London Inc. Winter 2021 - 59

Divyansh Ojha
Founder, FoodFund Inc. | 22
The youngest of this year's recipients, Divyansh Ojha was 19 in 2017 when he started FoodFund, an
online, food box delivery platform that utilizes imperfect produce from farms and distributors that would
otherwise go to waste.

What prompted you to start your business? Driving by
a major retailer one night, I couldn't help but feel unsettled
by the contrast I saw: there were people disposing bins of
produce into the dumpster and there was an aged man holding
up a cardboard sign, making a plea for food. Why do one
in eight Canadians struggle to put food on the table when
millions of pounds of it is thrown away ruthlessly? Trying to
ﬁnd answers, the spirit of FoodFund was born.
What do you consider to be your biggest professional
achievement so far? My journey has been one of resilience,
perseverance and grit. In just under three years, I have built
the business to over $3 million in
n annual recurring revenue. More importantly, FoodFund
nd has diverted 1.8
million pounds of food from ending
ing up in the landﬁll
and we've provided food securityy to over 30,000
people in the community while adding
dding millions to
the bottom line of farmers.

Professionally, wh
what are you most proud
of? The diﬀerence
diﬀerenc we've made in the lives
of everyday Canadians
Ca
dwarfs the revenue
we've generated
genera
or the awards and
recognition we've
w
received. For many,
we've made a basic human need truly
accessible.

20 UNDER 40 * CLASS OF 2020

Do you have any advice for aspiring
piring
entrepreneurs? I graduated from
m Ivey in April
from the undergraduate businesss program. As an
18-year-old trying to make my name
ame within my
university cohort, I promised myself
yself that I would
earn a coveted internship in ﬁnance
nce after my ﬁrst
year of studies. After countless applications,
pplications, phone
calls and interviews, I ﬁnally managed
naged to earn
my spot at a bank researching equities
uities for
wealth management. It was a great
at success for me, and I had to love it - or at
least that's what I told myself. The
he days
were long and tiring but that never
er
bothered me. What bothered me
was my lack of sincerity towards
the 'why'. I found myself uninterested in why I was doing
what I was doing. That was
a transformative internship
for me. Now, I take it upon
myself to help other university students ﬁnd something
they are passionate about and
turn that into meaningful work.

The difference we've made in the lives of
everyday Canadians dwarfs the revenue
we've generated or the awards and
recognition we've received. For many,
we've made a basic human need truly
accessible

WINTER 2021 | londonincmagazine.ca | 59

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London Inc. Winter 2021

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