Salim on Change our City Challenge 2023

On why he decided to take part

My upbringing was spent trying to find different ways to combine my two passions of entrepreneurship and helping those less fortunate than I am. As such, I had eventful teenage years, from refurbishing used computers for Ukrainian refugees to creating NGOs that raised tens of thousands of pounds. When I joined King’s, I left all those experiences behind in my home country. I needed to find a way to further develop my skillset and upscale my entrepreneurial projects for social impact. Therefore, when I came across the Change Our City Challenge, I knew this was where I belonged.

On how he felt when he first arrived

Being in a room with people who share my passion for entrepreneurship made me feel something unique; it was a culmination of ambition and enthusiasm, with a natural side effect of nervousness. Once I met and got to know my team, I knew that we could create the winning project for this event, and thankfully we did!

On the idea his team created

Our idea was to transform the food charity industry by offering an alternative to food banks via vending machines. It is not only a more efficient, cheaper, and effective alternative but also a sustainable and self-sufficient one. The funding we won and the help that we'll receive from the Entrepreneurship Institute makes me believe that this idea could truly cause a revolution in the industry and help move towards solving hunger in London. 

On the lessons he learnt

The Change our City Challenge helped me confirm that I truly am a person who thrives under pressure and that stress can be used as a positive force to motivate you to succeed.

I also found out about the power of the human mind. All success stories that we hear about in the news and encounter in our daily lives began with an idea. It was the ideas of our predecessors that brought us to the advanced society that we live in today, and it will be the ideas of us, young entrepreneurs, that will tackle global issues, and help make our world become a better place. As long as we, the new generation, keep an open and curious mind on whatever challenge or pressure we face, I am confident that we will achieve great things in the future. An idea without work is indeed futile, but nonetheless, everything begins with an idea.

On what he’ll take forward

It was remarkable how we managed to come up with a realistic business plan to help solve hunger in London within just a few hours of critical thinking. In my future tasks, I will apply the same principle, where instead of giving myself a lot of time to complete a project or coursework, I will force myself to meet a self-set deadline. This will push me to think more critically than ever before and help me make better use of my time.

I learnt that as a leader in a group setting, one should acknowledge the personalities of different teammates, and rather than viewing this as a constraint to collaboration, take advantage of the diversity, and complete projects accordingly. To bring the best out of a team, the whole organisational structure should adapt, rather than the individual.