As World Food Day approaches, a new generation of South African innovators is rewriting the country’s approach to fighting hunger. Sixty of South Africa’s brightest Gen Z tech talents came together for “The Biggest Hunger Hack,” a week-long challenge hosted by KFC Africa, aimed at developing technology-driven solutions to combat child hunger.
Using tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, data visualisation, and community-driven platforms, the young participants reimagined the company’s Add Hope open-source blueprint (https://AddHope.KFC.co.za/) — the programme that currently supports over 3,300 feeding centres and reached more than 154,000 children last year through millions of R2 donations from KFC customers.
The hackathon offered potential seed funding of up to R1 million for the most promising ideas, which showcased how innovation and empathy can converge to solve one of South Africa’s toughest social challenges.
Stand-Out Solutions
The overall winning team, Ctrl-Alt-Del-Hunger, created “Misfits Mzansi,” an app that tackles food waste by rescuing “ugly” but edible fruits and vegetables from farms and redirecting them to food-insecure families. The app also includes short-form cooking challenges, interactive edutainment, and ad-driven donations.
“You become a philanthropist just by watching a video,” the team explained.
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Another team, Streetwise Scripters, developed a social-media-first donation ecosystem featuring a real-time donor dashboard, hotspot donation map, and KFC loyalty rewards integration, where good deeds unlock free meals. Their @KFCAddHopeSA TikTok-to-Till campaign uses digital storytelling to strengthen donor engagement.
Bit Coders built an inclusive AI chatbot ecosystem that allows anyone — even non-KFC customers — to donate via the MTN MoMo API, offering donor insights, rewards, and instant tax certificates for larger donations.
Meanwhile, Hack 4 Hope introduced a WhatsApp chatbot that lets customers scan QR codes on KFC receipts to donate instantly. Using blockchain technology, the system tracks every R2 from donation to meal served, rewarding repeat donors with “HopeCoins” and turning transparency into a gamified experience.
Collaboration: The Key Ingredient
“The Biggest Hunger Hack showed what happens when young digital natives use tech for good,” said Andra Nel, KFC Africa’s Head of Brand Purpose and ESG. “They understand hunger because many have lived it, and they understand technology because they were born into it. That’s the sweet spot for innovation with purpose.”
Stakeholders from business, government, and civil society attended the event in Johannesburg to witness the pitches and explore opportunities to scale the solutions nationally.
Nel revealed that the next phase will involve pilot programmes developed with Add Hope partners, with the goal of presenting measurable outcomes by the National Convention on Child Hunger early next year.
“Collaboration is our key ingredient—from customers dropping R2 at the till to partners like McCormick, Tiger Brands, Foodserv, CBH, Nature’s Garden, Digistics, and Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, all rallying behind the Add Hope recipe,” Nel said.
“Opening up Add Hope as an open-source blueprint has unleashed an outpouring of ubuntu that’s turning this fight into a movement, one that South Africa and the world can learn from.”
According to Nel, the ultimate goal is to transform the best hackathon concepts into live pilots with KFC’s 128 feeding partners, ensuring technology continues to amplify impact in the fight against hunger.