HULT Prize 2019 - ­ending youth unemployment

HAPPENINGS

Hult Prize is the world’s leading platform for launching for-profit startups and bringing young social entrepreneurs together. The annual, year-long competition crowdsource ideas from business students after challenging them to solve a pressing social issue around topics such as food security, water access, energy, and education.

Hult Prize competition aims to create and launch the most compelling social business ideas — startup enterprises that tackle issues faced by billions of people. The final winners receive USD 1 Million in seed capital, as well as mentorship and advice from the international business community in order to help them launch their social enterprise.

In nearly a decade, Hult Prize has become the world’s largest student movement for social good. Each year, over 20, 000 applicants participate in this competition from 100 countries, representing over 600 institutions of higher education. This prize is a partnership between Hult International Business School and the Clinton Global Initiative.

Hult Prize On

Campus, IoBM

Hult Prize is a global initiative, but it also gives an opportunity to host local Hult Prize events at different universities, allowing the winning team to go through the traditional application process and fast track their idea through one of 15 regional final rounds of the competition. The programme allows more students to compete around the world, leading to more ideas and ultimately more startups.

One of the Hult Prize On Campus events was held at IoBM recently. 10 teams delivered their pitches in front of the judges, out of which only one could make it to the Regional Finals. Teams presented their ideas to end “For Us, By Us, Youth Unemployment”, the theme for Hult Prize challenge 2019. Anum Kamran, Founder and CEO Buyon.pk, Omer Salimullah, Head of Open Banking and Ecosystem Development, JS Bank, Anaz Niaz, CEO Viscous.co, Nadia Patel, Founder and CEO Sheops judged startup pitches on the basis of how innovative, practical and empowering they were and advised as to how they should further improve their ideas. Start-up proposal Junk Away was the winner. As an online scrap collection service, Junk Away will allow people to dispose industrial and household scrap in a better, smarter and cost-effective way. Other pitches include:

Awki

An online portal that would help youth find part-time jobs.

ArchiTech

An online platform where constructors, investors, and laborers will connect with each other to work on construction projects.

MediBuzz

An online medical store and consultancy service.

Saqafat

An online service for customized traditional clothing.

Ling-gate

A service through which people could connect with translators, and hire sign language experts.

For more information check out hultprize.org

Five things to know before you participate in Hult Prize

• Thoroughly plan and research your idea before you sit down to work on your proposal. Make sure you have a business plan and financials to support your idea. Know your target market and find out if there are similar businesses running successfully in your country. You surely don’t want judges to list down competitors in the Q/A session.
• Ideas should align with the theme and requirement of the Prize. If you are supposed to come up with a startup idea that could potentially create 10,000 jobs for youth, make sure your idea does that.
• Have a smart team that keeps you motivated. Teamwork is critical to a business’s success. Every team member should share the team’s overall goal and direction, regardless of their skill and passion.
• Every step in the competition is an opportunity to learn the craft of entrepreneurship. Don’t just participate to strengthen your resume. Take your pitches seriously!
• Every startup idea has room for improvement; and judges are there to guide you through this journey. Feedback, even if it’s negative, should be received with open arms. Instead of getting defensive, note down the suggestions and be thankful.

Roshni Rides is the 2017 Hult Prize Challenge winning team. After a year long journey of being in the competition and working on their start up, Roshni Rides successfully won the Hult Prize Challenge in September 2017 and was awarded $1 million for their business.

It’s an end-to-end enterprise transportation solution. The team is now based in Karachi where they are empowering women through affordable, reliable and safe transportation. 

- By S.G