Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Solving food problems ‘one crop at a time’

Sonia Lo
Sonia Lo

Serial entrepreneur Sonia Lo is on a mission to solve the world’s food problems “one crop at a time”.

She is chief executive of Crop One Holdings, whose vertical farms are revolutionising food production.

Ms Lo, who features as a “superhero” in a book aimed at encouraging youngsters to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and maths, is among the guest speakers at Entrepreneurial Scotland’s annual summit at Gleneagles tomorrow.

As well as heading up California-based Crop One, she is the founder and managing director of London-headquartered investment manager Chalsys Capital.

She was also the co-founder and CEO of eZoka Group, a UK based internet start-up company that was sold to private investors in 2002.

In addition, she is a former director of global content for Google and was named among the world’s top 100 technology pioneers at the World Economic Forum in both 2000 and 2001.

Her CV boasts degrees from Stanford University and Harvard Business School, while she also holds professional chef and pastry chef qualifications gained in London.

Ms Lo, who has lived in 16 countries and speaks seven languages, is no stranger to Scotland.

She has holidayed here many times and is lucky enough to have “always had exceedingly good weather” while driving around the country.

“Scotland has a strong culture of invention,” she said.

“It has produced many entrepreneurs and some extraordinary inventions.

“There is tremendous innovation coming out of the universities and the investment infrastructure for early stage capital is growing.”

Ms Lo started out working for a large media firm in London.

She said launching a new business had become easier in many ways, partly thanks to the internet, but it was still a good idea for budding entrepreneurs to follow in her footsteps and gain experience of working for big companies first.

“It teaches you how and why they make the decisions they do,” she added.

This is invaluable experience for start-up founders who may otherwise have little knowledge of corporate behaviour, she said.

Crop One is part of a joint venture building the world’s largest vertical farm in Dubai.

Its first produce from an estimated 6,000lbs of leafy greens per day is due to be delivered to Emirates Flight Catering’s customers, including 105 airlines and 25 airport lounges, later this year.

Ms Lo said Crop One was pursuing expansion opportunities for vertical farming, which has environmental and economic benefits, on every continent.

business@thecourier.co.uk