Harris Students Take Second Place in Social New Venture Challenge
A team composed of three current Harris School students, an alumnus, and two Chicago Booth students, earned second place honors and a $15,000 prize at the 2012 Social New Venture Challenge with a proposal that aims to reduce iron deficiency anemia in the developing world.
Iron deficiency anemia affects more than 2 billion people worldwide," said team member Gunner Hamlyn, a MPP candidate who just completed his first year at the Harris School. "The problem is that iron supplements are harsh on the stomach and iron-fortified foods are not commonly consumed. Fortified bread is common in the US, but is is seen as a luxury item in places like Nigeria."
The team's plan called for governments to mandate the fortification of staple foods that already have established distribution channels in rural areas of the developing world. Team leader Nancy Martin, Founder of FeMME, first had the idea to take on iron deficiency anemia after suffering from it herself. After researching the problem, the team discovered that it typically affected persons in the developing world.
"In Nigeria, we identified tomato paste as the ideal delivery food item because it has ascorbic acid to aid absorption of the iron and it is one of the processed foods that is most-consumed by rural citizens," Hamlyn said.
The Social New Venture Challenge judges commended the team for "creating a replicable system."
Robert Gertner, the Joel F. Gemunder Professor of Strategy and Finance, deputy dean, and faculty co-director of the Social Enterprise Initiative has high hopes for all of the teams that participated in this year's competition. "Teams came together from all areas of the University of Chicago campus to work on some truly inspiring businesses. We're eager to see these start-ups grow."
Hamlyn is also optimistic about the project's viability and hopes to test the concept over the summer while working at the U.S. embassy in Nigeria. He will be an intern in the embassy's Office of Public Affairs working on outreach programs, and engaging with Nigerian officials on policy related programs and exchanges.
"This concept is scalable," Hamlyn said. "Once we have proved the concept in Nigeria, we can expand to other countries."
The Social New Venture Challenge is an annual event spanning the whole academic year. It is hosted by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, the Social Enterprise Initiative, and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship.
In addition to Hamlyn, the team included:
• Ann Herbert, MPP'12
• Camilla Liou, Booth MBA candidate 2013
• Nancy Martin (Team Lead), MPP'11
• Abbey Mackenzie Kerl, MPP candidate 2013
• Kuppy Sampale, Booth MBA candidate 2013
