From Guest Blogger, Genny King, MBA 2013
Our team with our ambassador from Hult Global Business School
This past February, I traveled with my teammates, Peter Brinkerhoff, Emily Dorfman, and Sid Padgaonkar to Boston, MA to participate in the Hult Global Case Challenge.
The mission of the Hult Global Case Challenge is to develop innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing social challenges and encourage breakthrough ideas from college and university students around the world.
Our team was selected from a pool of more than 4,000 applications to participate in the competition. We participated with support from the MBA Program Office and Center for Sustainable Enterprise.
The competition explores sustainable solutions in affordable housing, energy, and education for customers at the base of the pyramid. Each year, the Hult Global Case Challenge makes $1 million in seed capital available to pilot the winning teams’ ideas. This year’s Challenge looked at ways Habitat for Humanity, SolarAid, and One Laptop per Child, could scale their operations.
Emily and Sid exploring One Laptop per Child’s XOXO laptop
Our team participated in the education track and developed a recommendation for how One Laptop per Child could deliver 10 million of their XOXO laptops to children in developing countries in the next five years.
We focused on India as an area of immense opportunity and the use of strategic partnerships with corporations, foundations, and local organizations to fund the production of the laptops, distribute the laptops to target markets, and develop teacher-training programs.
The Hult Global Case Challenge is in only in its third year and tripled in size from last year. Our team enjoyed the opportunity to represent Kenan-Flagler Business School in a competition that featured thousands of students from over 100 countries.