Sarah Kennedy

When Sarah Kennedy founded Calocurb, there was an easier way to build a business. The weight-management market was crowded with bold claims and clever marketing, while consumers remained sceptical of products that promised quick results. Sarah chose a slower path. She believed lasting trust would come from scientific proof, even if it delayed commercial success.

Drawing on a career spanning health, nutrition and agribusiness across New Zealand, Australia and China, Sarah saw the potential in a New Zealand scientific discovery that had spent more than 16 years in development. Long before GLP-1 therapies transformed the conversation around metabolic health, she recognised an opportunity to help regulate appetite naturally through plant-based science. In 2018, she founded Calocurb to translate that research into a product that could improve metabolic health while making world-class New Zealand science accessible to a global market.

Her greatest test came when Calocurb was gaining commercial traction. Rather than directing resources towards faster growth, Sarah raised money to fund a landmark fourth human clinical trial. The decision carried considerable risk, but the results demonstrated statistically significant improvements in weight loss, body composition and appetite regulation, reinforcing the scientific credibility that now underpins the business. Built over eight years, Calocurb has since grown into a profitable international company, with around 90 per cent of sales generated in the United States.

Sarah’s leadership reflects a belief that credibility is earned, not claimed. In a category often shaped by trends, Calocurb’s point of difference is the discipline she has protected from the beginning: let the science do the persuading.