When Dr Riahi, CEO of Circa Biotech and his co-founders, Kristine Wong and Liudmila Prozorova launched Circa Biotech, an innovative start-up that upcycles food waste from landfills into high-quality animal feed using industrial insect farming, they had to have continued belief in themselves and their project – the first of its kind in the region. There was no legislative precedent for the sort of industrial insect farming in the UAE and not only did they need to convince several government bodies that plans for their enterprise at Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, was safe for the environment or people, but they also needed special operating licences. Dr Haythem and his co-founders were resilient and remained unstoppable against all the challenges to achieve their vision.