YSU International Students Vying for ‘Nobel Peace Prize for College Students’
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A team of three international students at Youngstown State University will compete this week to advance in the competition for the international Hult Prize. The world’s largest case competition comes with a $1 million prize.
“It is known as the Nobel Peace Prize for college students,” said Kelsey T. Jones, YSU coordinator of International Student Services.
The team includes Benedict Kuunaa-eguo Kongyir of Ghana, a graduate student studying mathematics; Lilian Naa Obiokor Tetteh of Ghana, a graduate student studying educational administration; and Oluwatumininu (Tumi) Adeeko of Nigeria, a sophomore mechanical engineering major. The students applied in the fall and will compete virtually in the global regional finals in Boston on April 23.
Prinshep Yadav of Nepal, a junior majoring in mathematics at YSU, is the YSU Hult Prize Campus Director.
Regional winners advance to the Global Accelerator round this summer, with the top teams presenting at the United Nations in New York. The winner gets $1 million in start-up funding for their proposed enterprise. The competition, which includes students from more than 3,000 universities worldwide, asks students to propose sustainable businesses aimed at solving the world’s most pressing issues. This year the topic is Food for Good.
The team’s proposal seeks to help impoverished communities in rural parts of Africa with farming during the dry-season to offset malnutrition and food insecurity and to create economic growth within the regions, Jones said. Africa is projected to lead the world in food insecurity by 2030, according to a press release.
The students partnered with a local organization to create a system to transport water to irrigate farms during the dry-season. Benedict Kuunaa-eguo Kongyir, who used to be a farmer in rural Ghana, is a key part of the YSU team.
Source: YSU News
Pictured: YSU students Oluwatumininu (Tumi) Adeeko, Benedict Kuunaa-eguo Kongyir and Lilian Naa Obiokor Tetteh. (Image: YSU)
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
