The Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University announces that the Hult Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious accelerator programs, will take place this fall at Southeast.
The Hult Prize, established by Bertil Hult, is an annual, year-long competition that crowd-sources ideas from MBA and college students after challenging them to solve a pressing social issue around topics such as food security, water access, energy and education.
The Hult Prize, in association with the United Nations, EF Education First and the Hult International Business School, is the world’s greatest engine for the creation of for-good, for-profit businesses emerging from universities. Southeast joins more than 2,000 universities and colleges from around the world to participate in the program.
The competition, organized by and for students, is an opportunity for Southeast graduate and undergraduate students to exhibit their creativity, hone their leadership skills and promote their innovative ideas on the national and international stage, said Jayachithra Jayapal, student campus director for Southeasts Hult Prize competition.
The Hult Prize brings a next level of competition to Southeast, said Jayapal. The competition will help foster the innovative and creative ideas of Southeast students and then support them in implementing those ideas to create change in our local community and beyond.
Named the “Nobel Prize for Students,” ranked among the world’s most innovative organizations by Fast Co., and placed among the “Top 5 Ideas Changing the World” by TIME Magazine, the Hult Prize has prepared more than one million youth in impact entrepreneurship over the past decade. It has driven more than $50 million of capital into the sector, and it has engaged countless students in reconsidering the eventual fate of business as it continues to produce disruptive innovation on college and university campuses across more than 100 countries.
Southeast students can compete as individuals or teams. On-campus programs and activities will be held throughout the fall semester to prepare, teach and motivate students for the judged competition to be held Nov. 6. The top team will advance directly to one of the Hult Prize Regional Summits held around the world in March 2020, where they will then get a chance to advance to the global finals.
Information sessions and workshops will be announced in the coming weeks, and interested students can find additional competition information and updates at catapultsemo.com/hult-prize, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Entrepreneur/Hult-Prize-at-Southeast-Missouri-State-University-107503567274929/, and Instagram at @Hultprizesemo.
Additionally, Southeast Hult Prize organizers are currently seeking student photographers to take photographs during competition events and sessions, and a student event coordinator to help arrange sessions and workshops. Interested students should contact Jayachithra Jayapal at catapult@semo.edu.