Founded in 2009 by a group of Hult International Business School students eager to make a positive impact, Hult Prize has evolved into a year-long competition that not only surfaces innovative ideas but also helps nurture them into viable social businesses.

Each competition cycle sees over 10,000 teams develop business ideas that address a global challenge. Through successive rounds of the competition, the top 20 startups are selected to participate in the month-long Global Accelerator program at Hult Ashridge, EF's executive education school outside of London. As part of the accelerator, they get hands-on support from Hult Prize mentors and staff who help them refine their pitch in preparation for the biggest challenge yet: the Global Finals.

At the finals, six teams present their business ideas to a panel of experts in front of a live audience. Although the winning team takes home 1 million USD in seed funding – a transformative sum for any young entrepreneur – the impact of the competition doesn't end there. As a result of the unique year-long experience, many Hult Prize alumni have gone on to launch other high-impact businesses or successful careers in the field.

Over the years, Hult Prize participants have tackled a diverse range of topics. In 2013, with nearly one billion people suffering from hunger worldwide, participants were challenged to solve the global food crisis. The need to discover a scalable solution to such a devastating reality spurred the winning team from McGill University in Montreal, Canada to develop a groundbreaking business: Aspire Foods, a company that produces nutrient-dense protein from insects, at scale and using cutting-edge technology.

In the aftermath of the global pandemic, the 2022 competition saw teams tackle a timely challenge: How to get people back to work. Ecobana, founded by students from St. Paul's University in Kenya, the winning team addressed this challenge from a unique perspective: Reducing period poverty and inequality by making affordable and environmentally friendly period products accessible to all.

In 2023, the focus of the Hult Prize was to find solutions to help make the fashion industry more sustainable. The winning team, Banofi Leather from Yale University, developed an alternative plant-based leather made out of banana crop waste. Thanks to Banofi, banana farmers in India earn additional income while supporting better environmental practices. Their efforts contribute to a reduction in the use of real leather, associated with a range of environmental problems and ethical concerns.

The 2024 competition – marking the 15th anniversary of the Hult Prize – invited students to pick any of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and come up with a social enterprise that helped reach it. Korion Health, founded by two students from the University of Pittsburg and the University of Maryland, won with an electronic stethoscope designed to monitor heart and lung health from afar, helping expand access to essential and life-saving health services.