UT Hosts Local Edition of the Hult Prize

On Friday, Nov. 21, 10 teams of three to five University of Tampa students will compete for a chance to win $1 million in startup capital. UT is one of approximately 75 colleges and universities chosen to host a local edition of the Hult Prize, allowing the winning team to bypass the application round and go straight to regional competition. The UT event will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in the Martinez Athletics Center’s Sword & Shield Room.

The Hult Prize, in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), is a startup accelerator for social entrepreneurship which brings together college and university students from around the globe to solve the world’s most pressing issues. This year’s theme, selected by President Bill Clinton, is Early Childhood Education in the Urban Slum and Beyond.

The winner of the UT event will automatically advance to compete in the regional finals March 13–14, 2015, in Boston, one of six global locations where regional finals are being held.

The six regional finalists spend the summer at the Hult Prize Accelerator, a six-week program of intensive entrepreneurial seminars hosted by Hult International Business School, to hone their business concept and proposal.

A final round of competition will be held during the CGI annual meeting in September 2015, where the winning team will be awarded the $1 million prize.

The annual Hult Prize competition is the world’s largest crowdsourcing platform for social good. Each year, $1 million in startup funding is awarded to the team of students that develops the most radical and breakthrough idea to solve one of the world’s toughest social challenges.

“It’s not every day that you have an opportunity to change the world,” said Phil Michaels ’10 MBA '15, the campus director for the Hult Prize competition at UT. “This is our chance to show the world that our institution is dedicated to using disruptive innovation to generate worldwide social impact.”

The event is sponsored by the Sykes College of Business Entrepreneurship Center and Hill Ward Henderson.

“Hill Ward Henderson is pleased to support the students competing in the local edition of the Hult Prize,” said R. James “Jim” Robbins Jr., managing shareholder of Hill Ward Henderson. “We take pride in fostering our local students in their efforts to show the world their innovative ideas to solving the world’s most pressing issues.”

Tickets can be purchased at www.HultPrizeTampa.Eventbrite.com and are $5 for UT students and $15 for general admission. Corporate sponsorships are available for $150 and include four seats.

For more information, go to www.HultPrizeAt.com/Tampa or contact James Zebrowski at jzebrowski@ut.edu or (813) 257-3039.