Sustainability Exchange is EB Impact’s flagship mentorship programme, launched in 2019 with support from our anchor partner, multinational technology group Meta. Since its inception the programme has garnered significant interest among stakeholders in the sustainability space and successfully completed three iterations, impacting over 130 youths.
Agroath, the first recipient of OCBC’s #OCBCCares Environment Fund, is a prime example of the programme’s impact. Brought together by the programme based on shared interests in Singapore’s food and nutrition, the team comprises of Jansher Singh, Jing Ting, and Yiong Jon Lon, three of whom were enrolled in university and one in National Service. The team has now expanded to include Anushka Puri, Aastha Trivedi and Hitesh Kishnani, who cover content writing and social media marketing roles.
Agroath’s goal is to experientially educate around 50,000 unique youths and inspire them to secure Singapore’s food future. They take on the innovative approach of a resource hub and a game that boosts awareness and demand for local produce.
Read on to learn more about ‘Breakfast Tales’, an engaging online game they have developed to simulate the impacts of different kinds of supply chain disruptions. From conceptualisation to design and coding of the game, the project is fully youth-led.
Mentored by Loh Yi Ting, then a Programme Manager at Big Idea Ventures (a leading global investor in FoodTech), Agroath identified key challenges in the local produce market during the programme. Through research and consultations with Yi Ting, they found that limited public awareness about the consequences of foreign supply chain interruptions continues to hinder the acceptance of locally sourced food.
Agroath received S$10,000 in seed funding a year ago from OCBC to implement their project. We spoke with the project lead, Jansher Singh to hear about Agroath’s progress and plans.
What is the story behind Agroath?
The name Agroath, pronounced “a-growth”, is a blend of three words: Agriculture, Growth, and Oath, reflecting our commitment to “drive the growth of local agriculture” in Singapore. We seek to grow youth awareness and involvement in Singapore’s food future through gamification, giveaways, and participation in events to promote local farms, farm-to-table restaurants, home gardening, and other sustainability initiatives.
Agroath co-founder Jansher Singh at a community event, sharing about local farming and Singapore’s food future. Image: Agroath
Since being awarded, Agroath has connected with over 10 local farms and worked on campaigns for three of them. We’ve had productive meetings with VegeMagic, Singrow, and Greenhood, and the experience has been excellent. Our most extensive collaboration has been with VegeMagic, which generously sponsored several vegetable samples for us to showcase and give away at events.
Most farms have been receptive to our collaboration proposals, emphasizing the need for greater engagement among Singaporeans in two key areas: increasing the adoption and consumption of locally farmed food and increasing interest in farming as a career to grow the talent pool in the local agricultural industry.
To achieve this, we emphasize not only the health and environmental benefits of local farming but also showcase the unique methods each farm employs, such as aquaponics and vertical farming, with the hope of sparking interest and empathy among our readers.
What led to your interest in addressing food security?
During my time as an Analyst and later as a Research Director at Singapore Management University’s Sustainable Investment Club, I developed an impact investment case deck on an Indonesian start-up in the agricultural industry. My research on the sector informed me of the challenges faced by farmers, companies, governments and consumers.
This experience, combined with my economic coursework, sparked a strong interest in global food supply chains. My interest was finally channeled into a mission upon my enrolment in EB Impact’s Sustainability Exchange in 2022.
Can you comment on the progress within the last year? Is there an accomplishment you are most proud of?
I’d say progress has been good so far. After receiving funding on 31 May 2022, we developed our website and expanded our social media presence. We expanded the team to six people and conducted offline engagement events and road shows. Perhaps most meaningfully, we piloted our game “Breakfast Tales” at the Conscious Festival x i Light Marketplace from 7 to 9 June 2024.
Agroath’s team and former EB Impact programmes and partnerships manager Erin Gunanto gather to discuss plans. Image: Agroath
It’s been exciting to grow into a more diverse group that sees high-school graduates, master’s students, and even seasoned professionals working together, confirming our belief that food security is a problem that impacts all of us.
What feedback have you received from the public?
We were excited by the invite from the Conscious Festival x i Lightorganisers because we felt it reflected our progress in establishing a presence in Singapore and effectively communicating our mission. It was the result of slow yet steady work over the past year, starting from a small booth at a community fair to showcasing our mission to an international audience at Marina Bay Sands.
It was the largest event we’ve taken part in, and of the several meaningful interactions we had, two kinds stood out.
The first was conversations with fellow impact creators with backgrounds in education, academic research, agriculture and even a restaurateur interested in adopting local produce. Each of these wonderful individuals offered us support and opportunities to collaborate, which we plan to follow up on and are immensely grateful for.
