Singapore– Ivan Sidorok, founder of Mabius and co-owner of one of Russia’s largest food companies NGMK, will present his new food startup reality TV show – “Meallions” – at the Speciality & Fine Food Asia 2017 in Singapore.
The show will premiere on YouTube in October 2017. The first season of “Meallions” will comprise of 12 episodes. Production is already underway for both the European and Asian versions. European is being filmed by Red Square Production Company, maker of the hit Russian TV show “The Voice”.
The Asian version begins in India and will be produced by A&P Groups, owned by famous Bollywood actor, television producer, and director Arun Pandian. The final series of the first season will be shot in Singapore. 15 startups from Asia and 15 from Europe and Russia will take part in the reality show, pitching their ideas for new food products with the ultimate goal of breaking into the global market.
In the first 9 episodes, the entrepreneurs will live together on a campus and compete for a spot in the semi-finals, the stage when the products will be market tested on the streets of New York and London.
The final episodes of both versions will be filmed in Singapore where finalists will have to test sell their products on street markets, themselves standing behind the counter and giving out samples to ordinary people and gathering thorough customer reviews. In the end, we will see two super entrepreneurs walk away from European and Asian versions with a $100,000 prize to roll out their products on a new market. Along the way, angel investors will help participants ahead of elimination rounds.
The idea for the show came from Ivan Sidorok, a significant player on the Russian FMCG market who is a partner of Wilmar International Ltd., one of the largest Asian agricultural holding and the co-owner of NMGK (Nizhny Novgorod Oils and Fats Plant), which is one of the biggest oil and fats producers in Russia. Sidorok himself will appear on the show as part of the team of mentors who foster and nurture the novice entrepreneurs.
Sidorok will be joined by Andrey Ryvkin, whose delicacy canned crab product King Claw has already made its debut on the British market. Mabius Food Startup Centre, founded by Sidorok in 2014, will act as a professional expert, helping select startups and mentors to take part in the series and in shaping the show’s content and format. “The main idea of ‘Meallions’ is to bring food startup communities together around promising food industry markets, to inspire global cooperation among entrepreneurs from large developing regions, and to identify business enthusiasts who have the courage to dream big and help them realize their potential,” says Ivan Sidorok, creator of the reality show.