dustry legends, thought leaders and visionaries to create retail solutions for businesses. “Every year HackGames brings together the brightest minds in Australia’s retail industry. We wanted to harness this power for the greater good, and give back to our Aussie heroes,” Jennifer Mancuso, MI Academy’s delivery manager, told Inside Retail.  The charities involved had diverse business models with unique business problems that required innovative solutions. Collaborative innovation for good The 2024 retail hackathon, which took place in Melbourne on February 28, was a testament to the power of cross-functional collaboration to get faster and better outcomes. “We sit in silos so often, not just in charities but in retail. And HackGames is a remarkable example of what can happen when you have cross-functional teams to land on innovative outcomes to the largest or smallest of problems,” said Mancuso. “Utilising innovation and applied creativity frameworks also helps to draw out powerful insights, is an impactful and cost-effective way to solve problems within any organisation,” she added. In previous years, HackGames attendees worked on hypothetical problem statements based on an overarching theme in retail. But this year’s problem statements spanned the gamut of issues that not-for-profit retailers are facing in the current economy, from awareness to scale and operations-based issues, as well as social enterprise-centred issues. “HackGames was a little different this year, in the sense that the problem statements didn’t necessarily hit a traditional retail problem,” said Mancuso. “This year, we pivoted to partner with charities, where the attendees worked on solving real problems for the organisations,” she added. For HackGames winner Homie, it needed to create a solution that streamlined Homie’s B2B operations at scale with limited resources. “By giving them access to our incredible attendees, the charities were able to leverage the collective creativity to address bigger problems in their organisations,” said Mancuso. Homie took home the win Homie’s business solution nailed all six elements of the judging criteria; resourcefulness, personalisation, defined ambition, validation, business case and quality of pitch. Jack Howes, head of funding and partnerships at Homie, told Inside Retail, “Homie came to HackGames looking for assistance with how to scale its B2B clothing operation, with no budget, no dedicated staff, and all the usual limitations that come with operating as a not-for-profit”. “The team was able to build Homie a process that reduces resource requirement by 75 per cent, requiring no additional budget, and utilising tools that Homie already has,” he added. Homie is a Melbourne-based streetwear label that doubles as a social enterprise with 100 per cent of its profits dedicated to supporting youth affected by homelessness and hardship. “As a social enterprise, Homie is always chasing long-term, sustainable growth that will enable us to continue growing our impact programs that support young people affected by homelessness or hardship,” said Howles. “B2B partnerships generate vital revenue, but they also lead to significant mainstream employment opportunities for young people coming out of Homie’s programs that support young people,” he added. Scaling Homie’s partnerships with businesses will not only increase funding for its mission but also increase the brand’s visibility. Moreover, Homie’s strategy to simplify and scale its B2B business is an easily implementable solution from a resourcing and financial perspective. When Inside Retail asked Howles when Homie will implement the new strategy he replied, “We’ve already started, so when you start seeing corporate merch popping up that actually makes you look, well, that’ll probably be us!”