T Connect bags Hult Prize On-Campus Program Win
Team J-Makers’ comprised of Sawa Ueno, Shion Hashimoto, and Gahee Ham with their T Connect initiative bagged the win during the On-Campus program stage of this year’s Hult Prize challenge held at the Theodore Buttenbruch Hall, USC-Downtown Campus, Feb. 9.
The all-freshmen team’s T Connect pitch was designed to bridge the gap between tourist and tour guide, as it aimed to reduce the hassles by operating as a ‘matching service’ between the two clients.
“When we discussed about our project we focused on tourism. Since it is easier to spread to the whole world,” Ham stressed.
Ham, who is taking up BA Political Science, expressed her joy upon hearing the announcement of winners together with her team. Shion is taking up BS Tourism Management while Sawa is a BS-BA Marketing Management major.
The trio will now look forward as they move on to the next stage of the competition, the Hult Prize Regionals that will be held in Manila on April 5 as J-Makers will seek to sell their venture against the country’s finest.
The event was a culmination from last week’s Hult Prize On-Campus program boot camp that aided the participating teams in the competition.
School of Business and Economics council president Norberto Solas Jr. stressed the event’s significance as an avenue that will provide thousands of meaningful jobs for the youth in the next decade.
“The Hult prize is the world’s biggest engine for the launch of for good, for profit enterprises emerging from universities. Today is the day you share your brilliant ideas regarding business ventures that would help eliminate youth unemployment,” Soles said in his opening remarks.
With their gears set on the Manila leg, J-Makers will now look to have their sights on proceeding to the third stage, the Accelerator Program, a six-week journey which will be held in London on July. With the Finals Program slated this September at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
