How to Market an Innovative Product: UNROOTED at Virgin StartUp Changemakers

At our latest Changemaker event at Virgin HQ, we were joined by Nathan Clemes, founder of UNROOTED, the food and beverage brand built around African baobab fruit.

What started as a personal connection to South Africa and its ingredients has grown into a business stocked in more than 2,500 stores across five countries. But Nathan’s journey was not just about launching another drinks brand. It was about convincing people to care about something they had never heard of before.

That challenge shaped almost every part of the business.

Building a Brand Around an Ingredient Nobody Knew

Baobab may be one of the world’s most nutrient-dense superfruits, but when Nathan first began developing UNROOTED, very few consumers in the UK had heard of it.

That meant the team would need to get creative.

Not only did they need to launch a product, they also needed to educate people about what baobab actually was, why it mattered, and why they should trust it.

Nathan spoke openly about the challenge of trying to introduce something unfamiliar into an already crowded market.

Consumers make quick decisions, especially in food and drink. If a product feels confusing or overly complicated, attention disappears quickly.

So, the UNROOTED team had to work hard to make the unfamiliar feel accessible.

The Challenge of Telling a Clear Story

One of the strongest themes throughout the conversation was storytelling.

Nathan reflected on how difficult it can be for founders to explain complex ideas simply, especially when they're deeply emotionally invested in the product.

UNROOTED doesn't just sell drinks. It's tied to sustainability, nutrition, sourcing, African agriculture, environmental impact and consumer health.

That's a lot of compelling points, but unfortunately, as many founders quickly learn, you can't communicate them all at once without overwhelming people - or diluting the punch.

Nathan described the importance of refining the pitch over time and understanding that clarity matters more than saying everything at once.

For founders, it was a powerful reminder that a great business idea still needs a concise story people can immediately understand.

If customers cannot quickly grasp:

• what the product is

• why it matters

• and why it is different

then it becomes much harder to scale.

From Finance to Founder

Before launching UNROOTED, Nathan worked in mergers and acquisitions at Deutsche Bank, focusing on major consumer and retail brands including Coca-Cola and AB InBev.

That experience gave him insight into how global consumer businesses operate, but entrepreneurship was a very different challenge.

Unlike large corporations with established demand, UNROOTED had to create awareness from the ground up.

Nathan spoke about the reality of building something where there is no existing roadmap, especially when you are trying to shift consumer behaviour at the same time.

It required patience, resilience and a willingness to repeat the message consistently over time.

Scaling Without Losing the Mission

As UNROOTED has grown, Nathan has remained focused on maintaining the original purpose behind the business.

The brand’s connection to baobab is not simply commercial. It is rooted in sustainability, environmental impact and creating long-term value around an ingredient with deep cultural and agricultural significance.

Nathan shared reflections on the tension many founders experience when scaling a mission-led business. Growth creates opportunity, but it also creates pressure.

The challenge becomes how to scale efficiently while protecting the original vision that made the business meaningful in the first place.

Catching Consumer Attention in a Crowded Market

Another key discussion point was attention.

Modern consumer brands are competing in an environment where people are constantly overloaded with information, products and marketing messages.

Nathan spoke about how important it is to capture attention quickly and communicate value simply.

That applies not only to customers, but also to retailers, investors and partners.

The clearer and more concise the message, the easier it becomes for people to understand the opportunity and engage with the brand.

Final Thoughts: What Founders Can Learn

Nathan’s journey highlighted how difficult and important it is to build something genuinely different.

Creating an innovative product is one challenge. Helping people understand it is another entirely.

Key takeaways for founders:

• Do not assume customers understand your product immediately

• Focus on making complex ideas simple and accessible

• Refine your storytelling constantly as your business evolves

• Educating consumers takes time, consistency and patience

• Strong brands connect emotion, clarity and purpose together

For founders building something new or unconventional, Nathan’s story was a reminder that clarity is often your biggest competitive advantage.

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Written by Nina Evangeli, Virgin StartUp