THE University of Mindanao-hosted local edition of the Hult Prize bared on Monday, December 11, Verde Solutions and Innovations as the winning group that will advance to the regional finals.
Hult Prize is the world's largest student competition for the creation of new social businesses. The vertical hydroponic farming-inspired start-up concept of Verde had them won the local edition.
Verde is composed of UM students Sylves Louie Roma, Neil Anthony Demerey and Carl Vincent Olmo.
"For four months we were dealing with the concept, but we did major changes just last Friday to make this more viable and affordable. We are very much grateful for this opportunity," Roma said in a speech yesterday at the Apo View Hotel, Davao City.
"We want to advocate green environment, we are advocating a technology that takes only a small space - vertical hydroponic farming, you can apply everywhere, and we will integrate it solar power energy," Roma said.
The winner of the intra-campus event in December 2017 will automatically advance to compete in one of 16 regional finals happening around the world.
This year's regional finals will be held in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, Shanghai, Toronto, Mexico City, Quito, Bogota, Melbourne, Lagos, Nairobi, Cairo, Tunisia, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore on the weekends of March 9 to 11 and March 16 to 18, 2018.
"We chose London, because why not?," Roma added.
Demerey also shared that their concept goes beyond the competition.
"The mere concept is not just for competition but also to give chance to drug-rehabilitated persons who tend to go back to drugs after rehab, so why not give them a greener chance, this is to help them," Demerey said.
The annual Hult Prize awards $1 million dollars in start-up funding to the team of students that develops the most radical and breakthrough idea to solve one of our world's toughest social challenges.
In partnership with the United Nations, the Hult Prize is hosting college and university events around the world in search of the next game-changing start-up.
"It's not every day that you have an opportunity to change the world. A team of you will be representing all of us at the upcoming Hult Prize Regional Finals happening in March 2018. This is our chance to show the world that our institution is dedicated to Impact. See you in New York!" Charlene Mae Bornea, a CPA and lead organizer of the Hult Prize at University of Mindanao initiative, said.
The one winning team from each host city will then move 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 competition will be hosted in September 2018, where the winning team will receive $1 million.
The Hult Prize is a start-up accelerator for social entrepreneurship that brings together the brightest college and university students from around the globe to solve the world's most pressing issues.
rThe annual initiative is the world's largest student competition and crowd-sourcing platform for social good, and has been funded by the Hult family since its inception in 2009.
Visit www.hultprize.org.