Student entrepreneurs compete for global prize


The Hult Prize, a global competition for college or university student entrepreneurs, launches at USC on Thursday night.

The competition, which began in 2010 and whose sponsors include the Hult International Business School and the Clinton Global Initiative, asks small student groups to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues with the chance to ultimately win $1 million and a chance to develop their idea into their own start-up. This year’s topic was chosen by former President Bill Clinton and is centered on providing early childhood education in the urban slums and beyond.

The quarterfinal event will be held at Hoffman Hall at 10 a.m. on Nov. 15, and the winner will move on to the regional finals held in San Francisco, Boston, Shanghai, Dubai and London in March 2015. The regional finalists then attend the Hult Prize Accelerator for six weeks during July and August to take an intensive course load of entrepreneurial classes from Hult International Business School. Following the Hult Prize Accelerator, the finalists attend the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting in September and pitch their ideas in front of a world-renowned group of judges, which includes Clinton, that chooses the grand champion.

“The Hult Prize is a global students competition, and I can’t think of a better community that has the cultural connections, experiences, and knowledge needed to solve global issues than ours,” Anzal Adam, campus director of the Hult Prize Initiative at USC, said in an email to the Daily Trojan.

Adam, a senior majoring in accounting and business administration, competed in the 2013 Hult Prize competition and said that that was what inspired her to bring the event to campus.

“During my first semester in fall 2012, I was invited by a group of graduate students from the Price School to join their team in competing for the 2013 Hult Prize and solving Global Food Insecurity,” Adam said in an email. “We made it to the regional finals in Shanghai.”

Adam, a native of Somalia who has also lived in Kenya, said the 2013 Hult Prize topic hit close to home.

“Having lived in Kenya where the Kibera slum, the largest in the world, is situated, I know just how dire the situation was for the slum dwellers,” Adam said in an email. “Also, my native country Somalia had just experienced one of the most severe famine[s] and drought[s] in the preceding years and I thought that it would be a shame to pass up the chance to help make a difference.”

Teams of three to five members have been permitted to register at Hult Prize at USC’s website or their Facebook page since last Wednesday.

One of these hopeful teams competing, led by team captain, Remaya Campbell, said that their strategy is to look to those in need for the solution.

“We’re really basing our team on the idea that solutions from afar are not effective,” Campbell, a freshman majoring in film and television production, said in a text message to the Daily Trojan. “To change someone’s life you have to understand them, and you can’t be afraid to walk among them.”

Overall, Adam said her biggest goal is to bring the Trojan Family together for the common good.

“We hope to promote interdisciplinary interaction within the USC community in solving social issues,” Adam said in an email.