Miami University’s John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship hosted its third annual Social Innovation Weekend at the Farmer School of Business, this year focusing its efforts on food insecurity in surrounding counties. The event was an intense, three-day experience for students, business and medical professionals, and community members to work side by side using entrepreneurial training to create solutions for a pressing societal crisis. In previous years, the issues tackled included substance abuse/addiction and infant mortality rates of the African-American population of Butler County.

The Institute co-hosted with several campus partners, including Miami Global Health, Miami Social Work, Miami Gerontology, Miami Nutrition and Dietetics, Miami Institute for Food, Miami Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, and Miami Social Justice.

More than 130 students from majors across Miami University, and more than 50 professionals from across the area’s most civic-minded sectors took part. Students were formed into two dozen teams and spent the better part of two days looking for a business or non-profit idea that would help alleviate some aspect of food insecurity -- doing research, talking with mentors, and seeking out validation for their ideas.

The winning team, Press, came up with an idea to turn restaurant and grocery food waste into juice that could be sold for profit or given away, as well as create organic compost for farming. Team members were Duy Le, Matthew Enslin, Olivia Ferrazza, Juliana Zacher, and Madelyn Harvey.

“I don’t think I could have possibly had a better experience. I learned so much about food insecurity, how to work effectively in a team environment, and go about doing what entrepreneurs do. I went from having four strangers as teammates and no solutions to a big problem, to four friends and an incredible plan,” Ferrazza, a junior nutrition major, said. “I think my favorite part of the weekend was when we got to talk and engage with experts in the field and the moment it all ‘clicked.’ I am so, so grateful to have had this opportunity, and so glad I took a chance and decided to do it!”

"I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to challenge themselves and have a crash course in pairing their entrepreneurial skills with a social cause they're passionate about," Harvey, an international studies major, explained. "I learned so much about validating a business model and the financial side of starting a business. I now feel confident in my entrepreneurial abilities and excited to pursue further opportunities in the social innovation space." 

Second place went to Growing Champions -- Maggie McCutcheon, Zhiyin He, Bich Ha Nguyen, Tori Ward, and Alondra Griffith, while Mama’s Meals – Jared Regruth, Josiah Putrich, Claire Stoll, and Yifei Lin – came in third. Hopefull Jars – Gianmarco Petrelli, Grace Thorstenson, Ifey Okafor, Isabeau Camp, and Faith Walker – was the People’s Choice winner.

“Being able to work with students from entirely different majors not only diversified our solution, but it diversified my mindset when tackling problems,” Enslin, a senior accountancy major, remarked. “Through SIW, I learned the importance of understanding the problem and remaining focused on it in order to effectively solve it. I was able to grasp the whole entrepreneurial process on a deeper level.”

“It was a really awesome opportunity for us as professionals to network with other professionals related to this social justice issue. I think this weekend really helped renew a sense of purpose for what we do at Fuel NKU, as well as provided a new wave of hope that is sometimes easy to lose in the wave of human services or social justice work with such a daunting task in overcoming food insecurity and hunger,” Fuel NKU’s Shannon Wilson explained. “It's really easy to get kind of bogged down with, ‘Oh my gosh, how do we solve this?’ So hearing the ideas of so many people coming at it from so many different angles and so many different disciplines has been a really special thing to witness.”

The competition is sponsored by Cincinnati’s Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub, the only socially-focused business accelerator in the region. Past winning teams received attention from accelerators and investors, as many judges have an eye for which proposals have a lifespan beyond the three days.

“You know, every one of these events I feel like I get younger because I learn new things, I have new experiences, and I love the ideas that come out of this. For me, this is the reason I do this work is because it's energizing,” Flywheel executive director Bill Tucker explained. “I hope from this experience that they find themselves better prepared for their next gig, their next job. Whether they start a business or not, whether they find themselves in a startup-type business, whether they find themselves in a social service agency or in a large company, I hope the skills that they learned here, they can apply directly to those engagements.”

At the end of Social Innovation Weekend, the theme for next year’s event was announced – homelessness and affordable housing.

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First place -- PressJuice

Second place -- Growing Champions

Third place -- Mama's Meals

People's Choice Award -- Hopefull Jars