Hult Prize is an annual team-based social entrepreneurship competition that challenges students to present a sustainable business model, aiming to contribute in solving a pressing social issue. There are seemingly endless rounds of social problems that urgently need addressing. Business can be a possible path to improve these adverse situations more effectively. Like every year, Hult Prize is inviting youths to create a for-profit social venture that will create measurable positive impact on people and the planet and support the United Nations in meeting its Sustainable Development Goals by the 2030 deadline.
Bangladesh University of Textiles has been prominently organizing Hult Prize on-campus round since 2019. This year, Hult Prize at BUTEX 2024 committee has added a new dimension by taking several unique initiatives. Students have showed overflowing response and record-breaking participation to the unparalleled promotions. More than one hundred teams have got registered for the on-campus round with around 415 participants. Diversified online sessions have been arranged for the participants to help them understand, grow and unlock their true potentials.
The first online session titled “Understanding the Unlimited Challenge” was conducted on December 30, 2023. Akif Islam, former participant at Hult Prize Global Accelerator 2019, currently working as a Software Engineer at Finexus Group was invited as guest speaker. Hult Prize comes with an exclusive challenge every year to encourage revolutions. This year Hult Prize has broken all the records by making the challenge UNLIMITED! A team can come up with any social venture as long as it is world-changing and aligned with at least one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The session was all about analyzing this year’s challenge and to have a crystal clear conception among the participating students about it. Another incentive event by Hult prize at BUTEX, “Connectivity Camp” was announced in this session. Daylong online campaign took place on the 5th and 6th January, 2024 for helping interested participants in team formation, increasing connectivity and understanding among team members, improving skills.
On January 8, 2024, another online session was led by Ikrar Imtiaz, a former community builder at the Hult Prize Foundation, emphasizing on “Ideation and Solution Generation”. He encouraged the participants to think creatively with brainstorming exercise for ideation. He stated some acing factors like idea evaluation, simple way of presentation, market research, distinguished roles of teammates. The session came to an end with some guidance on how to align SDGs with business venture.
Co-founder and Head of Business Development at Psycure and Advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Mahin Abrar Rahman had run a captivating online session “Crafting Pitch Deck and Pitch Video” on January 9, 2024. He initiated the session pointing on the possible objectives of startups for Hult Prize and alignment with positive impacts. The discussion went on epitomizing identification of simple and relatable problem, evaluation of an innovative and feasible idea by 4C’s, roadmap to imposing pitch, scalability and a precise assertion of financial support with proper budget allocation. The session was wrapped up with some tips for perfect pitch.
Two sessions were directed by Instructor and Content Creator of Interactive Cares and Lecturer of the National Institute of Design, Sadia Islam Promi, in association with the revered E-learning Partner, Interactive Cares. A Session titled “Crafting Startup One Pager” was held on January 10, 2024. The session unfolded the structure of stellar one pager, its essential elements and significance of an alluring header section. The speaker highlighted the clear delineation between the existing problem and the proposed solution. Showcasing any progress made with the venture aka prototype and individual expertise of teammates were stated as the key to capture attention and reliability.
The esteemed speaker, Sadia Islam Promi led “Structuring A Presentation”, the last and final session of Hult Prize at BUTEX 2024 on January 12, 2024. She shed light on stratified, image-oriented and simple slide designing with relevant graphs and charts, signifying vocal and interactive speech. She guided to showcase professional attitude with a catchy logo and relevant tagline conveying a powerful and memorable message. Finance estimation from researched and realistic data was prioritized. Thus the insightful rounds of session were put to an end for this year. Hult Prize at BUTEX 2024 is all set to bring revolutions with the steadfast support of Media Partners- The Business Standard, Textile Today, The Financial Express, E-learning Partner- Interactive Cares, Strategic Partner- YSSE (The Youth School for Social Entrepreneurs).