Hello Vishal,

I'd be interested in talking further with you about this advisory board idea. We at the North American Millets Alliance  (NAMA) have been working "organically" (read "slowly") in the direction of an advisory board for our activities beyond the International Year of Millets. And of course you, and Nate Blum (of Sorghum United), and I were discussing earlier this year the possibility of an advisory or "steering" committee for the IYM in North America, in connection with FAO. The latter was perhaps a bit ambitious and by now we're probably too late to get such an entity up to speed,* but the idea of getting high level experts into communication on these crops and how to facilitate their production and processing, as well as promotion of their use, is significant.

It would be useful to know how you see your company using an advisory council. Some businesses have corporate boards which serve similar functions - would such an approach fit with your company's structure and achieve the same results?

NAMA has been looking at ways to support the industry, and among those is developing a kind of information clearing house to support the range of activities in the value chain, as well as extension and regulatory issues (like on labeling), and broad education and publicity. North America, as you know, is particular in the discussion of millets,as only a few (sorghum, proso, and teff) are grown on relatively small commercial levels for food, but many others are imported sldo in relatively small quantities, mainly as consumer packaged goods (but also in bulk form for further processing). Balancing those two, and accommodating enterprises such as yours which, as I understand it, use both domestically sourced and imported millet ingredients, is part of our challenge.

One possibility is that NAMA could facilitate small businesses' contact with expertise in business and research, thus in effect indirectly providing advisory services.

I'll take the liberty of cc'ing NAMA's Collab list for their info and possible comment.

All the best,

Don

Don Osborn, PhD
(East Lansing, MI, US)
North American Millets Alliance, co-founder

* Noting here a structural issue with UN International Years, whereby the naming of Special Ambassadors on continental levels tended to be late in any given Year. Having run up against a similar calendar issue in discussion of a possible continental advisory or "steering" committee for IYM in North America, I wonder why the UN agencies involved (and their continental offices) have not initiated relevant selection processes for either (or both) continental ambassadors or committees 3-6 months before the formal opening of an International Year. Perhaps a recommendation to carry forward.


On Mon, Sep 4, 2023 at 12:39 PM Vishal Ramakrishnan <vishr27@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello All, 

My name is Vishal Ramakrishnan and I'm an entrepreneur based out of the US. I am in the process of establishing a millets value added products business that will create derivative products from a wide variety of millets to compete with traditional plant-based alternatives (i.e., pea protein, pea starches, fibers, sweeteners, etc.). 

I am seeking to establish an advisory board of individuals well versed in the field of millets research & development, crop development, agri-products commercialization and sales/trading & marketing. Specifically, I am looking for the following profiles: 
  1. Scientists/Researchers - Individuals or organizations that have extensively worked with various types of major & minor millets and can speak to the nutritional/genetic profiles of millets and the ability to extract derivative products from them 
    1. Crop Development Experts - Would also consider experts that are well-versed in crop development (i.e., agri-inputs and seed optimization) that can address some of the genetic deficiencies present in millets and how to address them (i.e., creating higher protein varietals, etc.)   
  2. Commercialization Experts - Individuals who have hands-on working experience working with bio-based fuels (e.g, ethanol) or other plant-based alternatives (e.g., pea proteins, starches, fibers, etc.)
  3. Agri-Input Traders/Marketers - Individuals who can speak to placing the above mentioned products in front of business consumers (e.g., food/feed manufacturers, pet food manufacturers, etc.) 
The aim of this advisory council would be to advance the business case for creating plant-based alternatives using millets and assist me in the fundraising, business establishment and commercialization process. I am agnostic as to your geographic location but would greatly appreciate individuals with a broad market/industry understanding. 

I have already bought a consumer facing millet based product to the US market utilizing pearl millet flour as the base (www.kanira.co) and am well versed in creating new businesses from the ground up. 

Please direct all inquiries to vishr27@gmail.com and I'm happy to connect over Whatsapp as well (will share details directly with interested parties).  

Best regards, 

Vishal Ramakrishnan