Considered the Noble Prize for students, the Impact Summit of Hult Prize is happening for the first time in Kathmandu. Every year the Hult Prize foundation in support of Hult International Business School, United Nations, Clinton Global Initiative, and Education First announces a challenge under Sustainable Development Goals that address the problems of people around the globe. The students are provided a risk–free platform where they can pitch their ideas and can win 1 million dollars as seed funding for their business.
The program is organized in four phases starting from the OnCampus program where a team of three to four students register their team and compete within the college. The winner of OnCampus is selected to the Impact Summit which takes place in around 50 cities of the world. The winner of the Impact summit is then selected to the Accelerator round which takes place in two rounds, the first being virtual and the second at Ashridge Castle UK (commonly called Harry Potter castle). The accelerator of Hult Prize is considered the best accelerator and incubation program in the world. The top six teams get selected from the Accelerator round where they complete for the UN finals in the United Nations headquarters, New York. The winner receives 1 million dollars as a seed investment for their business development. Hult Prize is the biggest social entrepreneurship program where more than 3 thousand colleges & universities participants from more than 121 countries.
Furthermore, Hult Prize also provides free different pieces of training and workshops to the students; it also provides a platform for rising business with probable investors.
Nepal’s journey with the Hult Prize dates five years. Hult Prize began its operations in Nepal at the university level in the year 2016-17 when the Institute of Engineering (IOE) Pulchowk Campus and Kathmandu University (KU) brought Hult Prize OnCampus in their universities. The OnCampus event hosted by KU was successfully among the top 10 On-Campus programs of the Hult Prize that year. In the year 2017-18 TU School of Management joined the journey by bringing On Campus in their university along with KU and IOE. That year the OnCampus at IOE was ranked top 20 OnCampus of Hult Prize that year. After two years of Hult Prize in Nepal, in the third year 2018-19, Hult’s reach expanded to Pokhara University and Purbanchal University at the same time as KU, IOE, and TU School of Management were keeping up with their OnCampus Events. In the fourth year i.e. 2019-20, Nepal had a total of 10 On-Campus programs among which OnCampus events at Purbanchal University secured top 20 among the OnCampus events of Hult Prize 2019-20. And this year Hult Prize has officially given the privilege to build a community of leaders to help all the OnCampus run smoothly in Nepal. Hult Prize Nepal Community has expanded Hult Prize’s reach with 63 OnCampus events in the nation. With more universities, colleges, and teams, this year Nepal’s involvement with Hult Prize is more engaging than ever.
This year’s Kathmandu Impact is being held from April 23 to April 25 where around 90 OnCampus winner teams are participating in the 1 million Dollar program. The Impact Summit Kathmandu is being hosted by AITM (Asian Institute of Technology and Management) college, Satdobato Lalitpur.
