NEW INC. MAGAZINE ARTICLE FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

Can an American Startup Help End Starvation in Gaza?

The U.S. plan to build a temporary pier to deliver food to Palestinians is a case of fighting the last war. We need to employ new thinking and new technologies to reduce human suffering.

 

EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @HOWARDTULLMAN1

MAR 26, 2024

 

Watching and reading about the very modest U.S. airdrops of MRE food bundles into destroyed parts of Gaza which will, of course, largely be stolen at gunpoint by Hamas terrorists, I was really struck by how these performative airborne gestures are so trivial and inconsequential even if the food eventually were to reach the right people. Sadly, in the category of "no good deed goes unpunished," the Israeli Defense Force has had the impossible task of trying to protect the truck deliveries from both Hamas and the starving, desperate population, which storms every shipment as soon as it appears.

Apparently, our own military has decided that flyovers are less risky even if they don't remotely address the volumes of food and other material that are actually required. (Sixty-six MRE bundles contain roughly 38,000 meals, which is so insignificant that it's almost worse than doing nothing, especially when we could readily do so much more.) The present estimate is that around six million meals a day are required. While logistics are always going to be challenging in debacles like this, the real problem - as is almost always the case with the military - is that the planners are stuck in the past. They're fighting the last war.

They need to look ahead-- there are startups that might be in a position to help.

The lessons of the Berlin airlift of 1948 aren't going to teach us anything about how to solve today's or tomorrow's crises. And, as historic and massive as our successful efforts were in Kabul, where more than 120,000 people were evacuated in roughly two weeks, we're looking at a population of more than 20 times that size which has no desire to leave. Nor do the dozen neighboring Arab nations have the slightest interest in receiving any more Palestinian evacuees, even if they were interested in leaving Gaza.

The latest brainstorm - a temporary pier in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza coast for deliveries-- is vaguely reminiscent of the World War II Seabees and may actually be a slower delivery system than the trucks. It will take at least two months to be installed and activated after adequate security provisions are made. And even the Orange Monster recognizes that the new pier won't address the fact that the Hamas murderers will steal inbound food from civilians.

Every credible report from Gaza suggests that hundreds of truckloads of foodstuffs are required daily to address even the most basic requirements of the civilian population. It's nice to see that the Biden administration and the Democrats in Congress are trying to do something to provide further aid and help stave off starvation, but it's embarrassing and insulting to any rational person's intelligence to think that these cosmetic demonstrations are going to do any real good. Never mind that the repugnant MAGA Republicans continue to refuse to support any legislation that would provide such assistance.

There's a lot of frustration watching our government and military using ancient approaches and solutions in an age when the tools and technology exist to act at scale in far more effective and impactful ways. Sending huge, heavy bags of raw preparation materials may look effective, but given the lack of the other essential resources, it's like tossing an anvil to a drowning man. There's a cleaner, quicker and much more efficient solution.

To stem malnutrition and starvation in Gaza there needs to be large-scale and easily distributable solutions that supply the necessary proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and other nutrients to the target population. The form of the food (the delivery vehicle) doesn't drive the results; it's the functional nutritional content that the food delivers. Given the food processing technologies that we now have, we can pack far more immediate benefit, carbs, and calories into a tiny one-inch square gummy cube than you'll find in a T-bone steak or a slice of salmon.

In a word, for today's most pressing issues, MealCubes, and not MREs, are one available and compelling alternative answer. MealCubes are the product of Meepo, a venture backed startup that is producing of miniature, candy-like, jells that can be customized to individual nutritional requirements. Each cube packet provides the nutritional and dietary equivalents of a real meal.  Each cube provides 420 calories, 25 grams of protein, 28 grams of healthy fat, 23 grams of complex carbs, and 35 vitamins and minerals.

Even more importantly, MealCubes are 1/10^th the weight of MREs and take up 1/16^th of the storage space. MealCubes can be consumed immediately, anywhere, while MREs require 15-to-30 minutes to set up, heat and eat. Needless to say, in the stressful and dangerous context of providing meals in Gaza, all of these considerations take on particular importance in terms of volume, speed, effectiveness and cost.

Interestingly enough, SpaceX is one of Meepo's larger initial customers and various military groups are actively evaluating the products as well. I think of this as a further step in the Tang beverage evolution, which began in the 1960s when the U.S. space program provided powdered orange juice for the Gemini astronauts.  NASA needed a space-age approach to nutrition and in 1962 Tang went into Earth orbit with John Glenn. Tang was basically a sugary base to which water was added to make "orange" juice that was about as attractive and healthy looking as Trump's spray on complexion. It was all about speed, ease, and space - certainly not taste.

Tang is still around -- sadly, much like the Orange Monster.  And, amazingly, it's one of the most popular drinks during Ramadan, according to Mondelez International, the food corporation that now owns the brand.  

With so many lives on the line, you'd hope and even imagine that the government is actively seeking the best available solutions, but it appears that the only response to date has been to do it the way that these things have always been done. Innovative solutions and technologies can save lives, but only if they are applied by interested and knowledgeable entrepreneurs rather than ignored or blocked by bloated bureaucrats and lazy procurement personnel.