Nothing but inspiration: #tffsummit

#TFFSummit Top Left: The women that change the world, Top Right: Winners Team Innovision, Bottom Left: Runner up Team FoPo, Bottom Right: winners of the special prize and runner up, Team Aahaar. Photos Courtesy Thought for Food

And the winners are…

Team Innovision! You can see the shock and amazement on their faces having won the 2014 Thought for Food Challenge. Surprise was in store as there was not one, but two runner ups each winning a prize, Team FoPo and Team Aahar. The latter team took home an extra prize provided by The Kirchner Group Food Fellows making them double winners! Congratulations all around! During the event Tech4agri live tweeted and by the end of the finalists’ pitches, no one know who would be the winner. The judges needed extra time in fact to give an answer. Only then do you see how they came to their decision. Each team winning had a direct and immediate impact in reducing food waste by the billions of dollars in addition to measured social impact

Humble thoughts on winning strategies

Team Innovision developed a solar-powered micro-climate chamber for small scale farmers that increases shelf life of fruits and vegetables using an evaporation cooling system. What clearly stood out was the invention’s low cost as an affordable substitute for refrigeration to reduce food loss in developing countries, the overall contribution to food security and its potential to remove the use of a poisonous fruit and vegetable preservative used in their home country.

Runner up, Team FoPo developed a project to freeze-dry fresh produce nearing its expiration date and convert it into an edible, nutritious powder that can be used for humanitarian aid, space missions and more. This team delivered a stunningly confident pitch based on profitability. Talk about #swag! Although freeze drying is not a new concept, which the team itself pointed out, their re-purposing of food that is carded for wastage, specifically to food that has not expired but is simply visually unappealing along with sound marketing research nabbed them the runner up prize.

Double winner Team Aahar wowed the judges and audience alike for their sensor-aided cold-storage truck service, which is supported by an Uber-like app to efficiently match food producers with drivers and markets. Their emphasis was place on post harvest losses and the unknown problem of poor food transportation in their home country.

Growing out TFF community – Photo courtesy Thought for Food

Thanks are in order!

A big thank you to the entire team that brought the Thought for Food into fruition. Co-founders, Christine and Nadia; community manager, Erin; graphic, programme & video designers; boot camp organizers, Grandpa’s Lab; stage designers, the Oupas girls; the volunteers; our moderator, Kristen; the media professionals;  our fellow #tff ambassadors; all participants; all finalists, sponsors and so many more. Together we change the world!

#moonshot #inspire #captivating

This year’s summit was focused on finding your #moonshot – It was all meant to inspire young innovators to solve the world’s problems, the most difficult, the grandest but yet solvable issues that face our future. This is a serious matter yet the Thought for Food Organisation has employed the perfect strategy to engage the youth of today’s world in order to secure our future tomorrow.

It’s been asked time and time again. What appeals to youth? Well #TFF certainly knows how to throw a party! Where else can you have a 10AM rave and then sit down to heavy brainstorming on how to solve the threat of world hunger by 2050? From the music to the workshop & key note topics, the event design & concert-like energetic atmosphere, nothing but positive comments have come from the #tffsummit.

Thought for food is truly striving for progress, with over 400 participants in the competition, 10 powerful finalists who will progress their projects into reality and hundreds more participants, our community has grown: we simply cannot wait for next year!