Hult Prize OnCampus Program on AIU Website

Talk Series 01: My Hult Prize Journey

We kicked off our Oncampus Program with an interactive talk series with Hult Prize 2022 Winners Eco-Bana. The founder of Eco-Bana, Lennox Omondi together with Ragdah Ashraf -Oncampus winner at Alneelain University in Sudan- and Amtal Shafi -Hult Prize runner-up at Albukhary International University- enthusiastically related their journey as Hult Prize participants. Their varied journeys were an inspiration that incited our diverse pool of students to come together and embark on an experience for creating impact in our communities through social ventures aimed at Redesigning Fashion.

Talk Series 02: Sustainability in Entrepreneurship

To initiate the participants into the Hult Prize Challenge, we hosted Talk Series 02 titled “Sustainability in Entrepreneurship”. Our guest speakers included Mr Murendeni Mafumo and Ms Supriya Jangre. Ms Supriya Jangre is the Hult Prize Regional Director of Central and South Asia. And, Mr Murendeni is the founder of Kusini Water – a social enterprise in South Africa aimed to tackle the lack of access to safe clean water to South Africans by building water treatment systems from nanotechnology and macadamia nut shells. From this talk, the students gained an all-rounded insight into the 2023 Hult Prize Challenge and the building blocks of a sustainable enterprise.

Talk Series 03:

To wrap off our talk series events, we hosted Talk Series 03 titled “ The Art of Creative Thinking”. We were honored to have Ms Jessica Gonzalez from UpRoot and Ms Payton Ryz from Fomeno as speakers. Their enterprises not only won the Hult Prize 2020 and 2021 challenge respectively, but are revolutionizing the world through their social impact centric nature. Uproot is challenging a sustainable world of plastic straws through cassava straws that are eco-friendly due to their biodegradable nature. And, Fomeno is fighting for a more circular fashion industry through its innovative thrift app. This talk series spurred participants to think out of the box to make the fashion industry sustainable.

Movie Night : The True Cost

The True Cost, a documentary highlighting the true cost of the fashion industry which in simple terms includes desertification, water contamination, slavery, birth defects and death from pesticides and chromium. The shocking, raw and unfiltered revelation of the fashion industry gave the students a truthful account of the blood that goes into making the clothes we wear and the innocent people who are paying the price of fast fashion. The documentary left us all with a deep seated sadness and an unwavering sense of the urgency needed to redesign the fashion industry as well as our own individual fashion choices.

#inspiringminds