Students from the Student Leadership Program (SLP) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) organized the local round of the Hult Prize Competition (2017-18) for the third time on Thursday, December 07, 2017.

The Hult Prize is the world’s largest student competition and start-up platform for social good.  In partnership with former President Bill Clinton’s initiative, this innovative crowd sourcing platform identifies and launches social ventures that aim to solve the planet’s most pressing challenges. Student teams compete around the world for a chance to secure US$ 1 million in startup funding to launch a sustainable social venture.

A total of 12 AUS student teams competed to tackle the topic of “Energy.”  The teams were tasked to propose a scalable, sustainable social enterprise that harnesses the power of energy to transform the lives of 10 million people by 2025. Each team had a total of six minutes to present, followed by a discussion between the judges and the student teams.

A team comprising Omar Khattab, a mechanical engineering major; Omar Mansour, a chemical engineering major; Omar Ghanem, a marketing major; and Ahmed Kamel, an electrical engineering major, won this year’s event with their project entitled “U-Light.”  

Explaining the winning project, Omar Khattab, said:

"U-Light's main goal is to enlighten people's lives, literally. We are providing a very cheap light source through converting mechanical energy to electrical energy and storing it, through a rotating handle. We will be selling our product at a very cheap and reasonable price, while making a profit at the same time to keep the project sustainable."

Commenting on the event, Dr. Moza Al Shehhi, Dean of Students, said:

“We are pleased to see students eager to change the world with their brilliant ideas. The Hult Prize is run entirely by student directors on each participating campus. The idea behind the challenge is to encourage the youth to think of ways of resolving the world’s toughest challenges, starting in their own communities. Good job to all the teams that participated in this competition and special thanks to the judges who joined us this year.”

"The experience that I gained while organizing this event is priceless. I learned how to work in a team and be responsible for logistics, dealing with judges, guests and much more. Despite the fact that we were busy with exams and projects, I felt proud that we were able to pull together a great event like this,” said Mayadah Farah, Campus Director of the Hult Prize Competition (2017-18), and a senior civil engineering major.