MZANSI'S hunger crisis meets its match!
With World Food Day commemorated on Thursday, 16 October, Mzansi's brightest youngsters stepped up with next level ideas to fight child hunger.
Sixty top Gen Z brains spent Thursday, 9 October to 13 Monday, October 2025 cracking one of Mzansi's toughest problems and shared tech-powered ideas that could change how food insecurity is tackled.
They dived in at the biggest Hunger Hack, proudly hosted by KFC Africa and came out with big, bold, tech-powered ideas.
Artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, data visualisation and community-driven platforms were among the technologies harnessed during the hunger hack.
The event also invited youngsters to engineer the brand's Add Hope campaign.
Add Hope, powered by millions of R2 donations from KFC customers, already fuels 3 300+ feeding centres across the country reaching over 154 000 kids in 2024 alone.
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Head of brand purpose and ESG, Andra Nel said: "The biggest Hunger Hack showed what happens when young digital natives use technology for good. They understand hunger because many have lived it and understand technology because they were born into it. That is a sweet spot for innovation with purpose."
Nel said the next step is to co-develop pilot programmes with Add Hope partners, aiming to showcase results by the time the National Convention on Child Hunger convenes early 2026.
"Collaboration is our key ingredient, from customers dropping R2 at the till, to partners like McCormick, Tiger Brands, foodserv, CBH, Natures Garden, Digistics and Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa rallying behind the Add Hope recipe," she 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."
She added that Gen Z hackers showed how tech can supercharge reach and transparency.
"The Goal is to turn their best concepts into live pilots with our 128 feeding partners," she said.
The platform also hosts short-form cooking challenges, edutainment content and ad-driven donations so users literally feed families by engaging with content.
