More than 50 students across 13 teams responded to our World Vision Student Challenge this year, putting their business degree to the test to find solutions that tackle climate change and root causes of poverty.

According to World Vision Australia, poverty and climate change are among the greatest challenges facing humanity. Poverty is responsible for the deaths of more than six million children under five worldwide. The issue goes beyond a low income. It is also the lack of access to services and essential goods such as clean water and medical assistance. Climate change is causing environmental degradation, and children, women and people with disabilities are among the most vulnerable.

The World Vision Student Challenge is a partnership between World Vision Australia and the Department of Marketing at Macquarie University. This year, the challenge called on Macquarie University undergraduates and postgraduates to find solutions to encourage a Gen Z audience to engage with World Vision’s current climate work and its long-standing 40 Hour Famine. World Vision Australia estimates that its work to regenerate one billion hectares of land could remove up to 25 per cent of carbon from the atmosphere, prevent species loss and end extreme poverty for millions of people.

Team WoVi (Eshna Chand, Alexander Macgregor, Nomundari Amin-Erdene and Tsolmon Bolormaa – pictured above) and Team Macquarie Visionaries (Tanya Pandit, David Milne, Omar Alanazi and Ginelle Castelino) shared victory ahead of runner-up, Team SANNrising (Alisha Dsouza, Shafayet Shihab, Naomi Lopes and Nayana Kumar).

“This challenge attracted a truly cross-disciplinary cohort who were up to the task to translate their degree into real-world impact,” explained Dr LayPeng Tan, Senior Marketing Lecturer and Student Engagement Coordinator.

“After two months of workshops and coaching with the teams to help develop their ideas, the groups were able to pitch their solutions at the final on 12 May.

“We were thrilled with the diversity, quality and creativity of the solutions, and we were delighted to announce the two overall winners and runner-up. While all teams were fantastic, these top teams, in particular, demonstrated their ability to use the principles we teach them during their degree to conceptualise and construct an idea that can help children affected by poverty and the consequences of climate change.”

Louise Cummins, Chief Marketing Officer at World Vision Australia, was also instrumental in guiding the students through their marketing journey.

“The solutions we received centred around the best ways to connect with the Gen Z audience to unleash their potential to support in poverty alleviation and climate action,” she said. “We received ideas around apps, partnerships and go-to-market solutions that focused on driving global climate movement, revolutionising the digital donor experience, and improving ways of working and collaborating with our key stakeholders.

“Macquarie University students provided a great mix of marketing insights for us to progress as we work to make this world a better place for future generations.”

A student’s perspective
Eshna Chand (pictured second from the left), a Commerce and Psychology student, majoring in Marketing and Consumer Insights, shared her experience of the competition: “Working to tackle the complexities of climate change and poverty was close to all of our hearts. With the support of the incredible teaching staff – LayPeng Tan, Rico Piehler, Pardis Mohajerani, Leanne Carter, Helen Siuki and Abas Mirzaei – we were able to develop our idea and contribute to such meaningful and potent issues. Thank you also to our Head of Marketing, Cynthia Webster; the CMO of World Vision Australia, Louise Cummins; and our Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Joseph Chen, who judged our final pitch.

“One of the most beautiful aspects of our journey was the level of trust we expressed within our team. We knew that different tasks within the project called upon certain unique strengths and visions that we individually held. We treated each other with the utmost respect and celebrated the diverse makeup of our perspectives, languages, preferences and values.

“From deep granular research to content creation, I have never had the absolute pleasure of working with talent of this calibre. Every meeting was met with energy and passion, and we genuinely cared for each other which is incredibly special.

“I am so grateful to my team and Macquarie Business School for this opportunity. We are thrilled that our idea will shape World Vision’s future work to tackle poverty and climate change, making a real-world impact to the lives of children.”