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Challenge Question: How might we build a robust, more sustainable cold storage supply chain in sub-Saharan Africa?

Instructions In the Food Solutions Challenge, we ask you – the next generation of thinkers, inventors and

entrepreneurs – to design collaborative, innovative ideas addressing the question: How might we build a robust, more sustainable cold storage supply chain in sub-Saharan Africa?

First, read through this case study. Take about 10 minutes. This case study includes some helpful tips, an example of one of last year’s winning solutions, and personas, or examples, of specific challenges that real people in sub-Saharan Africa are facing. The personas include real life examples of many of the challenges we learned about today. The personas can help you identify and dig into real examples of on-the-ground challenges. You are welcome to use the personas to help inspire solutions to challenges faced by real-life people—or not! It’s up to you.

Once everyone in your group is done reading, start by

brainstorming as many ideas as you can come up with. Write these

ideas down on post-it notes. After 5 minutes, talk to your team and

try to categorize your ideas into different buckets. Take about 5

minutes to do this. Then work with your team to identify the 2-3

most promising solutions that you came up with.

To help you do this, use the Business Canvas Solution worksheet.

Also ask your group if anyone has expertise or experience with a

particular product or a particular part of the supply chain. That

might help narrow your focus on a single solution. After another

10-15 minutes, decide as a group on the single best idea and spend

the rest of your time working on and refining that solution.

Why this matters From seed to fully grown foodstuffs, almost every agricultural product needs to be chilled and kept cold

in order to not go bad. The process of keeping agricultural products cold from harvest through

consumption is called the cold storage supply chain. However, in many parts of the world the cold

storage supply chain is underdeveloped or nonexistent-- meaning that lots of food gets wasted.

2018 Food Solutions Challenge: Case Study

Made possible by Bayer and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Examples of different types of solutions

Mechanical – for example, creating a new

way of cooling food, whether it’s high-tech

(like applying a cooling process used in

manufacturing to a farm) or low-tech (like

freezing rocks and storing them along with

produce in a well-insulated container).

Business oriented – for example, a business

that brings sustainable cold storage units to

the market and charges a small fee to food

vendors to hold their product in between

market days.

Product-based – for example, an SMS service

that helps farmers and processers coordinate

about delivery and arrival times to reduce

gaps in the cold storage supply chain.

Biological – for example, coming up with a

new cassava variety that is resistant to

spoilage.

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The International Institute of Refrigeration estimates that improving access to refrigeration in

developing countries could prevent spoilage of up to 23% of perishable foods.

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the issue of food loss is especially critical as more than 30% of sub-Saharan

Africans are chronically undernourished. With the population growing steadily, chronic

undernourishment is only expected to get worse. Moreover, SSA currently has the least developed cold

storage supply chain as compared to any region in the world – meaning there is huge opportunity for

improvement.

Primary challenges and opportunities facing the cold storage supply chain in SSA As you learned in the presentation, there are many challenges to building a more robust, sustainable cold storage supply chain. Your solution can take on one or more of these challenges. However, we don’t expect any single solution to address every single challenge. Below is a recap of primary challenges to creating reliable cold storage supply chains:

1. Each food has different needs which means cold storage solutions can be complex: Different foods have to be stored at different temperatures and for different lengths of time. For example, ripe tomatoes have a shelf life of two weeks in cold storage whereas apples can last up to several months. Add in meat, fish, and dairy and the logistics get complicated fast. How might we develop a cold storage supply chain that is adaptive to the large variety of crops with different cooling needs in SSA? The table below details information on the varying cooling needs for different types of products. This table is not comprehensive so we encourage you to find more specific information about the product(s) you are ideating around.

Source: Lange, Bastian, et al. “Promoting Food Security and Safety via Cold Chains.” Deutsche Gesellschaft Für

Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Dec. 2016.

Tip: You and your team should play to

your strengths. If your team is mostly

business students, your strength is likely

going to be in a business or product-

oriented solution. Think about your

team’s strengths and choose a solution

path that best fits those strengths.

