Team kilowatts propels to semi-final of the hult prize 2018

A large number of teams took part in the HEC Paris edition of the Hult Prize, the world’s largest student competition for the creation of new social businesses. 

This year’s challenge was “Harnessing the power of energy to transform the lives of 10 million people”

With a distinguished judging panel of 5 judges, including Mark Radka, Chief of Energy, Climate and Technology at UN Environment, and other industry leaders in energy and climate, the Hult Prize 2018 saw HEC students pitch head-to-head to see which team would be triumphant and earn a place at the regional finals in London in March 2018. The winning team from HEC, Team KiloWatts, comprised of Sarim Hassan, Paavan Bhargava, Toms Mathew and Jennifer Lu, were delighted with their victory at the largest Hult Prize competition ever held at HEC. Team member Jennifer Lu stated: The Hult Prize was a fun experience, and a great learning experience- very challenging. I was nervous during the pitch but I was really proud of us after it was done! I’m so excited to see where it goes.”

The event, organised by MSc Sustainability and Social Innovation students Alexandra Peters, Fu Yuan Cheng, Marianne Commere and Jasmin Pockrandt consisted of 3 months’ worth of planning in order to get it to come to fruition on campus, and brought together students from various HEC Master’s and MBA programs. The organising committee were “very happy to have had such an impact at HEC. The Hult Prize competition is not only an important competition to find solutions to the challenge of harnessing the power of energy to change the lives of 10 million people, but we also believe it is about fostering social entrepreneurship within HEC”.

The winner of the London regional finals then moves on to a summer business incubator, where participants will receive mentorship, advisory and strategic planning as they create prototypes and set-up to launch their new social business. A final round of the competition will be hosted in September 2018, where the winning team will be awarded a US$1 million prize.

Good luck to Team KiloWatts and well done to all the teams that participated.

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MSc Sustainability and Social Innovation