January 24, 2017
Business Students Headed to Hult Prize Regionals
Congratulations to Zach Willon (Accounting major) and D.J. Casto (Entrepreneurship/Small Business Management major) who were selected to participate in the 8th Annual Hult Prize Regional Final – San Francisco scheduled for March 3-5. The Hult Prize is the world’s largest student competition. College students from around the world compete to solve a pressing social issue faced by millions via start-up enterprise. A one million dollar prize is awarded to the winner.
Casto (left) and Willon (right) present at the ECU Competition.
Even though their team did not win the ECU Hult Prize competition, all teams who pitched were encouraged to apply through the general application (essay) process. Zach and D.J. applied and were selected from a record-breaking pool of over 50,000+ applications received from over 100 countries to participate in this game changing initiative. Student Involvement and Leadership at ECU will be funding the trip for Zach and DJ.
There will be a winning team selected from each of the five regions (Boston, San Francisco, London, Shanghai, and Dubai). Each winning team will then move into the summer Hult Prize Accelerator – a world class center for innovation and entrepreneurship. There, they take their concept to the next level and refine it, as they move towards developing/scaling a prototype along with incorporating their company which will launch the new venture. After the accelerator, it’s on to Global Finals where each team will present their new social enterprise to luminaries, startup pioneers and global leaders in a quest for the US1M Hult Prize.