SME Students Win 2018 Hult Prize Greater Bay Area Innovation Challenge

Finalists and the judges

From May 25 to May 27, the Hult Prize Greater Bay Area Innovation Challenge was held in Shenzhen. Team KACHA, consisting of Zhou Kaicheng, Wu Dingjian, Ye Yujie and Zhang Boyu, class-2019 students from the School of Management and Economics ("SME"), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen ("The University"), under the guidance of Professor Lin Bilian, won the championship against other teams from the Greater Bay Area.

The Hult Prize is the world's largest student competition for social innovation and entrepreneurship. The Hult Prize Greater Bay Area Innovation Challenge has gathered 25 teams from the Hong Kong University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, the University of Macau, and the University of Southern Science and Technology.

The competition focused on three topics: health, environment, and education. It required competitors to render a complete business plan of highlighting business ideas in two days，including conceiving ideas, designing products, and displaying analysis. The proposed entrepreneurial project should also include specific implementation, financial forecasting, and social benefit analysis.

Team KACHA from CUHK-Shenzhen pitching their business plan

Team KACHA demonstrated its strength in the three-day and two-round fierce competition. They calmly delivered a rigorous business analysis and provided practical entrepreneurial solutions. The innovativeness, feasibility, and profitability of their plan were highly recognized and praised by the judges. In the second-round final, Team KACHA won the championship against 25 outstanding teams from Guangdong, Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao with its brilliant creativity, rigorous structure and solid business analysis.

Team KACHA and Instructor Professor Lin Bilian

Competition introduction

        Hult Prize

The Hult Prize was praised by Times Magazine as one of the top five ideas changing the world and inspiring students to create a business plan that promotes goodwill and profitability. In the past ten years, the Hult Prize has injected more than 50 million U.S. dollars for social innovation, leading more than 1 million young people to think about the future of business. The Hult Prize is currently working to inspire disruptive innovations in universities and colleges in more than 100 countries around the world.

The Hult Prize Greater Bay Area Innovation Challenge focuses on the three themes of health, environment and education. Participants are required to propose a profitable, independent, and sustainable business model to solve certain social problems within two days. The judges of the Challenge include Callum Porter Harris, Global Director of Hult Prize, CK Li, China Country Manager, Soap Cycling, Ada Yip, well-known public entrepreneur in Hong Kong, Denis Huen, angel investor and CEO of MedEXO Robotics, and Howard Lam, founder of Minute Maid.
 

 Champion, runners-up, second runners-up with the judges