IE MIM Challenge 2023 – Go-karting with a Purpose

First they built their go-karts, then they raced them, and then they dismantled and repurposed them into planters and benches for charity.

This was the IE Business School’s MIM Challenge 2023, designed by Splash with the aim of raising awareness about the UN’s SDG7 – ensuring access to clean and affordable energy. 

The concept was handed over to 10 MIM Challenge ambassadors who were tasked with signing-up around 100 fellow students to take part and create as much impact as possible.

The garden furniture from the 25 go-karts was donated to brighten up the outdoor spaces at Fundacion Manantial, which looks after people with mental health issues, and will leave a lasting legacy. 

Splash Projects Operations Manager Phil Weeks, who was the Project Manager for the challenge, said: “This was about inspiring sustainable practices and finding a use for things you no longer need; highlighting that things can be repurposed and reused in different ways rather than thrown away.

“The energy levels were really high during the challenge, they all loved the concept which combined having fun with the importance of sustainability.

Sam Ferdinand, Splash Projects’ Business and Community Coordinator in Madrid, added: “It was incredible for the business school to do something with so much social purpose. At the end it was hard to imagine that just one hour before, all the planters and benches before us had been go-karts racing around a track.”