Published: March 20, 2015
Two UT Entrepreneurship Teams Advance in Hult Prize Competition
In November, University of Tampa entrepreneurship students were faced with solving a challenge presented by former President Bill Clinton. How can student entrepreneurs improve early childhood education in the urban slums of the world?
Two UT student teams have advanced in the competition, beating teams from schools including Harvard, Princeton and Yale, and still have a chance to win $1 million in startup capital.
Athollo, a team of five UT students who propose the maximization of human potential through the unique use of mobile phones in a growing market, received first place in the San Francisco finals among 51 other university teams and has already brought a Clinton Global Initiative approved curriculum to over 14 countries worldwide.
These students — Phil Michaels ’10 MBA ’15, Brittany Brescia ’15, Ravi Goldberg ’16, Sercan Topcu M.S. ’14 and Ulixes Hawili ’16 — will now continue to prepare for the Hult Prize Accelerator, which is an incubator for six social enterprises participating in the final round. This accelerator, located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will be home for six weeks as these students work alongside companies such as IDEO, a worldwide global innovation, design and consulting company.
In September, Athollo will present to Clinton and the Hult Prize judges for a chance to win the funding. UT is the only U.S. team in the final six, which includes teams from Oxford University, The University of Toronto, ESADE Business & Law School (Spain) and Shanghai University (China).
The other team, BamBoost, competed against 49 other universities in Boston and placed second overall among the six finalists. The team, which is comprised of members Bijen Patel ’16, Caio Amaral ’16, Trent Lott ’15 and Vignesh Parameswaran MBA ’15, will launch an Indiegogo campaign. The team raising the most in its campaign will join the regional finalists as a wild card in competing for the $1 million prize. If BamBoost is successful, UT would have an unprecedented two teams in the final competition.
BamBoost proposes fabricating and selling bamboo fiber cloth diaper liners and toilet bags to families in urban slums. The liners help improve the sanitary conditions in the slums, which improves overall health, including infant mortality.
UT was one of approximately 75 colleges and universities chosen to host a local edition of the Hult Prize in November, allowing the winning team (BamBoost) to bypass the application round and go straight to regional competition. This competition was sponsored by Hill Ward Henderson, which will also sponsor a homecoming event in April for the two teams.
For more information, contact James Zebrowski at jzebrowski@ut.edu or (813) 257-3039.
On Friday, April 17, a panel of four industry professionals will present the obstacles and challenges faced in today’s business environment related to whistleblowing.
The panel will be held at The University of Tampa Sykes College of Business, Room 234, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. This “Hot Seat Event” is sponsored by UT’s Center for Ethics. The public is invited, and there is no charge for the event.University of Tampa film students will screen their work at the first annual Moon Dance Film Festival at UT’s Reeves Theater on Tuesday, April 14, at 8:30 p.m.
Aaron Walker, assistant professor of communication, said the festival is an opportunity for UT students both to screen their work and to curate the best work of their peers.“It’s fully student-run, so it shows how deeply the students care about celebrating the strong work of their peers, but also shows how much desire there is for our FMA students to create venues of success for one another,” Walker said. “It’s a terrific collaboration, and will be a terrific party for film. Plus, the movies are great.”
The Sustainable Business Coalition of Tampa Bay Inc. and The University of Tampa Center for Ethics is calling for nominations for their annual Sustainable Business Awards, which will be held on Wednesday, June 10, at The University of Tampa’s Vaughn Center.
Now in its seventh year, the Sustainable Business Awards, sponsored by the Sustany Foundation, recognize and honor for-profit businesses in the Tampa Bay area that engage in practices that increase economic opportunities and improve the environment and community.