NCCU team wins prestigious Hult Prize
2015/10/01
A team from Taipei City-based National Chengchi University’s International Master of Business Administration program was announced Sept. 27 in New York City as winner of the Hult Prize and US$1 million in seed capital.
Comprising Chen An-nung of Taiwan, Andres Escobar of El Salvador, Juan Diego Prudot of Honduras and Taylor Scobbie of Canada, the group finished atop a field of 22,000-plus students representing more than 350 colleges and universities from 150 countries and territories. They also won the prize’s online crowdfunding challenge with a record US$57,000.
The foursome was selected on the strength of its PlayCares project—a community-operated daycare franchise featuring a classroom and Montessori-style teaching system. A pilot facility has been set up in El Salvador, with another planned for Honduras.
According to Chen, the key to the social enterprise initiative is a groundbreaking global microequity platform enabling investors to contribute to providing early education in less economically developed parts of the world.
“We want to establish thousands of schools over the next five years,” she said, adding that by leveraging small investments from around the world, millions of children can be properly educated.
Echoing Chen’s remarks, Scobbie said the team is looking to put the power to make socially conscious investments back in the hands of everyday people.
Established in 2009 by the Hult International Business School and Clinton Global Initiative, the prize is the world’s largest student competition and crowdsourcing platform for social good.
Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=237149&ctNode=2194&mp=9)