ÇÑ×ÓÖ±²¥

Hult Prize CEO and founder Ahmad Ashkar speaks at Hult San Francisco 2012 (photo by Hult San Francisco via Flickr)

Bill Clinton’s Hult social venture prize hosts six ÇÑ×ÓÖ±²¥ teams in China, Brazil, beyond

World’s largest student competition puts $1 million in healthcare start-up funds at stake

A record six ÇÑ×ÓÖ±²¥ teams have advanced to the regional finals of the fifth annual Hult Prize, the world’s largest student competition and start-up platform for social good. In partnership with President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), the competition identifies and launches social ventures that aim to solve the planet’s most pressing challenges. Student teams compete for US $1 million in start-up funding to launch a sustainable social venture.

The 2014 Hult Prize will focus on a challenge personally selected by Bill Clinton: helping the 250 million slum dwellers around the world suffering from chronic diseases.

One winning team from each regional final will move into a summer business incubator, where participants will create prototypes and set up to launch their new social business. Delegates to CGI's annual meeting in September will judge a final round of competition and choose a winning team. (Full list of ÇÑ×ÓÖ±²¥â€™s competitors listed below.)

ÇÑ×ÓÖ±²¥'s most multidisciplinary Hult team consists of Rotman MBA student Josephine Chan; Engineering Master’s student Paige Dickie; Law student Bhuvana Sankaranarayanan; and Faculty of Medicine alumni Patrick Lam (PhD, Physiology) and Kelvin Law (PhD, Molecular Genetics); whose team will compete in Shanghai.

Lam, an alumnus from the Department of Physiology, spoke with ÇÑ×ÓÖ±²¥ News about his team’s preparations for the competition in Shanghai, where they'll be up against 33 other teams.

Does your team already have a project in the works that you'll be presenting in Shanghai?
Yes, we have been passionately developing our project for quite some time. As of now, our concept is confidential, but what we can tell you is that we are trying to increase the accessibility of pharmaceutical drugs to chronic disease sufferers least likely to get them.

Do you know what made your team stand out -- why your application was chosen above others?
Although we are not sure what defining factors set us apart, I would say that our team's strength is diversity with a proven track record of success. We have numerous academic qualifications and experiences in multiple sectors, including work with non-profits. We also pitched our social venture concept in the application, and the quality of our idea might well have been the reason that we were selected.

How did your team come together? It is a very scholastically diverse group.
We are just five like-minded individuals passionate about making a lasting social impact. Altogether, we are a team that comes with over three decades of high level tertiary education at the University of Toronto and 12 academic degrees. We have really come to work as a confident team, transforming our individual experiences and skills into a powerhouse of social entrepreneurial innovation. 

What are your expectations for Shanghai?
Although we don't necessarily have expectations about the outcome, we are confident in our idea as well as ourselves. We have transformed our great social venture idea into a sustainable business concept that we will present to the best of our abilities. Overall we feel very positive regarding our position and preparation going into the competition.

To help us get to Shanghai and present our legendary idea for this great cause, please support us at: 

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ÇÑ×ÓÖ±²¥ Competitors for the 2014 Hult Prize
The team of Patrick Finegan, MBA’15; Shelly-Anne Rampersad, MBA’15; Andrew Barkman, MBA’15; Mark Kostove, MBA’15; and Madison Dennis, a fourth year student at UofT’s Faculty of Medicine, are headed to the Boston regional final.

A second team has also advanced to the Boston regional final with members Priya Kumar, MBA’15; Emame Akpan, MBA’15; Ran Liu, MBA’15; Abhishek Sharma, MBA’15; and Tatenda Chirusa, MFin’15.

The team of Edmond Chan, MBA’15, Piraveina Gnana, MBA’15; Faisal Uddin, MBA’15; and Gregory Ray, MBA’15 has advanced to the San Francisco regional final.

Headed to Sao Paulo for the regional final are Fareena Contractor, MBA’15; Ali Yousaf, Evening MBA’15’; Parthiban Manoharan, MBA’15; Basel Jarrad, Evening MBA’15; and Raul Valenzuela, MBA’15.

The multidisciplinary team, consisting of Josephine Chan, Evening MBA’16; Paige Dickie, MASc’13  from the Faculty of Engineering; Bhuvana Sankaranarayanan, JD’14 from the Faculty of Law; and from the Faculty of Medicine, Patrick Lam, PhD’09 (Dept. of Physiology) and Kelvin Law, PhD’13 (Dept. of Molecular Genetics), will compete in Shanghai.

The  team of Neil Peet, MGA/MBA’15; Michael Ciniello, MGA/MBA’15; Matt Cahill JD/MBA’15; Kerry Patterson MGA’15 and Debra Kiger, a PhD student from the University’s Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, are headed to the regional final in Dubai.
 
More about the Hult Prize
The Hult Prize is a start-up accelerator for social entrepreneurship, which brings together the brightest college and university students from around the globe to solve the world’s most pressing issues. The annual initiative is the world’s largest student competition and crowd-sourcing platform for social good. The Hult Prize has been funded by the Hult family since its inception in 2009. To learn more, visit .

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 150 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date, CGI members have made more than 2,500 commitments, which are already improving the lives of more than 430 million people in over 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will be valued at $87.9 billion.

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