A million dollar idea
One million dollars to see if your idea can be transformed into a reality which helps the most needy. The prize on offer is high, and noble, for the team of MBA students from SDA Bocconi which has qualified for the final of the Hult Global Case Challenge, based on devising solutions for providing clean and safe water and sanitation to the most needy around the world. The nonprofit organization Water.org will in fact receive 1 million dollars to try to implement the winning proposal.
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| From left to right: Andre Krzyzowski, Nicolette Cora, Partho Ganguly, Alejandra Caceres, Felipe Dell'Oro |
The multinational team composed of Andre Krzyzowski (Germany), Nicolette Cora (South Africa), Partha Ganguly (India), Felipe Dell'Oro (Chile) e Alejandra Caceres (Colombia) won their qualifying round and are now preparing to fly to New York for the April 28th final of the case competition organized by Hult International business school in collaboration with the Clinton Global Initiative.
"We chose to participate because it is a case competition different from the usual, with a nonprofit element and the potential to to make a real impact on peoples' lives," explains Alejandra, team captain.
The team chose to participate in the qualifying round in Dubai and back in March challenged 20 teams from Europe, India and China. Only receiving the day before departure the details of their mission:to develop an innovative idea to provide within 5 years clean water and sanitation to 100 million people worldwide who live on less than 10 dollars a day.
"Water.org already uses a system of water credits, microfinance loans, to allow individuals to get connected to clean water supplies. Our idea is to amplify this system, using 'crowd-funding',to supply multiple accesses to multiple households and to build communal bathrooms in the communities," explains Felipe.
In 5 intense hours the team put together their project which convinced the judges and gave them access to the final in New York where they will challenge the 5 winners of the other qualifying rounds which were held in Boston, San Francisco, London, Shanghai and one online. The team is now refining their project to present to the judges in New York, also with the help of their mentor, Domenico Zaccone, CEO of Sara Lee Italia, who has made available his professional experience in the consumer goods sector. They thus hope to receive first prize directly from Bill Clinton, guest of honor at the event. At stake, the opportunity to work with the nonprofit organization Water.org, co-founded by actor Matt Damon, with a budget of 1 million dollars to try and implement the winning solution.
"It would be a dream to see our idea transformed into a reality which helps the poorest people. An idea which is based on a model which can be implemented all over the world," says Felipe. "The competition is strong but we will make strength of our multicultural element which gives us a competitive advantage."
The other finalists are Boston University School of Management, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Belgrade University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Cambridge University.
In the qualifying round in Dubai a second team of MBA students from SDA Bocconi competed, made up byAntonello Coco, Catryn Wilson, Justin Peverini, Daniel Grimm and Christophe Feuillebois.