Hello Steemians, We are OMNIVORI and our final goal is to end world hunger via a thorough reform of how society thinks about food. We are confident that this vision is achievable, and we acknowledge that we cannot do it alone. That is why we are here on Steemit. We are living in an era where almost nothing is impossible - and yet, poverty is still persistent in many countries. Before we go further in explaining the vision of founding OMNIVORI, we’d like to introduce ourselves properly so you know that behind this computer screen, we are real people who are pulling all-nighters to make this work. My name is Samantha. OMNIVORI was initially founded together with my best friends, @zord189 and Alex (not on Steemit) to benefit beloved pets like hamsters, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, bearded dragons, chickens, etc. We introduced OMNI Grub into the market - the larvae of the Black Soldier Fly.

Wait… How Did You Go From Making Pet Food To Wanting To Ending World Hunger?

What made us kickstart OMNIVORI?

Well, there is an urgent need to look into the nutrition of small mammals. Even though small animals like hamsters, hedgehogs, and sugar gliders are some of the most popular pets in the world, it seems that most of the budget and attention of the pet industry is spent on improving diets for cats and dogs. We founded OMNIVORI because we realize that many small animals in captivity are subject to malnutrition. Not only there isn't a variety for the owners to choose from; the only pre-packed dried insect available in our local pet shops are dried mealworms, which are the equivalent of 'chips' or 'double cheeseburgers' in the world of small animals. Mealworms lack all the important micronutrients that are essential for the long-term growth and health of pets. Hence, it’s become a very common issue for small mammals and reptiles in captivity to suffer from Metabolic Bone Diseases due to lack of calcium in their diet.

We did not want to accept this as a norm. ‘This’ - referring to small animals dying in human care due to lack of variety of products on pet store shelves. So we’ve been researching every single day (I’m not exaggerating) to create the most nutritious OMNI Grub for our pets.

We’ve downloaded scholarly journals from universities and farms who raise Black Soldier Fly larvae.
We’ve watched every Youtube video there is on the larvae.
We’ve conducted experiments at home and raised thousands of Black Soldier Flies in our own houses (against the wishes of our parents, sorry Mom & Dad).

We spent the whole month obsessing over the details of our OMNI Grub - and our efforts did not go to waste. The nutritional composition balance of the OMNI Grub surpasses all available insect feeders like crickets, mealworms, and even roaches. Cool stuff!

So how did we then, triggered this bubbling urge inside us to solve world hunger?

You see, we came across several articles highlighting the plights of Venezuela, Syria, Pakistan, etc. There is a shortage of food, and many of the citizens of these countries are forced to survive by foraging the cities to survive. The news we read states that people had to eat rats as food. It completely broke our hearts.

Why are we looking into those countries while we should be taking care of our own first?

We are taking care of our own country. Don’t worry. Malaysia has the lowest poverty rate in Southeast Asia, with only less than 3% of our population living below the poverty line. Even so, our country does not suffer from food shortage due to the many food banks and NGOs actively helping these people in need. So yes, why are we looking into those countries? Here are the simple reasons:

They have no food
The children have no food
The babies have no food
The number of people who care is equivalent to a drop in a bucket compared to the number of mouths who need to eat

We’re not saying nobody cares. We’re saying that we want to be a part of the ones who do. There are already many efforts invested in helping these countries. And we’re saying that we’re in.

Point taken, what is your idea?

OMNIVORI is in the business of bugs. Thanks to channels like National Geographic, Discovery, Business Insider, Inc.com, and all kinds of media… … the idea of people eating bugs as food is picking up around the world (very slowly, but very surely). We can go ahead and explain about all the statistics and benefits of consuming bugs, but we will not. These facts are easily available on Google, and we’re sure that if you’ve read up to this point of our loooooong introduction post, you are already aware of the trend. So here we go. It is much, much, much more affordable and efficient to raise bugs as food versus raising conventional meat like fish, chicken, and beef. That’s why we are looking into producing human food-grade OMNI Grubs by the tons and have them processed (dried or powdered) to be shipped to these countries as food. Shipping chicken, fish, and beef by the tonnes to these countries will cost a bomb and they have disappointingly short shelf lives. Moreover, these meats cost 20x more than grubs if we compared them side by side. When you put the cost and logistics in the equation, our OMNI Grubs is the most logical solution to end the hunger problem.

What makes you so confident you can do it?

We are confident with this goal and vision, because our farms are situated in Malaysia. Our country may be small, but let us tell you why we can do so much more:

Malaysia is situated right on the equator - we have the perfect climate to raise OMNI Grubs all year round.
Malaysia is FREE from deadly natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions, hurricanes, etc - these things will not affect our production. Here’s the evidence:

Read about it here: WHAT PROTECTS MALAYSIA FROM ALL THESE NATURAL DISASTERS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN INDONESIA?

Our cost of production and shipping is lower when you peg the Malaysian Ringgit against the US Dollar.

We’re sold. What Kind Of Support Do You Need From The Steemit Community?

All the eyeballs we can get. We need the Steemit community’s help in getting our cause as far and wide as we possibly can. Awareness, shares, engagement, upvotes, features. We’re not here to be whales or dolphins. We’re here to appeal for your attention to consider our cause.

This is A LOT to absorb for an introduction post!

We know, and we are very very very very grateful for you to ACTUALLY READ IT ALL THE WAY UNTIL THE END! This introduction post serves as an overview. We will be updating Steemit very frequently from now on - because this has become our full-time job. (P.S. from Samantha - I actually quit my job to do this!)

What To Expect From Now?

Product awareness is still top - after all, it’s a battle of perception when it comes to bugs. We will be taking the opportunity to educate everyone about our products, and we definitely will be posting our entrepreneurial journey here. We are so grateful you took the time to read it all the way until the end! Thank you Steemit community, and thank you #TeamMalaysia for the warm welcome back. Let’s put Malaysia on the map AGAIN by solving world hunger, one step at a time. PS: I will be looking to start a campaign at @fundition to see if we can get some support and backing that will aid us in this venture. We will need all the connections, funds we can get to these grubs over to countries who need them. If you're in support, do drop us a comment. Tagging known connections to see if we can get something started: @azizbd, @votovzla, @gtpjfoodbank, #venezuela, #charity, @teammalaysia, @steemitbloggers

Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://omnivori.com/2019/04/07/introducing-omnivori-solving-world-hunger-one-step-at-a-time/