8th October 2020, Kathmandu

The On-Campus Program of the Hult Prize event is going to be held in the Nepal Commerce Campus. So, we took an interview with the campus director, Ms. Prakriti Pokharel to know what it’s all about.

What is the Hult Prize/Hult Prize at NCC?

Also known as the “Nobel Prize for Students” Hult Prize is an annual, year-long event that crowd-sources ideas from college students after challenging them to solve a pressing social issue in the world. In partnership with the United Nations and former President Bill Clinton, Hult Prize has been encouraging students from around the globe to come up with an innovative idea that meets the years’ theme to have a chance at bagging USD 1million to fund their startup.

Hult Prize at NCC is basically a quarter-final of the main event that takes place in the UN Headquarters, technically it’s called the On-Campus Program. On-Campus Program is the first step to getting into the main event of the Hult Prize, which happens in colleges and universities all around the world before you qualify for the regionals and then into the finals.

How is Hult Prize at NCC trying to create an impact on the students?

With the lack of ECA in the college, the Hult Prize at NCC aims to create a platform for students. Business Studies being a very practical subject, they miss out on the practical aspect without proper events to enhance their skills. So, the Hult Prize will be a place for students at NCC to come up with their innovative ideas and experience the practical side of turning an idea into a business plan. Through this event, the students will get to build a network with other students and even the judges.

What’s are your strategies to make the 1st event of the Hult Prize at NCC a hit?

The organizing committee of the Hult Prize has been formed with students from almost all faculties, which makes it easier to reach out to all 7 faculties. Hult Prize at NCC is also planning to organize orientations, workshops, and incubation programs for the students from the campus which will encourage more participants to join and also will make them more efficient in pitching ideas to the judges.

 Can you explain about the theme for this Hult Prize 2020/21?

The theme for this year’s Hult Prize is “Food for Good- Transforming food into a vehicle for change”. The goal is to create jobs, stimulate economies, reimagine supply chains and improve outcomes for 10,000,000 people by 2030 while meeting the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 12th sustainable development goals.

Also, this year’s goal aims to unlock the potential and power of the most basic and fundamental resource required to fuel humanity with an attempt to eradicate the global food crisis.

Is the ongoing pandemic an obstacle to the Hult Prize at NCC?

Yes, obviously the pandemic has created an obstacle to us but looking at the brighter side, it also has created an opportunity. It has made the event easier for the organizers. Virtually organizing the event also makes it less taxing from the logistics point of view and also cost-effective, so the time that could have been invested in reaching out to the sponsors is no longer necessary.

Talking about the obstacles, organizing an event virtually could make the potential participant skeptical about the event. It also makes it harder to reach out to people unlike announcing it in all the classrooms.