Three OAU Students Advance In $1 Million Hult Prize Competition

Three final-year students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, have qualified to participate at the regional stage of the competition for $1 Million Hult Prize.

Timothy Aderogba, Alex Owoseni and Emmanuel Olusiji, who are students of Mechanical Engineering at Ife, are in the competition as Team Utility. Their advancement followed their project which aimed at solving major global problems, such as electricity and clean water, the OAU director of the programme, Barakat Tamiami said.

Ms. Tamiami said the teams were assessed based on how disruptive, scalable, globally, profit-driven and relevant their ideas were.

“Team Utility invented a system that traps heat from solar radiation or heat combustion into energy to purify water and generate electricity, a portable, durable system which costs less than the conventional solar panel,” she said.

“The Team Utility will proceed to the regional level in May 2018 at one of the regional centres across the globe to compete for a chance to secure $1 million in start-up funding to launch a sustainable social venture,” she further said.

The Hult Prize is one of the world’s largest student competitions and start-up platforms for social good. It is sponsored by former President Bill Clinton of the United States.