By Patrick Obia
Team Direct Current (DC) Solar Stove has emerged winner of the 2020 Hult Prize Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) challenge in Calabar, the State capital.
Hult Prize, a foundation geared towards transforming how young people envision their own possibilities as leaders of change in the world around them. With a US$1,000,000 global startup prize as its anchor activity, has brought impact-focused programs, events and trainings to over a million students globally, creating a pathway for youth everywhere to take action to build a better world.
The 2020 Hult Prize CRUTECH challenge which held at the Bridge Leadership Foundation Hall, saw five teams; Organic Farm, Jemk Cycle Farm, DC Stove, Think Hana and Ekig Much Boost, which had scaled through the finals, display their entrepreneurial prowess.
After a rigorous scrutiny by a five-man panel of judges, DC Solar Stove came out victorious with its prototype DC Solar Stove.
CRUTECH Director of the challenge, Vivian Ubani Adaeze, said it has been an impactful experience and a show of innovative skills by CRUTECH students. She urge those who lost out not to relent their efforts rather, push further as there are other opportunities.
“It’s been an impactful experience. Today, Hult Prize CRUTECH did show up that they are social impact makers.
“Hult Prize is a social entrepreneurship competition for young people providing the platform to think for themselves to research, sort for problem in our environment and proofer solutions to that problem. This is one of it’s kind in CRUTECH and I am really proud the young people we have here on campus really gave in their best in providing solution to the problem we have in our environment; it is awesome.
“The winner will be representing the school at the regional level and to compete along side other universities. The regional is happening in over 30 countries.
“In every competition, a winner will always emerge. I believe the judges did justice to the competition.
“For anyone to attain success, there has to be something extra; what differentiate those at the top and those below is just the extra and Hult Prize is looking for uncommon ideas, extraordinary idea, so your ideas need to wow them enough before they can put you in that position or give you a prize of one million dollars. My message is that they should keep working to give us more extra.” She advised.
Speaking, one of the team member of DC Solar Stove, Miss Victoria Ekpenyong Effiong, expressed happiness for her team emerging winner stressing that it was a tough journey. She encouraged those who could not scale through not to let loose their hope as everyone is a winner.
“We emerged as the winner in the Hult Prize event and it has been a wonderful process and I’m very happy that we emerged as the winner. It does not mean that other projects weren’t good but I’m just grateful that we emerged meaning that we still have to buckle up and sit up for more that is coming.
“The journey was so so stressful, it is quite experiencing, it’s quite innovating, it’s quite motivating; the experience was just unimaginable; it was a great success I learnt a lot, my team learnt a lot and we impacted so much into ourselves.
“We look forward to make the world a better place with our products, we also look forward to making Hult Prize event love us, our product and look forward to make livelihood safer, better and happier. DC Solar Stove is a stove that connects you with your environment, to renewable energy; make you cook with less stressful experience and you love what you’re doing because you cook for less without having to spend a lot. So I’m looking forward to making it to the top, touching lives, making our world, economy and environment a better place.
“All I have to say to other team is that, they should keep on pushing forward, they should not stop. The projects I saw today were wonderful I never know we have so many aspiring youths out there, they should keep on working towards seeing that the world is a better place. It is what Hult Prize has made me to understand that there is a better world, a better community. They should keep on doing what they know how to do best, keep on reading, keep on researching both national and international.”
Encouraging both the winners and those who lost out, one of the judges, Prof. Babson Ajibade, a professor of Arts and Visual Culture, advised the students to polish their ideas and innovations in order to make it to the top.
“My message to them is, they should continue to work as hard as they have worked in the last couple of weeks. Every single team have worked so hard, they have some interesting and nice sounding ideas, some brought prototypes and some technological break through, I think they should work harder to polish their ideas, polish their innovations and make it more sellable to the global community.”
See pictures below.
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