BSSC Students emerge top 5% in Hult Prize Competition

Their proposed idea was then selected as top 5% of all start-ups presented at the competition. 

The Hult Prize is a yearlong social entrepreneurship competition, where young people from different countries work to create high impact start-ups that address the annual Call to Action (CTA) in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Finalists pitch their businesses to a panel of expert judges, and the winning team receives $1M USD in funding to make their idea a reality. 

The 2022 Hult Prize competition CTA addressed the SDG 8 - Decent Work & Economic Growth, with the theme ‘Getting the world back to work’. 

GELIM’s idea which centred on providing a digital platform for women to sell their handmade products directly to customers was selected highly from over 50,000 applicants, coming from more than 100 countries. 

Fatima commented: “I really enjoyed the brilliant ideas from talented university students around the world during the pitch day. My team and I put a business idea that can help women sell their handmade product via digital platform directly to a buyer. Although we were not selected to compete at global accelerator at Boston, USA, we had a wonderful experience at the regional competition at Lisbon. We have learnt a lot on how to expand our entrepreneurial ideas via digital transformation and system thinking. Thanks to the programme that we studied this year at UCL, we practiced that knowledge by developing a business model that can disrupt the old system and stand out.”  

Adekunle commented: “The Hult Prize has been a challenging but rewarding experience! We were proud to present UCL at the Regional Summit and look to build GELIM in the coming months. It's been great to apply our recent learnings from Digital Engineering Management straight into building something with high social value.”  

Mohammad commented: “Although it was the first time I participated in the Hult Prize, I gained many experiences. The most valuable one was that I could expand my network. There is nothing more satisfying for me than being in contact with new friends and reminding myself that all people from all countries and races are the same. We need each other to make our present and future happier. Furthermore, we had this opportunity to find the gaps and weaknesses of our start-up business case through the jury questions after the presentation. All in all, there is nothing to lose; it is all is about experiencing, learning, and winning.”