18th January 2023, Kathmandu
The Hult Prize is a global student competition that aims to identify and support social entrepreneurs who are working to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues.
This start-up accelerator is an annual event that challenges students to create innovative solutions to critical issues related to a particular theme.
A different theme is provided every year. To combat the unemployment issue triggered by the pandemic, “Getting the world back to work” was the theme for the last year (2022). This year, the theme is “Redesigning Fashion.”
The fashion industry is not sustainable today. Fashion is the second most polluting sector in the world. Its entire value chain has adverse effects on both humans and the environment.
It is responsible for up to 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions—more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
It is high time to rethink the fashion industry’s ecosystem. Hence, the challenge for the participating undergraduate students this year is to devise innovative and long-term solutions to redefine different stages of the fashion industry’s ecosystem so as to provide the United Nations some succor in meeting its Sustainable Development Goals by the 2030 deadline.
The winning team will get a $1 million grant to help bring their idea into reality.
Starting this year, we have the Hult Prize at Deerwalk College. On 16th December, interested students came together and the organizing committee was formed under the supervision of our Campus Director and Deputy Campus Directors.
The Organizing Committee then organized an Introductory Session on 30th December 2022 where the Startup Manager, Kinjle Nepal, familiarized the interested participants on this year’s theme. She successfully cleared out the confusion regarding the competition.
Upon the call for participation, we assembled 6 teams competing this year. To assist these teams, we have different sessions lined up. On 16th January, Sudip Bastola, Founder and CEO at Pek Academy, provide an informative session on how to foster a startup.
Similarly, in the following week, Ujjwal Koirala, Co-Founder at Jobsspiner.com, will provide information on “How to make an effective pitch deck?”.