Team of social entrepreneurs to travel globe to compete for Hult Prize
A TEAM OF FOUR University of Akron students is one 300 international teams — chosen from among more than 25,000 — to compete for the 7th annual Hult Prize.
The UA squad will join students from such schools as the University of Cambridge, Johns Hopkins University, the London School of Economics and Harvard University for the regional competitions in March.
VIDEO: HULT PRIZE TEAM PREPARES FOR DUBAI
Coined the “Nobel Prize for students” by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the annual Hult Prize Competition, in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, is the world’s largest student case competition. Each year a different global challenge is selected and posed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and teams must present an innovative, sustainable business start-up idea based on the theme. The winning team receives $1 million in seed capital to turn its social entrepreneurial idea into reality.
Dr. Lakeesha Ransom, dean of UA’s Williams Honors College, led the process to make UA a Hult-affiliated school. The initial rounds of the competition were held on campuses around the globe in November and December. Members of UA’s judging panel included business members of the Akron community and UA professors, advisors and staff members. In addition to evaluating the students’ performances in those team exercises, application criteria included academic performance, work experience, skills and abilities, career motivation and non-profit work.
Vishal Chaurasia, second from left, gestures as he makes a point during a strategy session. With him are, from left, fellow Hult Prize Team members Peyton Zachrich, Kelsey Jones and Amanda Pinheiro.
“I’m absolutely thrilled for the students,” says Ransom. “They will be working hard over the next few weeks to prepare for regionals, and, as I remind them, their work is much bigger than the competition itself. They have the opportunity to impact people’s lives the world over and for generations to come. It takes a major commitment of time, requires great discipline, and their idea must inspire collaboration. I know they are up to the task.”
The UA team is made up of Honors College undergraduate students — business majors Peyton Zachrich, from New Concord, Ohio, and Kelsey Jones, from Green, Ohio; bioengineering major Amanda Pinheiro, also from Green; and MBA candidate Vishal Chaurasia, from Buffalo, N.Y.
They will travel to Dubai on March 11-12 as regional finalists compete simultaneously in five global cities—London, Shanghai, Boston, San Francisco and Dubai. One winning team from each regional competition will advance to the finals in September in New York City.
The theme of the 2016 competition is crowded urban spaces. Clinton posed this question: “Can we build sustainable, scalable and fast-growing social enterprises that double the income of 10 million people residing in crowded urban spaces by better connecting people, goods, services and capital?”
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Media contact: Lisa Craig, 330-972-7429 or lmc91@uakron.edu
UA's Hult Prize Team members, from left, are Kelsey Jones; Vishal Chaurasia; adviser Dr. Lakeesha Ransom, who is dean of the Honors College and a vice provost; Peyton Zachrich and Amanda Pinheiro.