I communicate to Rania Abou Samra on one of many stormiest days the UK has seen in fairly a while – it’s blowing a gale on the market. She nevertheless is completely unphased, sitting as she is, in sunny Dubai and smiling at me by means of the pc display.
“It’s beautiful out,” she tells me fortunately. And I’m solely just a little bit jealous… okay perhaps greater than just a little bit.
She’s primarily based in Nestlé’s MENA workplace, the place she heads up innovation, and analysis and growth. I first heard her communicate at Future Food-Tech London in 2024, and have been keen to debate all issues innovation along with her ever since. She’s solely too happy to oblige.
Nestlé’s espresso revolution
“The one I love to talk about the most is coffee,” she tells me. “It all started with Nescafé, one of the earliest soluble coffee products.”
Launched on 1 April 1938, Nescafé truly supported the warfare effort, by supplying British and American troops with espresso for his or her ration packs.
“That’s how soldiers were able to drink coffee during the war,” she says proudly.
And for historical past followers on the market, you possibly can see an instance of the unique tin it was saved in, on the Nestlé museum in Velvet, Switzerland.
Now, from the Swiss firm’s first espresso innovation to its most up-to-date, and it’s one other of Abou Samra’s favourites – Nespresso.
The massively fashionable espresso pod system was the brainchild of Nestlé engineer Eric Favre, again in 1986. Since then, it’s change into one of many model’s hottest merchandise, been copied by most of their rivals, and is valued at over $3.4bn (€2.9bn – Market Research Future).
“It’s an innovation that turned into an amazing success story,” she says.
Research and growth at Nestlé?
So, we’ve heard about her favorite improvements from the men and women who went earlier than her, however what about her personal sensible work?
For this, we journey to the US state of New Jersey, the place she led the know-how and product growth division of Nestlé Health Science, till her large transfer to the UAE earlier this yr.
One of her proudest achievements, she says, was spearheading the creation of a pioneering high-protein dietary drink, designed particularly for aged people with diminished appetites.
The innovation was born out of a deep understanding of the challenges confronted by ageing populations, significantly these in institutional care, who usually battle to devour sufficient protein attributable to a pure decline in urge for food and a bent to keep away from protein-rich meals like meat and dairy.
“My own grandmother is 85 years old, and every time I see her I have to sit down and have a conversation with her about proper nutrition,” she says.
Recognising that protein is important for sustaining muscle mass and stopping frailty-related problems similar to falls and fractures, She and her workforce set about growing a dairy-based drink with the best focus of protein (16g per 100ml) available on the market. It accommodates the entire amino acid profile wanted to assist muscle regeneration, making it a robust software in selling restoration and enhancing high quality of life.
“The goal was to ensure that every sip delivered maximum nutritional value, allowing patients to meet their dietary needs without having to consume large volumes of food or drink.”
This was not solely a technical breakthrough by way of formulation and protein density, but additionally a compassionate response to a worldwide drawback.
How does Nestlé innovate?
Now, onto the query all of us need the reply to – how does the largest CPG on the planet create new merchandise? How does it give you the likes of Nescafé and Nespresso?
“It’s an art,” she tells me cryptically.
And actually, she’s proper. Because if there have been a roadmap for making a world-famous product then everybody could be doing it, and no new product launch would ever fail. We all know that’s not the case.
Though she is comfortable to share a number of of her inventive secrets and techniques with us.
Don’t fear, we gained’t inform anybody..!
“It starts with understanding what the consumer needs are,” she says. “We try to avoid people coming up with ideas on their own – it has to come from a consumer understanding.”
They discuss with retailers and business companions to get an thought of what prospects actually need.
But what makes her job actually thrilling – at the least it seems like probably the most thrilling half to me – is that she will create for any class throughout the corporate.
And, whereas she could be working within the Middle East, her merchandise might find yourself on cabinets in any nation on any continent.
“Innovation is happening globally,” she tells me. “We have centres around the world, and each one is working on global innovations. The whole point of these global innovations is to roll them out to most markets.”
So what conjures up her. Where do her concepts come from?
“I love innovation, and I get inspiration everywhere. Whenever I’m at a conferences, even when I’m grocery shopping.”
She needs to make one factor very clear although – innovation, and analysis and growth can’t and mustn’t work in isolation from the enterprise, particularly the advertising groups.
“We call it the ‘two in a box’. Where you bring in someone from R&D and technical, and someone from marketing and consumer, and they work together to come up with the winning proposition. And once you have this winning proposition put together, you have to test the consumers again – even if it’s just a paper concept, you have to make sure it resonates with the consumer.”
Once that’s carried out, and the workforce is comfortable the idea resonates with shoppers, the product growth work begins – also referred to as the “benchtop formulations”.
From there, it’s onto the pilot plant, then the manufacturing facility for manufacturing, and eventually onto grocery store cabinets.
Oh, and operating alongside each stage, she factors out, is the security and high quality testing, in addition to regulatory checks.
“So that’s in a nutshell,” she tells me, although we all know there’s much more to each a kind of levels than she and I might ever focus on throughout an interview. It’s a prolonged and sophisticated course of.
AI’s function in innovation
I couldn’t communicate with the pinnacle of innovation for any CPG – large or small – in 2025, and never contact on the function of AI.
And her response is easy:
“If you’re not into AI, you’re not going to survive. It’s not just about Microsoft Copilot or Chat GPT, it’s about digitally transforming your value chain end-to-end with innovation. With AI you go faster – you iterate faster, you test faster. It’s a no brainer. If you’re not doing it that way, if you’re still doing the pen and paper method, then you’re going to go extinct very fast.”
Innovating for real-life issues
As our dialog winds down, the storm outdoors my window remains to be raging, however I’m feeling oddly uplifted. Maybe it’s the caffeine from my third cup of espresso that day, or perhaps it’s simply Abou Samra’s infectious enthusiasm for innovation. Either means, it’s clear that Nestlé’s future is in good palms.
Her journey is a reminder that innovation isn’t nearly flashy tech or billion-dollar concepts, it’s about fixing actual issues for actual folks. Whether it’s serving to aged sufferers get the diet they want, or dreaming up the following large factor within the snack aisle.
And whereas I’d nonetheless be just a little jealous of her sunny Dubai backdrop, I’m largely simply impressed. Because if there’s one factor her story reveals us, it’s that nice concepts can come from wherever, even a windswept Teams name between London and the UAE.
Oh and, in case you’re questioning, my favorite Nestlé innovation is the KitKat – as a result of actually nothing goes higher with a cuppa!
