Hult Prize at UCLA
The Hult Prize is a competition to encourage students to innovate, create and embark on the next society changing endeavor. The various social business ideas presented delve into new areas of innovation that both put a magnifying glass on critical social issues as well as present the potential of newly emerging industries in the market. Every year, a social enterprising theme is announced by the Clintons. This year the focus is the crowded nature of urban areas.
Some of the world’s largest cities such as Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro are packed with slums and other low-income housing. Additionally, the population of slumdwellers is projected to double within the next 15 years. This competition challenges youth to reap the benefits of the dense population growth, while simultaneously lessen the harm it could cause to the local societies. More information about the challenge is provided on their website http://www.hultprize.org/.
The competition is split into three stages, the first being a round hosted by our own Bruin team at UCLA. Qualifiers from this round will head into the regional finals, which would be held in San Francisco in March. After this, selected teams will be put through a 7-week summer accelerator program in Boston where they’ll be able to work own their social enterprise, while being mentored by industry leaders. They’d finally be able to pitch to top-level executives, government leaders, and diplomats at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York City. The winning team will be awarded $1,000,000 in seed to implement their idea.
I would highly encourage anyone, of all skill levels and backgrounds, to participate. This program helps create disruptive innovations that could change the trajectories of societies. Prof. Bhagwan Chowdhry of Anderson School of Business believes that the boundary between the concepts of “social” and “business” are blurring, and that the best new ideas a socially innovative businesses. He is a huge supporter of student social innovation and enterprise and provides mentorship to Bruin teams that enter the competition.
Registration for the Hult Prize closes on Monday, November 10th, 2015. All entries must be part of a team. There’s a Facebook group for team formation if you don’t have one yet. For more information about the Hult Prize at UCLA, visit http://www.hultprizeat.com/UCLA/, find them on Facebook as Hult Prize at UCLA, and follow them on Twitter @hultprizeatucla.
Hult Prize at UCLA is sponsored by Bruin Entrepreneurs.
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