It Started with Hult Prize
For Us, by Us:
Tackling Youth Unemployment in 2019
The Hult Prize 10th anniversary challenge asked participants to mastermind a venture that would provide mean-
ingful work for 10,000 youth over the next decade. Two Hult teams proudly represented at the competitive accel-
erator stage, held at Ashridge, UK. Here’s how they got on.
DECNA
Fahad Garba Aliyu Consuela Dezso
Fahad Garba Aliyu is an MBA graduate and serial social
entrepreneur. Previously a director of Hult Prize Africa,
he has gone on to found the Ignite Africa Challenge, a
pan-African platform shaping the future of the continent
through its youth. MBA graduate Consuela Dezso is a business coach and
founder of the World Change Makers Business Academy.
She recently mentored the Hult team, Ariela for Africa,
in the 2019 Hult Prize.
HULT
hat keeps you coming back to social
W
entrepreneurship?
Do you have any fundamental advice for new
founders?
HULT
CONSUELA DEZSO
FAHAD GARBA ALIYU
I’m simply striving, one project at a time, to make
the world a better place. From leading clean water
programs to initiatives promoting peace, support-
ing survivors of terrorism to upskilling young peo-
ple, my mission is to build sustainable social sys-
tems for community development.
What or who is your inspiration?
H
Find something that you truly believe in and are
passionate about, even if you can’t yet see how it
can be profitable. Then give it all your time and ef-
fort to make it succeed. Ideas come as you go, so
just put one foot in front of the other and you’ll be
surprised how things start to unfold.
H
CD
FGA
H
The challenges we’re facing should have been ad-
dressed yesterday; but by starting today, our hope is
that tomorrow will be brighter. As Nelson Mandela
once said, “Of course the task will not be easy but
not to do this will be a crime against humanity,
against which I ask all humanity now to rise up.”
Now we’re rising up. We’re committed to empow-
ering youth to become change agents and make a
decisive impact on their future.
What sustains you on the journey?
FGA
It hasn’t been easy—nothing good in life comes
easy—but it has been the most enjoyable. Having
such a talented team integrated in our organiza-
tion, four of whom are Hult alumni, helps us to
understand what is in front of us. They have the
same drive as me, if not more.
Founder & Executive Director
Abuja, Nigeria
22
MBA
Silver Legacy
H
CD
Why is the Hult Prize a good place to start?
It offers great support in the form of education,
coaching, mentoring, funding, and last but not
least—visibility. It’s also motivating to be part of a
movement that changes the world.
Why seek out a coach when starting a business?
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can
figure everything out on your own. You can, up to
a certain point. But when you start to feel stuck, be
honest with yourself and get help, either from a
coach, mentor, expert in your field, or whoever
seems like a good fit. Sometimes just a small piece
of advice, an idea, or an encouraging conversation
can give you what you need to move forward.
Class of 2015
Business Coach
Bucharest, Romania
@fahadaliyu
Changing Planet
MBA
Class of 2012
consueladezso.com
Team DECNA—meaning “vision” in Hindi—aims to
connect disconnected youth in India to employers
through a series of industry showcases. Teammates
Mallika, Marie-Louise, and Zach are in their second year
of their undergraduate degree and were the youngest
participants to reach the Hult Prize Accelerator in 2019.
HULT
What do you see as the main issues in youth
Silver Legacy seeks to solve problems at both ends of the
age spectrum: it is a training, matching, and scheduling
platform for seniors, focused on storytelling. Built to
employ youth by providing social care for the elderly, the
idea was created and developed by masters students (now
graduates) Alma, Cédric, Marie, Martina, and Max.
How did your venture change and grow throughout
the accelerator?
any graduates lack skills in relation to profession-
M
al networking and career development. We want to SILVER LEGACY
upskill them through industry workshops and make We had great support from experts and mentors
sure that they’re able to shine bright in front of
who helped us narrow down our business idea. We
learned how things work in practice—observing
employers. Employers, too, are spending millions
the other businesses grow, as well as our own, was
every single year in search of the right candidates
something unique. You might think that the com-
but are not being effective with their investment.
We’re passionate about the challenge because we
petition is the core element of the Hult Prize, but
are the youth; the fact that we can really inspire our
that would be far from the truth. We left the
generation is exciting.
accelerator richer in experiences, friendships, and
H
mentors—for life.
What was the defining moment of your accelerator
H
What do you think the future of work looks like?
experience?
D
One night we hit a low, after a tough week. We re- SL It lies in combining monetary profit with social
impact. There are so many problems waiting to be
watched a video of us pitching our idea back at the
solved through innovation and entrepreneurship;
beginning of our course at Hult. In that pitch we
now is the chance to tackle them. As a sector, social
included everything we’ve been told matters: im-
impact is attracting both investment and talent. In
pact, passion, a great team dynamic. It defined the
an increasingly threatened world, it’s time to step
essence of DECNA. When we saw it again we were
up our game and expand our idea of gains beyond
reminded of our roots, where we’d come from, and
the wallet.
how far we’d grown. It was a true “a-ha!” moment.
unemployment?
HULT
DECNA
Changing Planet
23