Business students excel in pitch competition
The Food Insecurity Challenge, hosted by the Iowa State University Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, the Ivy College of Business, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, brought 21 cross-disciplinary teams of Iowa State students to the Memorial Union’s Great Hall to pitch their ideas.
The two-week event kicked off with a Hunger Banquet in the Memorial Union. Highlighting food inequality, organizers of the kickoff event had participants draw meal tickets, assigning them to a high, middle, or low-income earners category, which determined their meal options and portion sizes.
This creative introduction to the event provided students with a demonstration of the problem of food insecurity. Affecting more than 925 million people globally and 300,000 people in Iowa alone, food insecurity is a serious and pressing concern. The severity of this issue sparked interest from all six undergraduate colleges, drawing in a diverse group of over 100 students to take on the challenge.
“I was able to learn about so many problems regarding food insecurity and was able to come up with innovative ideas to solve the causes,” said Japneet Singh, a freshman from Patiala, Punjab, India, studying business analytics.
After forming teams, students were given two weeks to research specific problems related to food insecurity and to develop unique and creative solutions to present their findings. During the two weeks, students had the opportunity to attend a personal mentoring session with an experienced business professional or a member of Iowa State faculty or staff assisting the competition. The sessions allowed students to gain valuable insight and feedback on their developments and to set their plans for what changes needed to be made before the presentation date.
“I was able to learn about so many problems regarding food insecurity and was able to come up with innovative ideas to solve the causes.”
— Japneet Singh
At the pitch competition, teams presented their findings to a panel of judges who selected three runner-up teams, each receiving a $500 cash prize, and three teams who would move on to the finale. Teams selected as finalists pitched their solutions to a new set of judges and competed for the first-place prize of $5,000. Recognizing the success of all finalist teams, second and third-place winners were also generously compensated with cash prizes of $2,500 and $1,500.
The event not only created the opportunity for students around the university to utilize their learning in a meaningful competition but also helped to shed light on the pressing issue of food insecurity. Creating an exciting impact beyond the competition, some teams expressed plans to continue the development of their ideas in pursuit of further contributions to the fight against world hunger.
Mallorie Mogler, a senior in finance and accounting from Larchwood, Iowa, was one of the participants on the team “College Kitchen,” an exploratory course teaching college students how to cook nutritious, budget-friendly meals.
“This was my first year participating in the Food Insecurity Challenge, and it was such an incredible experience,” she said. “Since the challenge, our team has met with Iowa State staff to consider how we can integrate the College Kitchen into Iowa State’s programs in the coming semesters. While we hope it can eventually become a class, we are exploring alternative options, such as establishing it as an Honors seminar or a club.”
To view more images and awards, visit our Ivy LinkedIn page.
January 2, 2025
