The public health problems in the UAE and the wider region are not new to most – nearly a fifth of the UAE’s population (17.3 per cent) have type 2 diabetes, and heart disease accounts for two thirds of all deaths, according to studies.
While there are genetic elements to both of these diseases, it is also known that eating too much of the wrong foods and not doing enough exercise are part of the reason they affect such a high percentage of the population of the GCC and wider Middle East.
Left unchecked, these conditions diminish both life expectancy and quality of life, and are costly to treat, a fact that Faisal Al Hammadi, a former vice-president of a healthcare investment firm, and now CEO of Slices, a company that aims to bring healthy meals into schools, would know.
Al Hammadi, 33, has grand ambitions to make a real difference to the lives of the UAE’s school children, and ultimately the population as a whole.
The venture began not with school food but while he was still working for Mubadala Development Company, when he and a small group of colleagues wanted something healthy to eat for lunch.
“The idea started because my colleagues and I struggled to find a place that served healthy food near our workplace,” he says.
The venture was initially a healthy food outlet based in the same building where he had his colleagues were working, but, later, after support from the Khalifa Fund, turned into a school food company. The company cites the words of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who said: “If you want to instil healthy eating habits in people, you need to start educating them about food from their childhood.”
Slices started off providing food to one school – but has since grown to provide fresh and healthy lunches to 35 educational establishments in four cities – Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Al Ain and Sharjah, with a target to increase that number to 50 by September.
There are a range of options, costing between AED 350 and 1,250 per child per term, depending on menus chosen, with options for Emirati, Indian or Western cuisine.
Slices endeavours to foster a ‘farm to table’ approach, bringing fresh, organic, locally sourced food to school lunch tables, and they also carry out farm visits and outreach nutrition workshops with schools, to back up their healthy eating ethos. Where possible, food is prepared on the premises for maximum freshness, and if not, for example in schools that do not have adequate kitchens, it is prepared in central kitchens in Al Quoz, Dubai, and Mussafah, Abu Dhabi.
“We also hold seminars with dieticians, for students, teachers and faculty,” he explains. “We find that it’s actually the parents that need this more than the children.”
FOOD MEETS TECH
Slices is developing an application, known as a Wellness Portal, launching in September, which will track the amount students move during their school day.
“We found that most students carry phones or use wearable tech, so we can track how much they are moving in the day with the application. By having this data, we can show how much of an impact movement and exercise has,” he says.
The company is also part of a food security exercise, working in partnership with Madar Farms, (a hydroponic and vertical farming company based on the outskirts of Dubai), to create a new hydroponic farm at Jumeira Baccalaureate School in Dubai.
Vertical farming is a radical new concept that allows large amounts of produce to be grown in a small space, in this case, 1.5 acres worth of organic leafy greens in an area of just 40 sq. ft.
While providing school meals for the entire country might be a bit of a challenge in terms of the level of food production required, the company has ambitions to create a UAE-wide wellness network, through its application, which will help improve the health of students in order to create a healthier future.
This may seem like a lofty ambition, but to give you an indication of Al Hammadi’s abilities, he has continued to work in his business while also carrying out his UAE national service over the past year. If anyone can do it, he can.