NEW YORK, April 29,
2011 - Hult International Business School today
announced that the University of Cambridge team from the United Kingdom has been selected as the
Global Final Winner of its 2nd Annual Hult Global Case
Challenge.
The competition, held in New York, focused on developing
solutions to accelerate clean water access and sanitation around
the world. The Hult Global Case Challenge is a Clinton Global
Initiative Commitment to Action. President
Clinton delivered the closing keynote address and presented
awards to the winning team.
Hult provided the Global Winner with a $1
million prize, which will be made available to Water.org, an
organization co-founded by Gary
White and actor Matt Damon,
along with the winning idea.
In reaction
to the Global Final Matt Damon
stated: "Water.org is empowering people in developing countries
around the world to gain access to safe water and the dignity of a
toilet. But the problem is so large we need to accelerate our
impact through innovation.
The Hult
Global Case Challenge and the Clinton Global Initiative are perfect
partners in spurring game changing ideas that deliver
cost-effective solutions. It's pretty clear that philanthropy alone
will never be able to reach the nearly one billion people without
clean water.
Solutions
that leverage resources from the ground up are absolutely critical
and the Hult Global Case Challenge is a great platform to capture
the energy and enthusiasm of business school students to create
lasting solutions to the water crisis."
There were a
total of six teams competing in the Global Final round. Members of
the Global Final winning team include: Fabio Scappaticci, Gavin Wedell, Akanksha Hazari, Oremeyi
Akah, and Alejandro Mora.
"Our solution
leveraged an existing behavior among people -- their mobile phone
use -- and coupled it with the existing WaterCredit platform to
create a sustainable structure to provide clean water and
sanitation to those at the bottom of the economic pyramid," said
University of Cambridge team captain Fabio Scappaticci.
"We're
extremely excited to have been a part of this great initiative and
look forward to working with Water.org to move our idea
forward."
The
University of Cambridge's full winning solution video can be viewed
on the Hult Global Case Challenge website at: http://hultglobalcasechallenge.com/.
"We were able
to engage students from around the world in a very challenging way
that forced them to think about how business strategies can be
applied to benefit the greater good," said Hult International
Business School President Stephen
Hodges.
"We think the
winning idea will be very useful to Water.org and their efforts
toward a sustainable solution that gives everyone access to clean
water. We know that the solutions presented today will indeed help
deliver clean water to millions and save lives. Congratulations to
Cambridge University and all of our competing teams."
Hult
International Business School (formerly known as the Arthur D.
Little School of Management) is the first global business school
with campuses in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, and Shanghai.