Business School could win big bucks

After advancing to the regional finals of the fifth annual Hult Prize competition, Exeter Business School’s One Planet MBA team could be in with the chance of winning $1,000,000 in start-up funding for a sustainable social venture.

The Hult Prize, which works in partnership with President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative is the world’s largest student competition and start-up platform for social good.

This year’s competition aims to focus on helping the 250 million slum dwellers around the world suffering from chronic diseases and will take place on the 7th and 8th March in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, Shanghai and Sao Paulo.

The competing teams were chosen from more than 10,000 applications received from over 350 colleges and universities in over 150 countries.

Exeter’s One Planet MBA team is a multinational team composed of five students from the Business School who will compete in London.

Following the regional finals, the winning teams from each city will move into a summer business incubator for mentorship in setting-up their new social business.

The final round will then be hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative in September and the winning team will be awarded the $1,000,000 prize by President Bill Clinton himself.

The One Planet MBA Programme Director Professor Nicolas Forsans said: “The achievement of the One Planet MBA team reaching this stage of the regional finals in such a high profile competition testifies to the quality of University of Exeter students, academics and alumni. We wish our team the very best for this exciting and challenging stage of the competition.”