New York, U.S.A. – Carnegie Mellon, Hult International Business School and NYU Abu Dhabi were honored for their commitment to eradicating poverty at the Hult Global Case Challenge in New York City, hosted by Hult International Business and the Clinton Global Initiative.

The three winning teams beat thousands of students from the world’s best business schools for a US$1 millioncash grant and
were honored by President Bill Clinton.

Started three years ago by Hult graduate Ahmad Ashkar, the Hult Global Case Challenge is the largest and most respected initiative of its kind. Harnessing the power of crowd sourcing, the Hult Global Case Challenge attracted students from 350 colleges and universities to provide solutions to the real challenges facing three NGOs. These are Habitat for Humanity, which builds affordable housing; SolarAid, which brings renewable energy to impoverished communities; and One Laptop Per Child, which provides low-cost computers to children.

A panel of high-profile judges including: Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, Unilever Chairman Michael Treschow, social entrepreneur Darell Hammond, and the CEOs of the three NGOs, selected the winners in education, housing and energy.

Education               

Winner: Carnegie Mellon

To help One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) put 10 million laptops in the hands of children worldwide in the nextfive years, the Carnegie
Mellon team presented an innovative approach to ensure streamlined laptopdeployment and to create a global brand for the
NGO ’ s open-source software.

“The Hult Global Case Challenge has provided us with many ideas to address the challenge of scaling OLPC to enable learning for the world’s poorest children,” said Rodrigo Arboleda, Chairman and CEO of the One Laptop per Child Association. “We appreciate the creativity, passion and effort of all the student teams around the world who participated in the competition.”

Housing

Winner: Hult International Business School

Habitat for Humanity has a mission to provide homes for 50 million people within the next 10 years.
Hult ’s winning solution focuses on harnessing the intelligence of those at the bottom of the pyramid andequipping them to
solve their own problems.

“Hult’s Global Case Challenge is good news for everyone involved,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity. “Students have the opportunity to solve real-world challenges, and organizations like Habitat benefit — not only from the prize money used to implement the winning proposal, but also from the ideas that emerge from crowdsourcing and the relationships that we develop with tomorrow’s business leaders.”

Energy

Winner: NYU Abu Dhabi

Many Africans still rely on kerosene lamps. NYU Abu Dhabi ’ s solution focuses on creating a network ofentrepreneurs and
technicians who will sell and fix solar lamps in a sustainable way.

Speaking in support of the winning team’s solution, SolarAid CEO Steve Andrews said: “Our goal is to eradicate the kerosene lamp from Africa by the end of this decade. That’s simply a huge challenge, which will only be possible with massive innovation. Having the top students from around the world competing to come up with great ideas for how we will do this is an extraordinary boost. It’s already changing the way we think and work.”

Ahmad Ashkar, the founder and CEO of the Hult Global Case Challenge, said: “This initiative aims to revolutionize how we think about the world’s most pressing social challenges. With US$1 million in seed capital, students from all over the world have a chance to establish social enterprises that achieve real results.”

Congratulating the winning teams, Hult President Dr Stephen Hodges added: “The Hult Global Case Challenge is an important part of Hult’s push to encourage social entrepreneurship among talented students, whichever country they come from. Through this visionary kind of crowd sourcing we’re giving NGOs access to a wealth of new ideas and perspectives that help them grow stronger.”

Image Courtesy of  Jose Gil / Shutterstock.com

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