Ellen Fischat, Oribi Village MD.

Three South African innovation hubs are calling on local innovators to join the #BridgingTheGaps challenge, aiming to find disruptive ways to fix South Africa’s fragile food system.

Oribi Village, the Southern Africa Food Lab, and the Wakanda Food Technology Accelerator have joined forces to address and reshape how we produce, distribute, process and consume food.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown will have immense consequences for human, economic and social wellbeing in South Africa, particularly in the light of Moody’s most recent credit rating downgrade, according to Oribi Village.

“The aim of the #BridgingTheGaps challenge is to use the lockdown to save our country from a potential food security disaster,“ says Oribi Village MD Ellen Fischat.

She describes the three-week challenge as the perfect opportunity for logistics and market access players, small-scale producers, chefs, restaurants, food sellers and processors, food technicians and civil society to put their food security ideas into practice.

The challenge

“In this 21-day challenge we are calling all innovators and food sector actors to work together. We will do so remotely, finding disruptive ways to eradicate risks of accelerated food insecurity, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.”

The #BridgingTheGaps food innovation challenge comprises weekly content brainstorming sessions between participants and partners.

“In the first week, the Southern Africa Food Labs will provide insights into the current state of the South African food system, and in the second week, Oribi Village will discuss essential social business strategy shifts related to the COVID-19 context,” Fischat adds, noting these sessions will happen virtually.

During the third week, the Wakanda Food Accelerator will provide participants with practical advice on how to define, develop, implement and scale their proposed solutions.

Submissions from the public will subsequently be evaluated and assessed on social impact, feasibility, viability, scalability, sustainability and creativity.

“Two winning ideas will each take home six months’ worth of paid-for incubator and accelerator support, to be used to develop and implement their solution, as well as six months of co-working space in Cape Town or Johannesburg,” Fischat says.

In addition, the two winners will be allowed to pitch their solution to local and international investors in November 2020 and attend the Design Thinking Workshop, which revolves around food security innovation.

Visit www.oribivillage.com for more information on the challenge.