Graduate students win Big Bang! entrepreneur competition

Three Department of Plant Sciences graduate students took first place in the Food and Agriculture sector of the 25th annual UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition. Ali Said Yusuf, Will Hazzard and Zhenglin Zhang won $12,500 for their project developing a high-fiber food.

All three are with the horticulture and agronomy graduate group.

The competition gives emerging entrepreneurs the opportunity to workshop their ideas and network with their peers before presenting their inventions to the judges for funding.

Yusuf and his team won with their creation, Teflishe Foods, which features a cereal made of teff and other teff-based products. Teff is a staple crop in East Africa, where Yusuf is from. It is rich in fiber and other essential nutrients, and it’s the grain that helped him combat his 2023 prediabetes diagnosis.  

“I began eating teff porridge every morning, which kept me full for hours,” Yusuf said. “Within a year, I reversed my pre-diabetes, lost over 30 pounds and regained control of my health.”

With Teflishe Foods, Yusuf aims to address the fiber deficiency crisis in the United States, where 95 percent of Americans do not meet the daily recommended fiber intake. A single meal of Teflishe Foods cereal is designed to deliver up to 60 percent of the recommended daily fiber intake.

“Inadequate fiber consumption is closely linked to chronic health conditions such as prediabetes, diabetes, obesity and digestive disorders,” Yusuf said. “Our solution is to boost fiber intake through real food, not supplements.”

The competition helps early career scientists learn how to apply their research.

“I had the opportunity to hone my entrepreneurship skills,” said teammate Hazzard. “I also never really knew how to get a business off the ground, which I now know much more about. It was a real privilege to work with Ali and Zhenglin.

“It was extremely exciting to think about how a product can impact the real world,” teammate Zhang added. “I am happy that we have, as a team, created something delicious and needed by the market.”

The UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition is funded by the Mike and Renée Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The competition was held on campus in May.