Congratulations to Rutgers' Hult Prize Winners!

September 18, 2017

Members of the Rutgers Community:

I’m delighted to congratulate the Rutgers team that won the $1 million grand prize in the final round of the international Hult Prize competition, held this past Saturday at the United Nations in New York City. Former President Bill Clinton announced the winning team—Rutgers student Gia Farooqi and recent Rutgers graduates Hasan Usmani, Moneeb Mian, and Hanaa Lakhani, all of whom have studied supply chain management at Rutgers Business School.

The Hult Prize is a global competition focused on social entrepreneurship.  In this year’s challenge, competitors were asked to develop a startup venture that would help address the plight of refugees.  The Rutgers team developed Roshni Rides, a business model for an affordable and reliable rickshaw shuttle service in South Asia locations with a high concentration of refugees and where transportation options are very limited.  Their plan was selected from among more than 50,000 applications entered from more than 100 countries around the world. In the final round, Rutgers won against teams from Harvard University’s Kennedy School, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, and Canada’s University of Calgary, University of Waterloo, and York University. For more information, see the story linked here.

During a year in which Rutgers students have excelled in many national and international competitions, I know the University community takes exceptional pride in this latest accomplishment, which is further evidence of the talent and dedication of our students.  Again, congratulations to Roshni Rides!

Sincerely,

Bob Barchi