Hult Prize Pumps EGP 1 Million In A Startup Literally Revving Up Winds In Egypt

Egypt’s Askova just snagged EGP 1,000,000 on Friday, June 1^st from this year’s Hult Prize, which had a them to harness the power of energy; focusing on three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), zero hunger, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation, and infrastructure. Askova, as well as the second runner up, Wastelizer, will head to Hult's accelerator in in Ashridge Castle, in England, for six weeks.

"The acceleration period is divided into 6 phases, and after each phase there is a filtration process according to commitment and progress," Hult Prize Egypt's National Director Amr Mashaly tells Startup Scene ME. "The top teams who will make it to the final phase will get the chance to pitch one last time in September at the UN headquarter for the chance of winning $1 million."

The team of Askova, who met and joined forces at Minya University, has a set of prototypes for wind turbines with an extension that is engineered to accelerate slow winds, such as the ones Egypt has most of the year. Askova's customer base is composed of farmers or landlords running farms, and so far they have sold wind turbines to three customers across Egypt.

"The 2018 Hult Prize challenge involves energy, and it's very important," says Bill Clinton, who is the main supporter of Hult. "The challenge is about the power of energy to positively transform the lives of at least 10 million people by 2025."

Each year, the Hult Prize issues a big challenge aligned with a large market opportunity inspiring students from over 100 countries to solve its greatest problem. The top 50 get incubated in the Ashridge Castle and the top six teams pitch for $1,000,000 in startup funding at the UN headquarters in New York City. Hult's winning teams from each of the 15 regional finals from across the world will join the Hult Prize Accelerator Program at the Ashridge Castle; a global ecosystem of business leaders, mentors, investors, and corporate partners help forge a path for Hult's students to sustain their businesses. 

Since 2010, Hult Prize has been mandating participants to abide by three particular SDGs by which everyone else has to abide by in their business models. The SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals set by the UN in 2015, to compliment the Paris Agreement which mandates that countries zone out their dependency on green house gas emissions as of the year 2020.

Photography: @MO4Network's #Mo4Productions.