IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Food Security January 2013 | Page 16

Food Security in Urban Slums by 2018

Can we build sustainable, scalable
and fast-growing social enterprises to
increase food security in slums by 2018?
“Access to nutritious,
safe, and affordable food
is necessary for healthy
living and should be
a human right, not a
luxury.” President Clinton

The purpose of this challenge is to increase food security for hungry people in slums by 2018. The
winning business solution should have a significant measureable impact.
A list of questions to help develop a good winning business solution is provided in Figure 11. It
should have a sustainable business model. It should increase food security. It should have a stage
implementation plan with clear milestones and funding required for each milestone. Overall, the
winning solution should scale rapidly to serve an ever increasing number of people in a relatively
short time.

Metric

Guiding Questions

Better Availability

• Does your solution make food available anytime/anywhere?
• Are you reducing the distance from production to the end consumer?
• Does it increase distribution to a wider market?
• Is it replicable or scalable?
• Does it reduce the time a consumer spends to find or prepare food?

Improved Quality

• Does your solution improve food safety or hygiene?
• Will your solution provide a more nutritious or diverse mix of food?
• Is the food tasty and culturally accepted?

Reduced Cost

• Are inputs lower cost?
• Is food processing, packaging or distribution cheaper?
• Is there reuse of waste?

Increased
Awareness

• Are consumers more educated about nutrition, health and safety?
• Do people have better information about market access and pricing?
• Are other pieces of the value chain more efficient because they have
more useful information?

Reduced Waste

• Have you found a way to better utilize food packaging?
• Does your solution avoid or reduce spoilage?
• Is there a new way to reuse food-waste?

More Options and
Empowerment

• Will your solution give people opportunities they didn’t have before?
• Does it create opportunity for women and children?
• Have you improved the ethical elements of the value chain?
• Does it create new sources of income?

Figure 11. Metrics and guiding questions to help develop a winning business solution

Version 1.0, January 2013

Hult International Business School Publishing 16