Team Fudio of Covenant University stands the chance to win USD1 million to start up their social enterprise as at this year's Hult Prize competition if they propose the very best idea to change the world. This year's competition brought together over 10,000 applicants from 150 different countries with solutions to the global food crisis.
In partnership with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative, the Hult Prize aims to identify and launch the most compelling social businesses that tackle the crippling issues faced by the billions at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
The 2013 Hult Prize is themed around global food security and will focus on how to get safe, sufficient, affordable and easily accessible food to the 200 million people who live in urban slums - a challenge personally selected by President Clinton.
"The Hult Prize is thrilled that Team Babajide of Covenant University has joined the initiative," said Dr. Stephen Hodges, President of the Hult International Business School. "This year's competition has received a record number of entries, bringing together some of the most talented students to help solve global food security which can benefit nearly a billion people."
Although the Fudio team did not win at the regional finals held in March, close sources say that they have improved on their programme and are now the only Nigerian team representing the country in the online competition. The leader of the team, Babajide Owoyele while speaking on their initiative said: "Whether or not we get this opportunity to change our country is dependent on the people's votes, that is why we want to get more and more people to buy into our vision.
"It is our solution to food insecurity in urban slums and it partners with farmers, offering optimized storage systems using the clay-in-clay method with no electricity required in exchange for farm produce at discount rates. FUDIO incorporates local micro-restaurants called "mama-put," re-branding them with lean production systems and micro-franchising them to produce Safe, Nutritious, Available, Ready & Cheap (SNARC) food."
Continuing, Owoyele said: "Employing customer loyalty scheme; offering points for patronage, which the customers eventually exchange for clay-in-clay pot refrigerators; we build a strong network of customers on the slum."
