‘Team Attallo’
beat 45 teams from the Middle East, Asia and the Americas and is now on
course for the Hult Prize Global Finals in New York and the $1 million
prize shootout
Dubai, 15 March, 2015:
‘Team Attallo’ from University of Toronto were announced as winners of
the Hult Prize Foundation regional finals in Dubai, following a weekend
of presentations judged by leading figures from academia, government and
industry at Hult Dubai’s campus.
Run in
partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), the Hult Prize is
the biggest student competition in the world, with this year’s challenge
of building start-ups to provide sustainable early education solutions
for 10 million children in urban slums set by Former President Bill
Clinton.
Beating more
than 200 students that made up the 46 teams from colleges and
universities across the Middle East and beyond, Team Attallo’s winning
idea was based around bridging the ‘word gap’ – a lack of childhood
vocabulary and the resultant development issues that underprivileged
children often face.
Children aged
three and under from poorer areas often get exposed to 30 million less
words than their counterparts in more affluent countries, and this word
gap has an effect on their cognitive development that lasts into their
adult life.
By using a
combination of picture books with QR code stickers and a simple, low
cost electronic ‘reader’, Team Attallo’s system allows parents to teach
their children new words and increase all-important vocabulary in a
simple, low-cost yet effective manner.
Team Attallo consists of Aisha Bukhari, 31; Peter Cinat, 35; Lak Chinta, 38 and Jamie Austin, 30 – all based in Toronto, Canada.
“We are really
excited,” said Aisha Bukhari at the award ceremony. “We came up with the
idea in the past two months. The biggest thing is for us to impact the
lives of 10 million children and so winning this regional final is a
great start for us. We have a plan that we’re hoping to complete between
now and September and we hope that the regional finals and Hult
Accelerator will give us the momentum to actually go through with it.”
Other regional
finals were held simultaneously in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai
and Shanghai, with a sixth held online, and all successful finalists
will go on to attend the Hult Prize Accelerator in July, a six-week
programme of intensive entrepreneurial seminars hosted by Hult
International Business School.
The teams will
then attend CGI's annual meeting in September, where Bill Clinton will
host the Hult Prize Global Finals. Here, teams will pitch their winning
presentations in front of an audience of globally renowned VIPs. The
winner will be chosen from the six and awarded the $1 million prize.
This year’s MENA
judging panel represented a large cross section of the region’s
commercial leaders and innovators and included: Mohammed Shael Al Saadi, CEO of Business Developments & Strategy Sector at DED;
HE Shaima Al Zarooni, CEO of International Humanitarian City; Rahgu
Malhotra, President (MENA) at Mastercard; and Mahmood Al Bastaki, CEO of
Dubai Trade.
Ahmad Ashkar,
CEO and Founder of the Hult Prize Foundation, said: “The standard of
entries this year was extremely high and we were blown away with the
innovation and creativity displayed by the students. From the many
worthy entries, the winning idea of Team Attallo stood out for its
simplicity and elegance and we wish the team well in the next step of
the Hult Prize journey. Solving issues such as childhood
education is an incredibly difficult challenge, but as we have seen,
these fine young people are more than up to the task.”
For a full list of finalists, visit http://www.hultprize.org/en/