Chinova CEO Receives Accolades For Her Leadership And Innovation
FREDERICTON – Natasha Dhayagude was recognized among thousands of entrepreneurs for her achievements preserving food and drinks with white button mushroom extract.
Dhayagude, the CEO and co-founder of Chinova Bioworks, won the Innovation Award from Women of Influence, which is part of the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards. The award recognizes her substantial contributions to the local, Canadian, and global economies.
“It’s been an incredible journey. Six years ago, I started Chinova Bioworks with my co-founder David Brown. Our humble beginnings of developing Chiber, our natural mushroom extract shelf-life extender in a makeshift lab to now having a team of almost 40 and two locations,” Dhayagude said.
Dhayagude was chosen from a pool of 9,000 nominees across seven categories across North America in Women of Influence – which is now in its 28th year.
“It must have been hard to narrow it down to three finalists per category since the competition was diverse in accomplishments and industries,” Dhayagude said.
Dhayagude said she was honoured to be part of the same cohort as fellow finalists Hiba Badram and Karen Lai, president of the GBCS Group and president and founder of KPM Power Inc., respectively.
Dhayagude said that as CEO, she oversees the company’s overall operations – delegating and directing agendas, driving profitability, managing organizational structure of Chinova, as well as strategy and communicating with its board – responsibilities that earned her the award.
Dhayagude, to date, has raised $10.5 million in capital investment from food tech venture capitalists and has secured partnerships with multinational food-tech industry producers.
“We are accomplishing our mission to make an environmental and social impact by using nature to reduce food waste,” Dhayagude told Huddle.
Chinova, which is headquartered in Fredericton, recently expanded to Prince Edward Island when it opened a 20,000-square foot manufacturing site at the PEI BioAlliance-owned Bioscience Manufacturing Incubator, in Charlottetown.
Dhayagude said she and her employees have learned a lot since opening the manufacturing site in September.
Since opening, Chinova’s concentration has been on efforts to hire across all departments, and building production volumes to meet growing customer demand.
This happens as the company’s sales team is constantly expanding its sales pipeline, with a focus on plant-based beverage categories.
“Ninety-five percent of our business growth has been in the U.S. market and we are now starting to see demand across several jurisdictions including Canada, Mexico, and Europe.”
Chinova specializes in upcycling stems of white button mushrooms to develop an extract that is used as a preservation ingredient.
Growing Business
Locally, Chinova has recently partnered with Carleton County-based Moonshine Creek Distillery to test a new ingredient.
“The pilot and full batch results have been great. Our new product exceeds expectations,” Dhayagude said of the product, which is set to launch in the first quarter of 2023.
RELATED: Chinova Bioworks Moves To Larger PEI Location
Chinova has several new product launches planned for next year that will open new market opportunities in the beverage industry. On top of that, the startup is actively hiring, and has hired 14 new staff members in 2022 alone.
“Chinova is transitioning from a startup to a small business and it feels great, because every step of the way, we have taken measures to prepare and plan for every momentous step forward we take,” she said.
The award recognizes a forward-thinking female entrepreneur who has recognized a new market, product, service, technological advancement or opportunity and led the way.
Dhayagude said she had to demonstrate outstanding leadership in her company and market and, “set standards for originality, quality and successful management” to earn her accolades on Nov. 29th.
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“Our product is filling a large gap in the market and also has an environmental impact in helping to reduce food waste,” she said.
“We are so happy that the judges for this category were able to see that what Chinova was offering in the market was truly innovative.”
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].