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2. Low yields mean there is not enough product to make cold storage solutions affordable: Relatively low yields of smallholder farmers spread across large, rural regions makes cold storage out of reach for most farmers. How might we develop an affordable cold storage supply chain when considering the low volume of crops across large geographical distances?

3. Cooling foods quickly after harvest reduces loss but is costly for farmers: Most agricultural products have a short shelf life after being harvested if they are not quickly cooled down. Take cassava for example. Cassava is a root that is grown extensively throughout SSA and is one of the most important sources of calories in sub-Saharan African’s diets. Once harvested, cassava has a shelf life of 72 hours. If cassava is able to be cooled quickly after harvest, however, its shelf life can be extended for weeks. This need for quick cooling is similar for products such as dairy, fish, and other produce as well. However, the geographic dispersity of farms and farmers makers quick cooling on the farm difficult and costly for most smallholder farmers. How might smallholder farmers have access to affordable and sustainable quick cooling options in order to limit losses? Can you create solutions that work for specific scenarios or crops, such as cold technology on fishing boats or insulated underground storage for root vegetables?

4. Gaps in the cold storage supply chain lead to temperature fluctuations and spoilage: Agricultural products not only need to be cooled quickly but they need to be kept cool consistently throughout the supply chain. But a consistent cold storage supply chain is costly and difficult to maintain. This means that there are often gaps in the supply chain when food is not being kept cool and that means a lot of food is lost along the way. How might a more consistent, sustainable cold storage supply chain be implemented in SSA? Can you envision ways to keep foods cool during problematic links in the supply chain such as in transit and during brief power outages or natural disasters?

5. Inconsistent and unsustainable energy sources lead to fluctuations and spoilage: Access to consistent, sustainable energy is one of the most persistent problems facing the cold storage supply chain in SSA. Energy is a critical component in cold storage solutions. However, most smallholder farmers live in rural communities where consistent energy access isn’t a guarantee. And when they do have access, they are usually using fossil fuels and traditional refrigerants, which have serious impacts on the climate. How could new technologies power energy access in previously underserved communities? How might more consistent and sustainable energy sources be used to support cold storage in SSA?

6. Lack of access to financial capital limits the reach of cold storage solutions: Smallholder farmers in SSA have a difficult time securing capital in order to build a more robust and sustainable cold storage supply chain. Many sustainable interventions require costly up-front investments that are unattainable for most. One major reason financial institutions are reluctant to provide access to capital is the huge variety and low volume of agricultural products. It isn’t cost effective to build a supply chain that can only serve a few products for a few months of the year. How might smallholder farmers gain access to the financial capital needed to build cold

Remember: your idea isn’t expected to

fix every challenge facing the cold storage

supply chain. Choose a specific challenge

you are trying to solve for and ideate

around that. You can take inspiration

from the personas, the presentation you

just heard, or credible online sources.

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storage interventions? How could new financial operators like mobile-only banks, microfinance, and community-level investments enable cold storage in remote locations? How could more flexible financers support cold storage during harvest season or for small quantities of products?

7. Low levels of technical education make cold storage supply chain management especially difficult: Cold storage supply chain management is a technical skill that has to be learned. People working in cold storage have to know what temperature to keep the products at, how to package and store these products, and how to maintain the physical cold storage structure. In SSA, most smallholder farmers and other supply chain actors do not have this technical education and would be unable to implement an effective cold storage supply chain even if all of the materials and logistics were in place. How might farmers and other supply chain actors build the technical knowledge needed for implanting most cold storage solutions? How could different actors collaborate to provide community-level technical education?

