The average college student generates about 110 pounds of food waste per year, contributing to 22 million tons of food waste annually across USA colleges and universities. Universities in Boston and the USA like Northeastern, also grapple with the issue on their campuses and seek solutions towards improving their food security efforts.
Set to tackle this issue, a team of four second-year African MBA students at Northeastern University, participated in Northeastern University’s maiden Sustainability Innovation Competition and won. The competition was a part of Northeastern’s Sustainable Innovation Week celebration which took place from March 10th to March 14th, 2025.
Out of over 2,000 submissions across Northeastern’s 13 global campuses, Team Sustainabite made it to the Top 5 finalists and won the grand prize for their simple, effective and easily scalable solution to tackle food waste on university campuses. Judges from Northeastern’s Climate Change and Sustainability department and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, announced the winning team on 11th March 2025 after listening to the finalists’ pitches and asking follow-up questions.
The winning team, consisting of Oluwaseun Abiola, Ogechukwu Tammy Ibeama, Lydia Dampare Addo and Levi Ijebor, made an impact, as students from the D’Amore Mckim Business school, with three of them hailing from Nigeria and one from Ghana.
Reflecting on the significance of the win, Oluwaseun Abiola shared her gratitude for the transformative experience provided by the Sustainability and Leadership course at Northeastern. She credited the course for reshaping her career path and highlighting the urgent need for sustainability in business. “As I work toward becoming a sustainability consultant, participating in this competition has been an opportunity to propose solutions to solve real world problems, helping businesses integrate sustainable practices. It is just the start of the impact I hope to make, and I am grateful to have worked with a great team,” she said. Abiola also thanked Gianina Padula, Campus Sustainability Manager at Northeastern University for her guidance on the feasibility of their solution.
Ogechukwu Ibeama shared his excitement in a LinkedIn post, stating, “This win is more than just an award—it’s about driving sustainable change and advocating for innovative solutions that benefit both the planet and people, one solution at a time!” He went on to credit the unwavering support from his MBA colleagues, friends, and faculty, whose insights, votes, and encouragement were crucial in achieving this success.
As the team looks forward to implementing their solution, SustainaBite, which focuses on combating food waste on campuses, they are eager to scale their model beyond Northeastern and to other campuses across the U.S. and beyond, inspiring others to join the fight against food waste and to push for sustainability in every facet of business and life.
