JNPW FOOD SOLUTIONS - Georgeo JIJI

Due to concerns regarding the yearly increase in food wastage, JNPW aims to insert themselves within the food supply chain in order to control and limit unnecessary wastage. According to sources such as OZHARVEST and The Australia Institute, Australians waste around 7.6 million tonnes of food yearly. They have also stated that around 2 million households experience extreme food insecurity. JNPW’s social innovation aims to implement a social platform in the form of a marketplace where farmers, grocery stores, restaurants and individuals can list surplus food produce for cheaper than retail prices. Such a surplus of food can be purchased by those who are struggling to pay retail prices. Alongside the marketplace aspect, JNPW also acts as a middleman between farmers, grocery stores and restaurants and will help them fulfill orders that would normally be trashed. Farmers who are struggling to sell their inventory of produce can get in contact with JNPW and we will connect them to potential buyers. Grocery stores which trash their produce that are closer to expiry or because the produce doesn’t meet the cosmetic standard (bruised apples, deformed pears) can contact us and we will be able to arrange buyers for the items. Restaurants that have to trash cooked meals because a customer didn’t show up or because the customer changed their mind can contact us and we will organise it to be donated to households, orphanages and community centers.

In order to ensure that JNPW is having a positive impact on the community, we have decided to align ourselves with three of the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals are Zero Hunger, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Responsible Consumption and Production.

·         Zero Hunger: JNPW aims to contribute to this SDG by ensuring that perfectly edibles meals and produce that are normally trashed by restaurants and grocery stores are donated to those in need.

·         Sustainable Cities and Communities: As stated by OZHARVEST, more than 25 million hectares of land is wasted to grow food that is not eaten. Farming is an extremely damaging practice to the soil and land, so allocating this much of land to grow food that is wasted is unsustainable. By limiting the wastage and creating order within the food supply chain, JNPW aims to be in the forefront of the sustainable practices movement.

·         Responsible Consumption and Production: 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted across the supply chain every year. JNPW’s primary objective is to position themselves within this supply chain in order minimise this wastage as much as possible.

Risks

JNPW’s social innovation, while being a positive venture that aims to introduce social reforms in how consumption and production are conducted, comes with its own risks. Risks such as Food safety compliance, transportation of the produce, trust within the community, and speed and efficiency of conducting & fulfilling orders. JNPW will address such concerns within the digital platform itself. The digital marketplace will include AI analysis to assess the condition of the goods, tracking options within the website to track transportation of the goods, reviews, testimonials and live chat system to reassure customers.

An interactive activity will also be conducted after the presentation of the pitch. The activity will be ‘Match The Cards’ where the participants will be given cards at random, The cards will be either be a SURPLUS card or a DEMAND card. The participants are then asked to match the surplus cards with a demand card within the allocated time. It is assumed that the participants will not be able to match all the cards within the allocated time and the SURPLUS cards that are not matched to their respective DEMAND cards are trashed. This is to emulate the current supply chain. A second session will be conducted where this time the participants with the demand cards are asked to stand up holding their cards up, this will allow the participants to match the cards easier emulating how the market will work with the integration of JNPW’s digital platform.