Leave it to four Emory Scholars to integrate the liberal arts mission of the Emory College of Arts and Sciences into a challenge to solve some of the globe’s toughest problems.
A four-member team – sophomores Safiyah Bharwani, Rachel Citrin and Victoria Umutoni and senior Rifat Mursalin – travels to Shanghai next month to face off against 350 other student teams worldwide for the Hult Prize. The annual competition awards $1 million in start-up funds to the best idea for a profitable business that does social good.
Their challenge: create a business that doubles the income of 10 million people living in crowded urban spaces worldwide.
[…] Bharwani’s interest in social action came from her parents, Indian immigrants who encouraged her to give back on trips to their homeland and her own volunteer trip to Mombasa, Kenya, to work with special needs students.
A Woodruff Scholar from Sugarland, Texas, majoring in economics and math/political science, Bharwani talked to members of Emory’s Hult Prize team from last year and began having discussions with Umutoni about general ideas to launch this year’s effort.
True to their intellectual backgrounds, the pair researched global slums and past successful start-ups. They found the enterprises most likely to make a difference focused on the developing world – nations in South Asia and Latin America whose existing infrastructure and political stability could be leveraged.
They found Citrin and Mursalin after posting for like-minded students in the Emory Scholars newsletter.
Source: Emory News
Header image caption: Safiyah Bharwani, Rifat Mursalin, Rachel Citrin and Victoria Umutoni will compete next month in the Hult Prize regional competition in Shanghai. Emory Photo/Video
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