The plan Obachyan no Bentoya (Grandma's Lunchbox Delivery Van) won based on a business model that would enlist older women to cook, then deliver lunch and dinner boxes (bentos) initially to temporary housing, and then later throughout Northern Japan.
A lunchbox delivery service for people in temporary housing has won the first BizAsia Japan 2011 Business Contest from the Akamon Entrepreneurship Club of Tokyo University.
Students from four universities, the University of Tokyo (UT), Keio University, Waseda University and National University of Singapore (NUS), were asked to come up with a socially responsible business or charity to help the people of northern Japan recover from the March 11 earthquake.
The plan Obachyan no Bentoya (Grandma’s Lunchbox Delivery Van) won based on a business model that would enlist older women to cook, then deliver lunch and dinner boxes (bentos) initially to temporary housing, and then later throughout Northern Japan.
The winning team members were: Arjun Arora (NUS), Xin Qian Ho (NUS), Mayumi Morita (UT), Jialei Huang (Waseda)
Shigeo Kagami, head of entrepreneurship at the University of Tokyo and adviser to the Akamon Entrepreneurship Club and lead judge, told the winning team: "We were impressed with your thorough coverage of a wide array of issues. You showed the dual social benefit of building community and providing meals to people during a difficult time, while also creating a sustainable business model."
A follow up to the Tokyo business events will be held in Singapore this month as BizAsia Japan is a newly established annual exchange program between the University of Tokyo and National University of Singapore focusing on entrepreneurship.
