Startups to save the world

There are plenty of clever innovators already applying tech to solve social problems. Here’s a collection of the best, highlighting that tech ideas need not only be about hoovering up user data or “disrupting” markets with cut-throat prices.

Olio

This British-based app was created by Tessa Cook, who grew up on a farm in North Yorkshire, and her co-founder Saasha Celestial-One (her parents were hippies). They note British households throw away £700 worth of food a year. To cut waste and help those in need, Olio links up neighbours and local businesses to share food near sell-by dates.

Casserole Club

This is another way to use up your leftover tomatoes. Casserole Club links together people who like to cook with their older neighbours. They then provide not just a free, home-cooked meal but also a visit from a local friend, helping to combat both poor nutrition and loneliness. Forget Facebook, this is a real social network.

Chatterbox

There are 117,000 people with refugee status in the UK, and while most are well-educated, many are unemployed. That’s one problem. The second is that Britain has a lack of language skills, which a government report has argued costs the country £48 billion in lost trade. Enter Chatterbox, a dual platform: first it trains refugees to teach their language, then it provides a means to offer that service to Brits looking to learn.

Quids In

This app was developed by Oxfam’s UK Poverty Team to help teach people how to save and build a rainy-day fund. It was trialed from May to July 2017, and offered to anyone on benefits with a mobile phone. For every £10 you spend on regular shopping, participants were given 50p, up to a maximum of £1.50 a week. It may not sound like much, but to those with no savings in the bank at all, it helps “give a sense of control”, one participant said.