8. Lots of middlemen complicate the cold storage supply chain and cause food loss: In SSA, there are many people who are involved in the agricultural supply chain. The more middlemen there are, the more chances there are for the cold storage supply chain to fail. For the cold storage supply chain to work, each of these middlemen need to have the access to energy, the financial capital, and the education to make it all work. However, most don’t. This means that products often go back and forth between cold storage and room temperature storage – with huge volumes of edible food being lost in the process. How might the cold storage supply chain be streamlined to prevent middlemen from causing gaps?

Personas

Reading through that list of challenges might seem overwhelming. You might be asking yourself: how do

I start to tackle this problem? Who am I solving for? Where do I begin?

We have two personas that are here to help answer those questions and point you to an area to start

ideating around. The following two pages examples of examples of real-life situations facing farmers and

other supply chain actors in sub-Saharan Africa. You are welcome to consider these personas as starting

points for your ideation session. They provide a great way to start thinking about who you are solving for

and how you are going to solve for them.

Your solution is not required to respond to one of the personas. But if you are having trouble finding a

place to start, the personas are the best way to begin.

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Example: Vincent, a fish wholesaler in Senegal* Vincent, 28, is a fish wholesaler in Foundiougne, Senegal. He arrives early every morning to buy the day’s catch from local fishermen. His job is to bring the fish to Dakar, the capital and main economic hub of Senegal. In Dakar, he will sell the fish to local restaurants and processing facilities where it will be turned into different products including fish sticks and canned products. Because of how quickly fish goes bad once caught, Vincent needs to keep his catch cold while he is transporting it to Dakar. Typically, this is done by using ice. However, there is only one ice factory in Foundiougne to meet the demands of all of the wholesalers and the local market vendors. Often, Vincent does not get access to the ice that he needs. Sometimes the power cuts out so the ice factory isn’t operational. Other times there is too much demand and Vincent can’t get the ice he needs when he needs it. Ice production also presents its own challenges because it requires access to clean water as well as an energy source to produce it and that energy source relies on traditional refrigerants, which are harmful to the environment. When Vincent is unable to procure the ice he needs to keep his product cool, his fish will degrade quickly. By the time he makes it to Dakar he will have lost up to 15% of his product. Additionally, the product he last leftover is of lesser quality and will fetch lower prices. The lack of consistent cold storage options has a daily effect on Vincent’s livelihood. Questions to consider:

How could we increase financial access to cold storage for wholesalers like Vincent?

How could others, including fisherman, other wholesalers, vendors, banks, or NGOs, enable Vincent to affordably and sustainably keep his product cold during transportation?

Is ice the best way to keep the fish cold? If so, how could ice be produced more consistently and sustainably? If not, what other cold storage intervention could be implemented while remaining affordable and sustainable?

*This persona has been inspired by information presented in. “Promoting Food Security and Safety via Cold Chains.” Written by Bastian Lange, et al and published by Deutsche Gesellschaft Für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in 2016.

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Example: Chastity, smallholder mango farmer in rural Kenya Chastity, 35, is a small holder farmer in Kitui, a rural part of eastern Kenya. Most of what she grows is

for her family to eat, including mangoes which provide needed nutrients and energy. However, she

produces an excess amount of mangoes and sells them at the local produce market with the hopes

of making a small profit.

Chastity has no access to cold storage on her farm. After harvesting her mangoes, she puts them in

wooden crates stacked on top of each other. She tries to keep the crates out of the sun but isn’t

always successful. When she goes to the market, she walks, carrying her product with her. At the

market, she has a stall with no shade. That means her mangoes sit out in the hot sun all day at the

market. The market itself has no cooling facilities, typical of most markets in Kenya. The electricity

supply is unstable if present at all at the market.

Since she has no access to cold storage, between 40-70% of her mangoes go bad by the end of the

day because they can’t withstand the hot temperatures. She leaves her rotted product in the market

trash bins and heads home with little profit to show for all the labor and inputs she put into growing

her mangoes.

