It was an eventful 48 hours for some of the Magpie team last week as we sponsored and supported the London Nudgeathon 2025 event at The London School of Economics!
Participants from LSE, UCL and Cambridge University were set the challenge of developing an innovative and considered intervention to improve access to finance for farmers in Sierra Leone – using all their creative and collaborative skills to to address an issue with significant negative impact.
As a mentor for a group of participants, Saransh Ahuja (Magpie’s Senior Behavioural Strategist) had the pleasure of guiding and structuring their response to the challenge set by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (FAO Investment Centre & FAO Office of Innovation).
Mentoring Team 8 at London Nudgeathon 2025 was a breeze. They were a curious and agile bunch who invested ample time to immerse themselves in the context of the challenge. All I needed to do was to remind them to trust their instinct without hesitating to innovate and keep it simple while playing back their solution to the FAO. Kudos to all participating teams for churning out such creative solutions rooted in scientific evidence and method!
Saransh Ahuja
Ged Savva (Magpie co-founder) was acting as one of the external judges and was challenged with scoring and delivering feedback to the 10 amazing proposals from participating teams, and Christopher Hulme (Business Development Manager) joined Saransh on the final day to co-present a rapid-fire overview of how we design behaviour change strategies for longevity at Magpie.
It was thrilling to hear about the various approaches to addressing a challenge on a global scale and we were all truly inspired by the participants’ thoughtful contributions. The cherry on top was hearing Saransh’s group announced as the winners, with a behaviourally informed loan product offering tailored support for farmers of specific crops in Sierra Leone. This intervention took into account the barriers faced by banks in the region to develop credit products for farmers as well as the farmers’ motivation to opt for the same to scale their farming activity.
Thanks to all the team involved in delivering the event, and for all the other speakers and contributors, it was wonderful to hear about the impact being made in so many fundamental areas of health, wellbeing and environmental sustainability.
Why events like this matter to Magpie
As a behaviour change agency, we’re constantly striving to stay curious, challenge our assumptions, and sharpen our creative and strategic thinking. Events like the London Nudgeathon aren’t just an opportunity to support the next generation of changemakers – they’re a chance for us to reflect, learn and grow ourselves.
We believe that immersing ourselves in these experiences adds depth and value to the work we do. Here are three key lessons we take away from an event like this:
- Empathy through perspective-shifting
Judging pitches puts us in our clients’ shoes. We’re reminded what it’s like to hear ideas with fresh ears – what engages, what confuses, and what builds confidence. That role reversal helps us present our own ideas more clearly and persuasively, and deepens our empathy for the decision-makers we work with every day. - Creative inspiration through divergent thinking
Seeing ten different teams tackle the same brief is a creativity injection. It sparks fresh thinking, reveals overlooked angles, and reminds us that there’s no single “right” answer in behaviour change – just better questions and bolder possibilities. Magpie has hosted events like this for big brands while providing development opportunities for young people and students ever since our first ‘Reinvention Convention’ at University of Leeds and through working with Prince’s Trust. - A space for reflection and recalibration
Engaging with emerging practitioners is a great mirror. It helps us reflect on our current approaches and whether we’re still innovating, adapting, and simplifying where needed. Sometimes, we come away validated. Other times, we’re motivated to revisit and refresh. Either way, we grow.
We’re always interested in getting involved in events and initiatives to drive social change and sharing our findings with clients and collaborators – get in touch if you’d like to discuss further!
