The Lab also promotes innovation with traditional and underutilized foods—providing the scientific know-how to integrate wild edibles into product lines, create value-added products from plant proteins, and diversify with climate-resilient crops like millets and pulses. These efforts provide entrepreneurial opportunities and expand consumer choice while preserving biodiversity and cultural food heritage.

Alongside grassroots enterprises, the Lab also aims to engage larger businesses to encourage responsible sourcing, reduction of food loss and waste, and build healthier product portfolios. Policy advocacy complements this, calling for incentives and regulations that favour sustainable and nutrition-sensitive enterprises.

By empowering small producers with science, market access, and innovation, the Action Lab on food businesses ensures that “small food” can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with “big food,” creating a food economy that is inclusive, competitive, and sustainable.