An Aliso-Viejo startup that created a line of wipes and washes for produce was recently featured on an entrepreneurial TV show.
Eat Cleaner caught the eye of the producers of “Hatched,” where innovative companies present their products to a group of retail experts and entrepreneurs try to persuade them to invest. The startup was featured on the season premiere, which aired Sept. 17. Eat Cleaner founder Mareya Ibrahim represented the company on the show.
All the experts and entrepreneurs, including one from the Home Shopping Network, gave Eat Cleaner a thumbs up, she said. Ibrahim is now in conversations with the shopping network to work out the details, she added.
She and her father, Shawki Ibrahim, who serves as the chief scientific officer, started the company after he was diagnosed with prostate and bladder cancer and told to avoid raw produce because of the bacteria that can be present. Eat Cleaner is a line of all-natural, patented food wash and wipes that the company claims removes up to 99.9% of bacteria and 99.8% of pesticides. The products also extend the life of the produce because of an antioxidant blend that’s used, Mareya Ibrahim said.
Her 20-plus year background in the food industry includes working as a holistic nutritionist, chef and marketer. She’s one of the signature chefs for the Daniel Plan, a diet and exercise program developed by Pastor Rick Warren of Lake Forest-based Saddleback Church that’s become a New York Times bestseller. Her father has fully recovered and has been cancer-free for 10 years, she said.
Mareya Ibrahim personally invested $50,000 as seed money, then received an undisclosed amount from an angel investor, she said. All of the manufacturing is done in Southern California, she said.
“It means a lot to lessen our carbon footprint and have that oversight right in our own backyard,” she said.
Here’s the Beef
Canon U.S.A. has partnered with the local chapter of the SCORE Foundation to bring John Pietro on as keynote speaker for an upcoming business summit. He was chief marketing officer at the Wendy’s fast-food chain when its “Where’s the Beef?” campaign became famous.
The event will be from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Canon U.S.A. Experience Center in Costa Mesa on Sept. 28.
Business mentors from SCORE will be on hand to answer questions on marketing, finance, startups, general business, and business printing.
There will be a concierge station staffed by a local designer who will offer small-business owners advice on issues such as logos, websites and marketing collateral. There also will be an opportunity for attendees to be photographed for a professional headshot.
The “Where’s the Beef” campaign captured the attention of America in the 1980s, helped when Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale drew big laughs when he used the line to question President Ronald Reagan’s economic plan during a debate.
Bits & Pieces
Cal State University-Fullerton had a busy week recently with its We Inspire Women Leadership Summit on Sept. 8, which aimed to inspire its female students to become entrepreneurs, and its 8 Hour Business Challenge on Sept. 9. Students teamed up to bring an idea from concept to plan in eight hours, with the top team, Park Space, winning a variety of prizes including a $300 cash prize; $2,000 worth of scholarships for Dale Carnegie Training; $500 worth of professional consultation with Michael Sawitz, founder and chief executive of FastStart.studio, an Irvine-based incubator; and a personal investor accelerator workshop taught by Mike Miller, owner and co-founder of Los Angeles-based Wild Horse Labs and a Tech Coast Angels investor. Park Space would provide real-time information on public parking lots using drones. … SWYK just launched its app. The company, whose name stands for Sharing Wisdom & Your Knowledge, is based out of Launch Labs, Chapman University’s accelerator in Orange. The app provides on-demand business advice from any mobile device. The company also just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter with the intent of raising $35,000 that would be used for marketing, legal and additional development costs.
