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Leslie Ossete (second from the left) and her teammates from Team ‘Magic Bus’.
Our Ambassador of the Week is Leslie Ossete from the Republic of the Congo. Leslie is part of Team ‘Magic Bus’, a group of four students at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana that won the regional finals of the prestigious Hult Prize in Boston this week. Now, the team has a chance to win 1 million US dollars in seed capital to put their social business idea into practice.
Team Magic Bus developed an innovative and affordable solution for transportation in crowded slum areas. From July to August, the group will receive mentorship and professional advice to further develop their idea and officially launch their social business. The winner of the 2016 Hult Prize will be announced by former US president and One Young World Counsellor Bill Clinton on 29 September in New York.
The Hult Prize Foundation encourages young, bright students to come up with solutions for the planet’s most pressing issues. The organisation’s annual contest is the world’s largest student competition for positive social change and has been named by TIME Magazine as one of the top five ideas changing the world.
The challenge for 2016 is to build a social enterprise that could support millions of people living in crowded urban areas. The challenge was personally selected by Clinton. More than 25.000 people from over 500 schools and colleges in 150 different countries applied for the competition. Leslie’s team is one of six teams left in its final phase.
Past challenges tackled by the competition include global food security, energy poverty and clean water.
Congratulations Leslie and team!
Find out more about the annual Hult Prize competition via http://www.hultprize.org/.
