Deadline: September 23, 2021 00:00 CEST
[Oops, the opportunity has already expired. Sign up to AlphaGamma weekly newsletters to stay ahead of the game]| Appy here
Eligibility: Young founders aged 18–30 with a product/service already in the market or ready to go to market

Lead2030 Challenge 2021

Lead2030 Challenge seeks to support solutions that work to end malnutrition. Challenge submissions must focus on achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age or addressing the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, older persons, or pregnant and lactating women.

Applicants should demonstrate impact in at least one of the following areas:

• Ensure pregnant and lactating women have the best nutrition and sanitation conditions in undernourished populations to reduce stunting in the first 1000 days, the risk of low-birth-weight neonates, and adverse perinatal outcomes.
• Ensure children under 5 years old do not suffer from hunger and ensure they receive adequate nutrients to support their mental and physical development.

Globally in 2020, 22% or 149.2 million children under 5 years of age suffered from child stunting, defined by a low height-for-age

Child stunting can happen in the first 1000 days after conception and is related to many factors, including socioeconomic status, dietary intake, infections, maternal nutritional status, infectious diseases, micronutrient deficiencies, and the environment.

In 2020, 79 million stunted children lived in Asia, 61.4 million in Africa, and 5.8 million in the Latin American and Caribbean regions.

Stunted children with deficiencies of iodine and iron may suffer irreversible brain damage, impeding them from reaching their complete developmental potential.

They have a shorter adult height and a higher susceptibility to chronic diseases in adulthood, lower attained schooling, and reduced adult income. Stunted and wasted children also have a higher mortality risk, which is increased when the two conditions coexist in the same population.

The mission is to nourish the world’s children for the best start in life

Reckitt is proud to support the Lead2030 challenge for SDG 2. Delivering the purpose by providing innovative solutions for healthier lives and happier homes – enables us to support the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by working to eradicate the burden of preventable disease, improving infant and child nutrition (particularly during the first 1000 days) and helping the world live more sustainably within its planetary boundaries.

Critical to this is how we integrate sustainability into our day-to-day business operations and across our value chains.

Challenge criteria

• Aligned: Evidently aligned with the challenge.
• Youth-led: Founded by a person aged 18 – 30.
• Focused: Well-structured time horizon, identified key stakeholders and beneficiaries, and proposed outcomes that are reasonable and well thought out.
• Market ready: Product/service already in market or ready to go to market.
• Impactful: Solutions must have a positive social impact, for example generating employment, or developing skills.
• Measurable: Impacts of solutions must have been adequately measured and/or be measurable.
• Financially viable: Must be able to achieve efficiency and to survive independently through the resources they generate and/or the investments and donations they attract.
• Scalable: Potential to perform as well or better after expanding in scope or size and/or being transported to other regions.

The winning solution will receive:

• A US$50,000 grant from Reckitt
• 12 months of mentorship from a team of Reckitt professionals.

The mentorship team will work to accelerate your solution based on the needs of your initiative or organization, such as:

• Business strategy
• Best practices for data collection
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Product design

Interested in attending the Lead2030 Challenge 2021? Register your participation by following the registration link and taking the suggested steps.

For more life-changing opportunities, subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.