MBAs Compete in Hult Prize Regionals

Top-tier schools go head-to-head in world’s largest student competition, competing for $1 million in start-up funding to solve President Clinton’s Healthcare Challenge 

Two full-time MBA student teams from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have advanced to the regional finals of the fifth annual Hult Prize competition. 

In partnership with former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative, the Hult Prize is the world’s largest student competition and start-up platform for social good. The innovative crowd-sourcing platform identifies and launches disruptive and catalytic social ventures that aim to solve the planet’s most pressing challenges. 

Competing at a regional site in Boston is a team of second-year Smith MBAs, including Joseph Baker, Jessica Galimore, Lily Matusiak and Shurid Sen.  A team of first-year MBAs will represent the Smith in San Francisco: Hyuk Lee, Stephen Manti, and Katie Tedrow, as well as Master’s in Public Policy candidate Jingyi Chen. 

These competitions take place March 7-8, 2014. Other regional sites are London, Dubai, Shanghai and Sao Paulo. Advancing teams will launch their new social business with support from the Hult Prize Accelerator -- an innovative incubator for social enterprise. These teams will be hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative as they compete in New York City in September for $1 million in seed capital. 

“Our MBA students compete in competitions all over the world,” said Ken White, associate dean for MBA and MS programs at Smith. “Competing gives them an opportunity to take what they have learned in class and apply it in a new and unfamiliar competitive environment.” 

Both Smith teams were chosen from more than 10,000 applications, received from more than 350 colleges and universities in 150-plus countries. 

The event will focus on helping the 250 million slum dwellers around the world suffering from chronic diseases -- a challenge personally selected by President Clinton. 

Ahmad Ashkar, CEO and founder of the Hult Prize, attributes the success of the competition to the shift in the global economy and the millennial generation’s refusal to live in a world with inequality. “We are giving entrepreneurs from around the world a platform to innovate and revolutionize the way we think about servicing the poor.” 

The Hult Prize, according to President Clinton, “is a wonderful example of the creative cooperation needed to build a world with shared opportunity, shared responsibility, and shared prosperity, and each year I look forward to seeing the many outstanding ideas the competition produces.”