What is Hult Prize?

Hult Prize at RU
Hult Prize Rutgers
Published in
3 min readJul 4, 2020

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Learn more about the “Nobel Prize for students”!

competitors and judges for the 2020 Hult Prize at Rutgers competition

Do you want to be a changemaker? Well, look no further!

The Hult Prize is a global competition that encourages young people to learn entrepreneurial and leadership skills by designing startups to solve a particular challenge presented to them.

The Hult Prize, in partnership with the United Nations, is the world’s biggest engine for the launch of for-good, for-profit startups emerging from universities all around the globe. Hult Prize at Rutgers is an on-campus case competition that provides students with the opportunity to have significant social impact and win seed funding for their idea!

You must have a lot of questions. This article will try to answer all of them.

Who can compete?

Anyone in college! Although this competition tends to target business students, we love seeing students of all disciplines coming together to create a bold business. All you need is a passion for making a positive change in the world! You do not need to have prior business knowledge. For example, last year’s on-campus winners were a freshman team of science and business students!

What’s the challenge?

The challenge changes every year but all challenges aim to solve a UN Sustainable Development Goal.

For example, last year’s challenge was to design a startup that generated a positive impact on our planet with every dollar earned, meaning that all profits made by the company will go directly towards their desired method of saving the earth. The startup should also be able to net 1 million consumers.

What’s the prize?

The grand prize is one million dollars to launch your startup.

Sulis from Rutgers University wins the Boston Regional in 2018

How do I compete?

For students at Rutgers, come to one of our interest meetings that will be held in September 2020! Once you grab a team and sign up, it’s all about creating the perfect pitch deck for your BOLD business that will wow our judges in December.

It will be your job to understand the challenge using your invaluable experiences to evaluate if the business model is both profitable and sustainable while also accomplishing its primary goal of benefitting the earth. The bigger the better: the best models should be replicable and should have a contingency plan for every industrial roadblock that currently serves as a detriment to the environment.

The winning team at our Hult Prize competition on campus will represent Rutgers at one of the regional competitions against other top teams.

What’s the timeline?

  • December 2020 — compete in the Hult Prize On Campus competition at Rutgers
  • March-April 2021 — compete in one of fifteen Regional Finals
  • Summer 2021 — participate in the Global Accelerator where the top 6 teams will be picked
  • September 2021 — compete in the Global Finals at the United Nations

Do Rutgers students even stack up?

Yes! Since the creation of Hult Prize at Rutgers, we have had teams compete in regionals and have even gained a positive reputation within the Hult Prize community. We’ve had teams make it to Top 6 at Regionals, Summer Incubator, and even win the whole competition! In 2017, a Rutgers team, Roshni Rides even won the World Champions one million dollar prize to jumpstart their startup.

Roshni Rides with former president Bill Clinton after they won in 2017

Hult Prize is an amazing experience that you will not regret. Janice and I have both grown our network and gained valuable start-up experience that can be beneficial in every field.

Now it’s your turn to be global changemakers!

Rachelle & Janice,

Your co-campus directors :)

How Can You Stay Connected?

Follow us on Instagram @hultprizeru for more information and updates on interest meetings and workshops.

Email us at hultprizeru@gmail.com with any more questions! We’d be happy to help and we’re looking forward to meeting you soon.

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