SustainFood Innovation & Entrepreneurship Conversations

Date and Time
Location
Online
Presenters
Khanjan Mehta

In 2009, in response to umpteen requests from farmers, NGOs, and research institutes in East Africa, a group of undergraduate students set out to build affordable greenhouses. Their clueless mentor, an electrical engineer who seldom ate his vegetables, set a specific goal: design a greenhouse that could be assembled by two people in two days for less than $200. It must have an ROI of less than one year and a lifespan of at least five years. The students got to work and embarked on a ten-year journey building sustainable greenhouse ventures in Kenya, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Cambodia, and other countries. This fast-paced interactive talk will share practical lessons for technology innovators and social entrepreneurs striving to transform food systems in low-resource settings.