 ideas pitching scheme, resulting in a planned mentoring meeting with Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson.
In the crowdfunding drive launched today the firm is attempting to raise an additional £5000 “to help print new flavour pouches and to help us target bigger retail.”
Baotic is the brainchild of Paul Blackler and his Gambian partner Isatou Njai, whom the e-business graduate met while on a working visit to The Gambia as a VSO volunteer IT trainer.
Her knowledge of the health benefits of the Boabab tree is rooted in her Mandinka heritage, where knowledge of the health-giving properties stretches back many centuries.
Boabab seeds have been found in tombs in Africa dating back 20,000 years, and are still valued as a symbol of health and vitality.
The idea to adapt the juice for the UK health drink market was developed through various iterations of the drink into the current recipes, all of which score “green” in the standard “traffic light” nutritional notation system.
Known as the “tree of life” in West Africa, the fruit of the Boabab tree contains multiple beneficial ingredients including rare soluble and insoluble fibres, vitamin C, anti-oxidants, magnesium and easily accessible iron.
As a pre-biotic (distinct from a pro-biotic) the drink is being marketed heavily as beneficial to gut health, a focus of their social impact ambitions, and a growing concern for the health foods industry. Drink Baotic is marketing the drink, 100% natural and blended with banana, strawberry and orange as well as an original that highlights the fruit’s distinctively sharp sherberty taste.
Retailing at between £1.80-£1.95 for a pouch, Baotic is currently available through selected health shops and cafes around Glasgow such as the V&V café.
The company, which has recently become a member of the public-private industry group Scotland Food and Drink, is “starting to open talks with larger distributors and supermarkets”, while discussing new routes to increasing production which is currently being undertaken in the couple’s home kitchen.
The company is also exploring online routes to market and has received training from Scotland’s Institute of Ecommerce, a specialist B2B body that offers expert knowledge on the technical specifics essential for success in the fast-growing ecommerce sector.
The current crowdfunding drive is reward-based meaning that people that support get product incentives in return, including mini crates of drinks (16 pouches), a month’s worth of drinks (30 drinks), 3 month and 6 month subscriptions, and retailer wholesale packs.
The company are also throwing in “a couple of surprise items”: a grow your own Baobab Bonsai kit (includes a colourful and stylish eco-friendly biodegradable plant pot, 10 baobab seeds, and free online resources) and an animated Children's story with Rhyme called "Hippo and Hedgehog's Adventures: Discovering Baobabs" which the company says “is reflective of our multicultural background, and introduces African culture and the wonders of the Baobab tree.”
