São Paulo – A group of three students from Brasilia University was selected to regional finals of Dubai’s Hult Prize, a social entrepreneurship prize promoted by the Clinton Global Initiative, the organization of former United States president Bill Clinton. The event will be held in March 13th, 14th and the team is searching for sponsorship to travel to the United Arab Emirates.
Hult Prize promotes regional competitions in five cities around the world: Boston, San Francisco, London, Shanghai and Dubai. The winners of the regionals held at these cities go to the prize world final, which takes place in New York. The winning team receives US$ 1 million for the development of its project.
“Every year they launch a challenge in a specific area. This year, the challenge is in primary education. The idea is to create a real product, one that people can use and brings a positive social impact”, explains Thaís Queiroz, doctorate in Foreign Relations and captain of the team.
The other members of the group from Brasilia are Guilherme Ávila, economist, and João Sigora, M.A. in Sociology. Queiroz points out that, among the more than 20,000 entries, her group was the only one from Brazil to be selected to the regional finals.
When talking about the group’s project, she explains that her partner, Ávila, is also a professional magician and that the team used his skills in the area to develop a magic kit aimed at the education of children between the ages of zero to six in poor communities.
“A lot of times, these children don’t receive the appropriate stimulus and magic allows the development of motor coordination and interpersonal relationship, besides letting the child learn in a ludic way”, says Queiroz.
According to her, the magic kit has tricks that allow the children to learn to count and others that stimulate the visual field, for instance. “Magic stimulates creativity”, says the captain, remarking that children that receive the appropriate stimulus end up having a better development.
The project was developed by the group in November and was sent to the competition in December. According to Queiroz, the magic kit created by the group could be sold in schools and to parents under the R$ 10 to R$ 15 price range. She says that the goal of the team is to start the implementation of the project through college extension courses that work with poor communities at Brasilia’s surroundings.
The choice of the Emirate of Dubai as the place for the regional finals was made by the group themselves. According to Queiroz, her team opted by Dubai’s regionals because of the possibility of contact with groups from other developing countries.
“In Dubai, we will have the opportunity of sharing experiences with our colleagues from Asia, Africa and the Middle East”, says Queiroz. According to her, the group intends to build a network of contacts with other students that work on social projects. “That’s why we thought that to go to Dubai would be a better opportunity”.
About the US$ 1 million prize awarded for the winner, Queiroz says that the funds can be used as upfront capital for a business. Besides the money, the winners take part in a one-and-a-half-month course to learn about building a company and receive orientation as to how to invest the capital earned.
However, to take part in the regional finals, the team from Brasilia needs a sponsor to come up with the travel and lodging costs. Queiroz says that the organization only pays for costs for the groups that will be selected for the New York finals.
Queiroz says that for the team to be able to travel to Dubai, she’ll need to come up with a sponsor until the start of March. To stimulate the companies to enter the project, the group built a website in which the team introduces itself and offers proposals of advertising of the sponsoring brands during the Dubai contest. The website’s URL is www.hultprizebrasilia.com
Contact
Companies and organizations interested in sponsoring the team can talk to Thaís Queiroz at the number +55 (61) 8173-9567 or the e-mail hultprizebrasilia@gmail.com
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
