Pioneering the First Vertically Integrated Seaweed Business in Nigeria
ASV is spearheading a greenfield project to develop and establish the first vertically integrated seaweed business in Nigeria. ASV aims to cover the entire value chain: from developing a seaweed nursery whereby the appropriate naturally occurring seaweed strains are developed; through to cultivation of the seaweed at scale; biomass processing (i.e. a biorefinery); and the development of seaweed-derived products (products including bio-packaging, animal feed and biostimulants, as well as high-value seaweed hydrocolloid products which can be used in different food, pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications).
Addressing the Environmental Impact of Single-Use Plastic Packaging in Nigeria and West Africa
For example, taking a sachet of water in isolation, according to a report produced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), at least one sachet of water was consumed by some 70% of Nigerians on a daily basis in 2017. This amounts to about 60 million plastic sachets being used and disposed of each day, which generated over 28,000 tonnes of plastic waste.
This is the primary issue that ASV seeks to address and we see a huge opportunity in the Nigerian market for seaweed-based biodegradable packaging.
Our mission is to accelerate Africa's transition to a more sustainable future via a regenerative resource.
Founder
Olaolu Akerele
Olaolu is an experienced professional with a demonstrated history of working in the legal services industry in both the UK and Nigeria. He has several years of transaction and advisory experience gained at top tier global law firms – Allen & Overy and White & Case. He is skilled in business development and the structuring, negotiation, and management of complex cross-border transactions.
Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Olaolu returned to Nigeria after completing his education in the UK. It was during this period that he was exposed to many of Nigeria’s social and economic problems.
Propelled by his passion for his country of birth, Olaolu aspired to become a socially conscious entrepreneur. With seaweed, he discovered the medium through which to achieve his aspirations and Africa Seaweed Ventures was formed in 2023 to pursue this.
Advisors
Vincent Doumeizel
With 20 years experience in the Food Industry, Vincent is now Senior Advisor for Oceans at United Nations Global Compact and Director for Food Programme at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation.
Partnering with institutions and large brands, Vincent led the “Seaweed Manifesto” in a call to scale up the seaweed industry in order to address our most important challenges of our time. Vincent is now co-leading the first international platform for Seaweed Stakeholders and voice the potential of seaweed in the main international events (COP, UN General Assembly, etc…).
In 2022, Vincent released “The Seaweed Revolution” a reference book nominated best Environmental Book of the Year in France and to be released in English, Spanish, Chinese and others in 2023.
Dr Stefan Kraan
Born in The Netherlands he graduated with a M.Sc. degree in Marine Biology at National University of Groningen, The Netherlands. He moved to Ireland to pursue a PhD on phylogenetics and aquaculture of edible seaweeds at the National University of Ireland, Galway in 1998. He became manager of the Irish Seaweed Industry Organisation in 1998 and finished his PhD in 2001 with as subject phylogenetics, hybridisation and aquaculture of the edible brown seaweed Alaria esculenta. He established the Irish Seaweed Centre in 2001, a dedicated R&D centre for seaweed-based research and development, which was launched in 2001.
After managing the seaweed centre for 9 years, Dr Kraan resigned from University life in 2009 to set up Ocean Harvest Technology Ltd to pursue and develop some commercial ideas using seaweeds for a variety of purposes amongst them functional food ingredients for fish farming and novel algae cultivation systems for biofuel production. After 8 years he resigned and co-founded The Seaweed Company in 2018. A company with complete horizontal integration developing the whole seaweed value chain from cultivation to biostimulant feed, food, biomaterials and Pharma. Furthermore, he is involved in the development of large-scale seaweed biomass cultivation programs. Dr Kraan was President of the International Seaweed Association (2016-2019) and is the incoming President of the International Society for Applied Phycology (2023-2026).
Currently, Dr Kraan is also a business coach of 14 Indonesian seaweed companies under the Dutch Ministry of Economics and Climate Policy’s development program (CBI/RVO) to help diversify and increase export to Europe. His main fields of expertise are aquaculture of seaweeds, sustainable development of algal resources, industrial applications of seaweeds and usage of seaweeds in animal feed, aquaculture, biotechnology and biomedicine.
Abigail Carroll
Abigail Carroll is Founder of Happy Planet Capital, a private angel fund, and host of Happy Planet podcast about the impact economy. In 2021, she sold NONESUCH Maine, a company she founded that engaged in oyster aquaculture, eco-tourism and seaweed skincare.
Abigail is a board member of BlueTrace (US) that recently raised 3.2MUSD and an advisor at Bright Tide (UK), Oceanovation (Dutch/South African) and SeaAhead Ventures (US). She is a Member of Paris Business Angels (France), Blue Angels (Boston) and Maine Angels.
Abigail has spoken publicly on the subjects of the environment, entrepreneurship and aquaculture at venues such as TED, the Boston Athenaeum, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, etc. Her publishing credits include Global Geneva, Portland Press Herald, The Bangor Daily News, This City Paris, and The Daily Telegraph.
Abigail is Co-President of the World Affairs Council of Maine and a member of the Biddeford Shellfish Conservation Committee.
Abigail received an MIA in Banking and Finance Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She speaks English, French and some Spanish.
