Bill Clinton’s Hult social venture prize hosts six U of T teams in China, Brazil, beyond
Published: February 28, 2014
A record six U of T 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 U of T’s competitors listed below.)
U of T'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 U of T 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.
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:
http://www.gofundme.com/Hult2014TeamFx
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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.
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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