The second notable interaction was with fellow youths and children who engaged with us and tried Breakfast Tales. We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly they grasped the game’s concepts, underscoring its educational potential. This experience has inspired us to reconsider our outreach strategy.
While we initially planned to scale our impact through a B2C approach, we are now keen on adopting a B2B strategy by partnering with schools and universities to run workshops, using the game as a central tool to engage and educate students.
Tell us more about Breakfast Tales.
Breakfast Tales is a decision-based game that simulates real-world events like natural disasters, policy shifts and diseases to highlight their uncertainty and impact on food prices. Over eight rounds, the player needs to decide between locally and internationally sourced food, factoring in price shifts and budget constraints. It takes around five to eight minutes to go through.
We wanted to raise awareness about food security concerns in Singapore amid worsening climate change and geopolitical uncertainty. These concepts are often only learned in secondary school, high school, or university if one studies Economics or Business. We already see schools and parents introducing topics of financial literacy at a young age to inculcate better saving and spending habits — so why not food security?
We hope to instill better consumption habits among the youth through our game. As we see it, whether it’s investing to secure one’s financial future or making the right consumption choices to secure one’s food future, both are immensely important.
The initial concept was created by Agroath’s co-founder, Jon Lon, and later refined and executed by the team with the assistance of Gan Kah Loke for development and Shalyn Roslee for the artwork. Although unplanned, collaborating with fellow youths has been incredibly rewarding, as the shared learning experience has given everyone a strong sense of purpose in contributing to something bigger.
The beta version of our game is now live on our website (only optimised for desktop at the moment). We would love for everyone to try our game and offer any feedback as we work to refine it further!
What are your plans over the next three to six months? How has your vision changed?
Initially, we planned to cast a wider net via social media platforms to engage people of all ages. We did, however, find this approach to be less impactful and harder to measure. Through our experiences, we’ve learned that nothing can replace the efficacy of face-to-face interactions.
A visitor plays the Breakfast Tales game during a community sustainability event in Singapore. Image: Agroath
We plan to use the game as a tool to engage the youth on topics of food security in the next three months. When testing the beta version of the game at the Conscious Festival x i Light festival, we received excellent feedback from youth of all ages, even as young as eight years old (although the game wasn’t designed for that age group). This has encouraged us to engage more school students and spark their interest in food security. We are collaborating with Chthonia Consulting, a founder-focused advisory firm for early stage ESG start-ups, to devise a strategy and execution plan for this renewed approach to scale our impact.
How have Eco-Business, EB Impact and OCBC supported you on this journey?
We are profoundly grateful to the team at Eco-Business and EB Impact for their unwavering support. Their assistance in connecting us with mentors, volunteers, and businesses in Singapore has been invaluable, allowing us to stay on track. Furthermore, their promotion of our initiative through invites to prestigious events like the Earthshot Prize and posts on social media has significantly extended our reach and impact.
We also extend our heartfelt gratitude to OCBC for their initial grant, which has been vital in enabling all the progress we’ve made on the game, website, and engagement events. Their financial support has been the cornerstone of our success, empowering us to bring our vision to life and make a tangible difference in the community.
We aim to establish a sustainable revenue model for Agroath that will enable us to continue our mission of securing Singapore’s food future. The grant from OCBC has been pivotal in facilitating our growth, but we hope to establish a more consistent flow of funds to ensure Agroath’s longevity and impact.
What advice would you give to those looking to launch a sustainable initiative or company?
Before Agroath, none of us had any experience building a sustainable initiative or company. We’ve had to learn and figure things out as we went along. I believe this journey has taught us that the best way to learn is by doing. This is the most valuable advice I can offer to others embarking on a similar path.
How is your time divided up between other responsibilities and Agroath?
Balancing my responsibilities between university, co-curricular activities, and personal life, while managing an initiative like Agroath, has definitely been challenging. I approach it one week at a time, carefully planning out my tasks and striving to integrate everything seamlessly. Prioritisation often varies depending on urgency, impact, and personal fulfillment. Over time, I’ve discovered a balance that works for me. Similarly, you’ll find your own balance—it just takes starting and gradually adjusting as you go along. In summary, think in big steps, and act in small steps.
By connecting youth-led initiatives with seasoned professionals, Sustainability Exchange empowers young leaders to develop solutions for specific sustainability challenges aligned with Singapore’s Green Plan, which aims to advance the city-state’s national agenda on sustainable development and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. With the support of key partners including Meta, OCBC, City Developments Limited, and the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, the programme has grown to offer a wider range of capacity-building workshops and seed funding to promising projects.
EB Impact launched the fourth edition of Sustainability Exchange this July, with applications open until 25 August. Interested participants may apply here.
