Jerusalem | Under the auspices of its president, Prof. Imad Abu Kishek, Al-Quds University (AQU) organized its on-campus finals of Hult Prize competition within the preparations for the next regional and global rounds.
The competition featured presentations of entrepreneurial projects by 21 teams that aim at helping eradicate unemployment locally by employing up top 2000 people within two years of implementation on the ground. Among these teams, the so called “Phoenix Team” won first place, which qualifies it to participate in the next regional and, later on, global rounds.
AQU’s Phoenix team included 4 students: Rahmah Daraghmeh, Rahaf Hussain, Abd el-Rahim Ozra’el, and Jalal Khatib. The team’s project aspires to build an application that aims at booming tourism industry in Palestine by providing certain on-line services.
Dean of the Student Affairs, Dr. Abdul Raof Al-Sinnawi, stressed the importance of such events in encouraging both undergraduate and graduate students to come up with innovative ideas that help solve economic problems, within AQU’s strategy of supporting entrepreneurship at all levels and meeting the demands of the labor market both locally and globally.
The coordinator of the Hult Prize competition at Al-Quds University, Batool Alyan, an undergraduate, expressed her appreciation to AQU. She added, “We are proud that our university has organized this annual competition for the fifth time on its campus”.
Rahma Daraghmeh, also an undergraduate, explained the Phoenix team’s idea , saying that they decided to present pioneering ideas to contribute to economic development both in Palestine and the entire world in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic which negatively impacted the different sectors, mainly tourism.
Since its inception by Palestinian businessman Ahmed Al-Ashqar in 2009, who was a student at Hult International Business School, USA, the Hult Prize has been a benchmark program for social entrepreneurs. Each year, the Hult Prize team issues a big bold challenge aligned with a large market opportunity, inspiring students, whether in undergraduate or graduate programs, to solve its greatest problem.
Al-Quds University seeks, as part of its pioneering vision, to promote knowledge and intellectual exchanges by providing its students with opportunities to learn about world cultures and expertise. Aiming at contributing to creative initiatives and ambitious activities of global interest, the university continuously encourages its students to participate not only in local competitions and championships, but also in international ones
