IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Food Security January 2013 | Page 2

Call to Action

Dear Friends:
Our interdependent world promises more opportunities for advancement than ever before.
Innovative breakthroughs are constantly expanding the horizons of what we think is possible, and
new technologies allow us to instantly share information and ideas with people half a world away.
But while our interdependence allows us to share in one another’s progress, it also means we
cannot ignore one another’s challenges. At this moment, one of mankind’s oldest and most
debilitating threats—hunger—is preventing one out of every seven people on Earth from enjoying
the opportunity and prosperity so many of us take for granted. Access to nutritious, safe, and
affordable food is necessary for healthy living and should be a human right, not a luxury, yet almost
one billion people face hunger and food insecurity every day. The situation will only worsen as urban
populations expand, climate change intensifies, the amount of viable farmland shrinks, and markets
become increasingly unstable.
With most NGOs and governments focused on hunger and food insecurity in rural areas, there are
few solutions being developed for those in urban and peri-urban areas. However, the involvement
of social enterprises—hybrid NGO and business entities—can transform the dire situation in these
regions. For this year’s Hult Prize competition, I ask you to address this global challenge by finding
sustainable social enterprise solutions that will increase food security, specifically for the nearly 200
million people living without it in or near the world’s cities.
The Hult Prize is a wonderful example of the creative cooperation needed to build a world with
shared opportunity, shared responsibility, and shared prosperity, and each year I look forward
to seeing the many outstanding ideas the competition produces. I encourage you to take this
opportunity to learn from other companies and organizations that have made strides in creating
effective and sustainable solutions to food insecurity. I commend all of you who choose to answer
this important challenge, and wish you much success in your efforts.

Sincerely,

Version 1.0, January 2013

Hult International Business School Publishing 2