Shobhita Soor, BCL/LLB, MBA’15, was part of the McGill Aspire team that won Bill Clinton’s Hult Prize in 2013 for their idea to address hunger in urban slums by farming insects. In the video above, she explains the vision and logic of this idea.
More recently, Soor and her Aspire co-founder, Mohammed Ashour, found themselves featured in an article in the Guardian as part of its 12 days of innovation series, and also landed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list in social entrepreneurship.
From The Guardian: “With the global population expected to top 9 billion by 2050, and with arable land shrinking, Aspire says bugs could be a food staple. “We are not here to change the way people eat or tell them what to eat, we are here to provide a desired source of protein and iron in a much more accessible way. Palm weevil is a great source of iron and protein,” Soor says, noting that anaemia is one of the most significant nutritional deficiencies in Ghana.” Keep reading…
From Forbes: “Aspire brings jobs and nutrients to people in Ghana via microfarms of palm weevil larvae, a popular local food. Rural community members are taught to raise the native insects that, within four weeks, can be sold or eaten among their families.”