A five hours long mentorship session was organized for the participants of Hult Prize at Kathmandu University on 2nd December, 2017. A series of different sessions were conducted to help the participants learn about Hult Prize, its impact and preparing a business pitch.

According to the Outreach Coordinator of Hult Prize at Kathmandu University, Pramila Ramtel,altogether 48 participating teams are participating in the competition.

During the mentorship session, an introductory session on Hult Prize and its impact was taken by Ashutosh Mani Dixit, former National Consultant of The National Planning Commission. He was also a Regional Finalist of 2015 Hult Prize in Shanghai, representing The Australian National University.

A session on Energy Poverty in Nepal and the assessment of cooking needs and availability was conducted by Min Bikram Malla, Project Manager of Practical Action. Other mentors were Victoria Ous, Birat Shrestha and Hari Gopal Risal who shared their insight on business model canvas and helped the participating teams in preparing their business pitch. The winning team of last year’s Hult Prize at KU, Team Utopia also shared their experience of winning the on-campus event and competing on the Regional Finals in Dubai on March 2017.

The 2018 Hult Prize Challenge is ‘Harnessing the power of Energy to transform the lives of 10 million people’. There are six dimensions as recognized by 2018 Hult Prize Challenge; Food, Water, Health, Education, Connectivity and Mobility.

Only a year ago we lived with almost 18 hours of loadshedding. 24 percent of total population of Nepal is bound to live in pitch darkness.

"All the participating teams will be pitching their ideas to solve these different global crisis of Energy poverty and to make the energy systems accessible and affordable in places that do not have access to basic facilities” shared Gaurab Dahal , campus director of Hult Prize at Kathmandu University

"One winning team will win the competition, but all teams will be lucky to learn. We are so glad to see an amazing number of people working for a common goal- to transform the lives of millions of people." said Kushal Bhatta,Event Coordinator of Hult Prize at Kathmandu University.

The event has been sponsored by Motif Educational Consultancy, Mi phones, and supported by NIC Asia, Ma-Paani and Digestive biscuits.

The final event for the Hult Prize at Kathmandu University which is an international social entrepreneurship idea competition has been scheduled for 12th of December in Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel where the teams will be competing to win a chance to represent KU in one of the fifteen Regionals Finals and receive US $ 1 million in seed funding in the Global Finals.

Hult Prize is a platform for social change and we are glad to see such enthusiasm in university students to create huge social impact.