Stephen LeFebvre, BioVittoria
Stephen LeFebvre is the Co-founder, and Director of Sales and Marketing Asia Pacific for BioVittoria Limited, he has over 40 years experience building companies within the US functional food and beverage, and nutraceutical industries. An early pioneer in the US nutraceutical industry he has been extensively involved in the development, manufacturing, and the sales and marketing of proprietary nutraceutical ingredients, as well as finished products. In the seven years since co-founding BioVittoria, the company has become the worlds largest producer and processor of monk fruit (Chinese luo han guo) and has created a vertically integrated value chain which includes seedling cultivation, harvesting, processing and product formulation. In February 2010 BioVittoria received official notification from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its Fruit-Sweetness™ branded monk fruit concentrate is GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) and is now actively engaged with most of the tier one global food and beverage companies for the incorporation of Fruit-Sweetness™into new and existing products lines. Fruit-Sweetness™ delivers 100% natural, great tasting, calorie-free sweetness from pure fruit, and offers a new and unique alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. BioVittoria’s corporate offices are in Hamilton, production facilities in Guilin China, and sales and marketing offices in the US. BioVittoria is a past recipient of the New Zealand China Trade Association Awards, winning both the Entrepreneur and Innovation Award, and the Supreme Trade Award. BioVittoria is also the winner of the 2009 NZCTA Business Excellence Award.
