AzadiFood is a green start-up co-founded by a group of ethnic minority students at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), including Luisa Castro, a Doctor of Education candidate, and Adnan Muhammed, a Year 4 student of the Bachelor of Education (Honours) (English Language) – Primary programme.

Thanks to the seed money from the University’s Education and Social Entrepreneurs (EASE) Fund Scheme, the team has been developing a community-driven crowdsourcing platform that connects the suppliers of soon-to-expire food with customers. The platform provides real-time location of nearby products for instant purchase, a leaderboard to plot users’ monetary savings, and their contribution to saving the environment. The goal is to create a ‘food-saving’ community and maximise cross-sectoral efforts towards reducing food waste, changing the mindset on how food is consumed in Hong Kong and what is considered safe to eat. The team will also strive to harness local underprivileged ethnic minorities as employees and service users to build a community culture of food sustainability action.

“We hope to empower all to think differently while complementing and collaborating with existing social enterprises, NGOs and government programmes,” said Muhammed. “This market niche is largely untapped, with the value of attracting a loyal customer base through a reward system that will also enhance community spirit and volunteerism.”

AzadiFood was selected among top eight teams in Jumpstarter IdeaPOP! 2021, a pitching competition organised by the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund for local university students. 

Castro said, “Thanks to Knowledge Transfer Sub-office’s support, especially the pre-pitching consultation sessions where we received invaluable advice to polish our ideas and pitching deck, we have been able to shine in such a renowned entrepreneur competition.”

To learn more about AzadiFood, please visit its Facebook page.