On March 17, 2018 the Hult Foundation hosted their 9th Annual Hult Prize Regional Finals at Singapore.
Over 42 competing teams from universities all over the world pitched their social business ideas to a panel of 11 judges who are industry expert themselves.
The competing universities included, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Indian Institute of Management, Kyoto University and University of Dhaka.
The event day consisted of three rounds. The morning and afternoon rounds saw all 49 university teams pitch their ideas to a judging panel of three and a peer panel.
In the evening round, only the top six teams were called to make their presentations in front of all the judges and other participants. Team Elevate from BRAC University was among them.
Team Elevate consists of individuals from multi-disciplinary background driven to bring positive change to the world through their innovative distribution and go-to-market strategy.
The team comprises Tanvir Islam, Talha Ahmed, Sanzia Karim and Faiza Sultan. They were mentored and accompanied by Professor Mahreen Mamoon of BRAC Business School.
The team worked days and nights to bring to life their idea of a simple yet powerful device which can harness and store the energy of the sun to transform the lives of 11.2 million people by 2023.
Within just three months, the team achieved incredible milestones from conducting extensive market research, developing fully functional prototypes to setting up their first model distribution center.
However, they fell just one point short of winning the Regional Finals at Singapore.
All the judges were truly impressed by their empathetic understanding of their beneficiaries, practical attention to details, and their brilliant plan of execution.
They promised to help team Elevate bring their innovative idea to the market by guiding them in their supply chain management, finance and liaisons.
The judges and the event director also encouraged team Elevate to apply for the Online Wildcard Round of the Hult Prize where they would strongly give recommendations for the team.
Team Elevate is now preparing for the Wildcard round to become one of the 50 teams to participate in the Hult Prize Accelerator in London.