The competition, which was held in October, aimed to encourage ‘innovation and entrepreneurial’ actions that empower women and fight food insecurity in the UK and Ireland.
To kickstart the competition each team was invited to a virtual learning session joined by Stop Hunger charity partner FareShare. The session was designed to help the student’s design process and maximise their creativity to yield the biggest social impact.
Five Enactus student teams from universities including Northumbria, Sheffield, Southampton, York and the London School of Economics and Political Science were selected to participate in an entrepreneurial-style pitch event at Sodexo's UK head office.
Each of the five teams presented to a select panel of judges, including the Stop Hunger Foundation’s trustees, to secure funding for their project. The event concluded with all five projects receiving some funding from Stop Hunger from a pot of £3,750.
Gareth John, chair of Stop Hunger for the UK and Ireland and European director of legal, was a judge at the pitch event and said: “Each of the final teams showed true entrepreneurial spirit by finding ways to reduce their impact on the environment, as well as tackle food insecurity and the wider barriers to escaping poverty. The Stop Hunger trustees, and I are very much looking forward to seeing how the funding and mentoring we’ve invested enables the student’s projects to make a positive difference.”
Stop Hunger will continue to guide each of the projects over the coming months and will check in to see how things are going. The goal is to scale up the programmes and have a beneficial effect on local communities across the UK.
Sodexo volunteers will continue to mentor the university students in the future. Since 2010, the Stop Hunger Foundation has donated more than £3.4 million to charities tackling hunger and malnutrition.
Amy Brereton, chief operating officer for Enactus UK, added: “The Enactus programme uses experiential learning to support and develop the next generation of responsible leaders through the development of socially minded enterprise opportunities. Our mission alongside our partners is to be recognised as a leader in developing a national network of sustainability minded young leaders who will go on to have a head for business and a heart for the world.”