To complicate matters, mango trees in Kitui all fruit around the same time. So when Chastity goes to

the market with her mangoes, every other mango farmer in Kitui is there with theirs, too. The glut on

the market drives prices down. Even the fruit that Chastity was able to sell doesn’t go for a high

price. With access to cold storage, she could prevent her mangoes from rotting and keep them until

the market lulls at which point she could sell her product for a much higher price.

Questions to consider:

How might farmers in rural regions, like Chastity, collaborate to make it more efficient and

cost effective to keep crops cool on the farm considering their low yields and geographic

dispersity? What ideas from other settings or industries could enable Chastity’s community

to help solve this problem?

How could farmers, middlemen, and market vendors collaborate to manage exposure to the

elements at the market in order to reduce spoilage?

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Example Solution: The following example is one of the semi-finalists from last year’s challenge. Last year we challenged

participants on how might we reduce food loss before it reaches the consumer in order to increase the

amount of available edible food and lessen the impact on the climate.

"Our concept provides value is that it reduces breweries’ GHG emissions. Every year a single brewery

produces 150 pounds of wasted grain that ends up in the landfill. Our idea will procure the spent grain

from these breweries reducing each brewery’s carbon footprint by 129 CO2E annually. This is equivalent

to the brewery turning off it lights for a week. Then, we will process the spent grain into flour at our

facility using drying techniques and then mill it into flour in order to return the spent grain into the food

system.

Our idea provides additional value because it empowers resilient food hubs while giving a second life to

an ingredient that is deemed waste. With growing populations across the planet, it is more important

than ever to identify ways to reduce waste while creating opportunities for a circular economy. Our

modeling shows that we could divert 20 million pounds of waste from the landfill while reducing GHG

emissions by 17.2 million CO2E annually in the top five brewing cities in America alone. This is equivalent

to driving across the USA three times. These cities are Denver, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, and

Minneapolis with 284 combined breweries and growing. We see this idea as a way to empower regional

food systems and connect people to their food sources in a new and innovative way from the consumer

to the brewery to restaurants and bakeries.

We projected to start this concept in Denver, Colorado since it is home to 62 craft breweries. In the first

year, we will pick up spent grain in a refrigerated van from 31 of these breweries. Our team’s restaurant

and brewing expertise will allow us to take these aggressive first steps given our familiarity with the

brewing process and brewers in and outside of Denver. Our team has successfully milled flour and baked

goods from the spent grain, receiving positive feedback during initial market research. We know what it

takes to make this work and have identified health benefits of the spent grain flour. This flour after

having undergone the brewing process has twice as much fiber and less sugar as regular flour making it

a healthy alternative flour.

This idea is focused on the craft brewing scene that is centered around urban areas. With 54% of the

world’s population living in cities and over 5000 craft breweries alone in the U.S. there is ample

opportunity for disruption. Preliminary interviews with Ratio Brewing in Denver and Long Island City

Brewing Project in New York indicated that innovations in spent grain disposal is a top priority.

Additionally, interviewees voiced strong support for an option that would responsibly reduce the amount

waste while nourishing their communities."

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Timeline Early Bird submission deadlines: submit your solution prior to an early bird deadline to receive

feedback from Net Impact experts. You will have the chance to resubmit your edited solution before the final deadline.

o December 15, 2018 o January 15, 2019 o February 15, 2019 o March 15, 2019

April 15th, 2019: Deadline to submit solutions Late spring 2019: Top teams selected and attend a prize trip to develop their skills and

knowledge on food and sustainability. Winners are announced!

Submission details and eligibility Each team is required to submit their proposal via a portal on the Net Impact website. The submission portal link will be shared with attendees after attending a live or virtual event. Submissions must be received prior to 11:59pm Pacific Time on April 15th, 2019.

Submissions must come from a team of 2-4 members, ideally with a variety of academic backgrounds/perspectives

To be eligible, at least one person on the team has to have attended either a live or virtual Food Solutions Challenge event

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals are welcome to submit

Submissions should be a 500-words or less broad business proposal or system solution addressing the

challenge question