The impacts of malnutrition on children are significant. Chronic and recurrent malnutrition leads to a condition named stunting, indicated by a child being short for their age. Children who have experienced stunting fail to reach their physical and cognitive potential as adults. World Health Organisation estimates that there are currently 148 million children under the age of 5 who are stunted.

In 2019, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation took a bold new approach to addressing nutrition in the developing world. Most approaches to date had taken an ‘aid’ approach, and the Gates Foundation wanted to explore the potential for business and markets to be part of the solution. Prior research by the Gates Foundation had identified that the world’s population could be segmented into 4 billion people who could (largely) fund their own nutrition, 1 billion people who (largely) were dependent on aid, and an underserved middle of 2 billion people. This underserved middle were not viewed as viable consumers by food companies because of their low expenditure on consumer products; the view of the Gates Foundation was that, when aggregated, this segment was a viable market.

A global innovation partnership was formed, including large national and international food companies and some of the world’s best scientists, innovators, designers, evaluators and marketers. We contributed our qualitative research and experience design skills to the partnership, contributing to projects across Africa and Asia.

The lasting impact of this global initiative was demonstrating that large-scale change is indeed possible. By taking a genuinely multi-disciplinary approach, entirely new consumer segments and consumer needs were identified, and entirely new and innovative solutions were developed. This programme was a reminder that we all have a role to play in tackling the big challenges our planet faces and that collaborations and partnerships are needed to solve wicked problems.