Thursday 13 September 2018

Keble student reaches finals of The Hult Prize

Keble student and former JCR President Ronit Kanwar has reached the finals of The Hult Prize in New York, a prestigious social enterprise competition asking students to solve global challenges.

Ronit is a co-founder and CEO of a social enterprise – Empower Energy – which connects rural India to the modern economy by providing electricity to the most underserved communities. The company equips rural shopkeepers with Solar Charging Stations, allowing them to rent out lamps and battery packs – a safer, cleaner, cheaper and more reliable option than alternatives such as kerosene. Its ‘ultimate vision’ is to set up a ‘last-mile distribution network’ to help 16 million individuals.

After winning the Oxford Campus Round and London regionals, Ronit’s team were 1 of 42 finalists from over 100,000+ entrants to be invited to a summer Accelerator programme. Empower Energy were then selected as 1 of 6 global finalists to pitch for a $1million prize fund at the United Nations. The judging panel consisted of numerous CEOs including Ariana Huffington, with Bill Clinton presenting the winners’ award.

More information about the Hult Prize is available here: www.hultprize.org/finals