The team of Schulich students Joseph Truong, Vasiliki Belegrinis, Amal Naufer and Akash Sidhu reached the Hult Prize final.Mark Von Holden
For Team Empower, a winding journey that took it from York University in Toronto to China, Kenya and Greece finally came to an end recently in New York.
Though the team, consisting of Schulich School of Business students Joseph Truong, Vasiliki Belegrinis, Amal Naufer and Akash Sidhu, didn't win the $1-million Hult Prize, the lessons they learned along the way should stand their fledgling business careers in good stead.
The theme of this year's Hult Prize, often called the Nobel Prize for business students, focused on restoring the rights and dignities of refugees and societies the world over, with a stated goal of improving the well-being of at least one million refugees over the next five years.
Championing the idea that the knowledge economy is the future of the world economy, Team Empower's Internet 2.0 web app was designed to provide affordable internet access. Its features allow users to access content offline, saving both time and money. The team was also focused on installing WiFi routers in refugee camps and slums to boost connectivity.
After winning the Shanghai regional final last spring, Team Empower set off on a research trip to test its theories.
"In school what we learn about is how to manage a business, but nobody teaches you how to operate a business and what we started to realize over the course of doing this is things are a lot more difficult than what we had originally assumed," Mr. Sidhu explained.
After starting its trip in Kibera, Kenya, the site of the largest urban slum in Africa, Team Empower quickly shifted to Greece, where a lot of migrant refugees were living. There, team members interviewed residents to ascertain their connectivity needs.
"It helped validate the fact that people value connectivity as their No. 1 need, and the reason why they value connectivity so much is because they use it to communicate with their families. They also use it a lot for accessing different educational materials online," Mr. Sidhu said.
Access to the internet helps alleviate boredom for a lot of refugees and occupies their minds, the team discovered.
While the end goal for Team Empower's Internet 2.0 project was to produce a viable, scalable business, valuable lessons, such as being able to adapt quickly to changing situations and recognizing when something just isn't working, were picked up along the way.
"It's an ongoing process of getting into the minds of refugees and people living in urban slums, and this is something we would never otherwise be able to do [without being there]," Mr. Sidhu said.
The final stage of the Hult competition took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York, with Team Empower among the six finalists, which also included teams from the University of Calgary and the University of Waterloo as well. None of the Canadian schools came out on top. Roshni Rides, a motorized rickshaw service founded by four Rutgers University students, took home the grand prize.
While the presentation part of the final forced many of the Empower members out of their comfort zones while addressing the judges, it also drove home the importance of believing fully in an idea and operating as a unit.
"We learned throughout this entire process that team trumps all," Mr. Sidhu said. "You can have a great idea, but your team has to be committed and your team has to 100-per-cent believe in each other."
However, while the UNHCR expressed excitement about taking Team Empower forward, since the end of the competition the foursome has decided to make some changes, and will not be going forward with the business model.
Mr. Sidhu and Mr. Truong are now working together on hosting the first Hult Prize regional event in Toronto, likely to be held at the University of Toronto next March. The pair are also building a Hult Prize Canada national program, open exclusively to Canadian teams which should go ahead in April.
However, Mr. Akash says that the experience gleaned from the Hult Prize competition should stand him and his fellow teammates in good stead for future exploits.
"Our team had an incredible learning experience through the Hult Prize and are grateful for the opportunity," Mr. Akash said via e-mail.
Paul Attfield