Anyone who wins five times in Kona (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021) knows exactly what the body needs over eight hours on the course. Daniela Ryf knows twice: she studied food science. Now she brings both to BE THE CHANGE — as an investor and as part of the product development team.
No Sponsorship — an Equity Stake
The difference is crucial. Ryf has not just licensed her name. She holds shares in the company and sits at the table when new products are being formulated. Specifically, she developed her own energy bars and protein soup recipes during her training and incorporated these ideas directly into BE THE CHANGE's product development.
The result is a different quality of credibility. Ryf can assess the biochemistry of an ingredient and at the same time say how a product feels at kilometer 120 of an Ironman bike block. It is precisely this feedback loop — lab to course and back — that BE THE CHANGE is consciously seeking with this step.
The Environment Fits
Ryf is not the only athlete in the BE THE CHANGE orbit who is expected to do more than just smile in the product photo. Marcel Hug, seven-time Paralympic champion in wheelchair racing, and Chiara Scherrer, Swiss record holder in the 3000 meter steeplechase (9:20.28), are also part of the team of athletes.
For the company from St. Gallen, founded in 2012 and presented to the public for the first time in 2019 after seven years of research work, this is a logical continuation of its positioning: products that arise from scientific inquiry, represented by athletes who are leading this inquiry themselves.