“As judges, we went through this, we checked all the boxes, we looked at the criteria, we did all the head stuff. But then I think at some level, we as human beings know on a gut level, we know something great when we see it…and it came down to what was the gut homerun. So without further ado, I would like to say from the bottom of my heart, I am so happy and honored to welcome and congratulate MUSANA.” – Eric Harr, CEO Stand Technologies and Hult Prize Regional Competition Judge, March 12, 2016.
The room erupted with cheers and screams. The home team (HULT San Francisco) had won and we were ecstatic! A more surreal moment I have yet to experience.
The room erupted with cheers and screams. The home team (HULT San Francisco) had won and we were ecstatic! A more surreal moment I have yet to experience.
[Note: Direct quotes are from Nataliey Bitature of Musana.]
One Month before…
It was Superbowl weekend in San Francisco. The team had just arrived from their 10-day trip to Uganda. They were exhausted but they got right back to work.
“When we got back, the first thing we did was make a timeline on what needed to be done before Regionals. We needed to go over all the data that we had gathered and change our business model because everything changed. Our customer segment had changed…we were able to interview potential customers to find out what they did and didn’t want, what they thought would work and what won’t.
Another thing that also changed was our local partners. We went to Uganda with no partners, but when we got there, we were able to meet with local businessmen who wanted to be a part of Musana.”
They knew that they needed to align all their facts before they start on their script for the pitch.
They also needed to catch up on the schoolwork that they had missed. They were very thankful to their teams for being very understanding and supportive as they struggled to accomplish assignments in the 4 subjects they were taking in Module B.
“I am not used to asking people for help because it is not in my nature. But when we got back, there was so much schoolwork it almost drove me crazy! But people were so willing to help and our academic teams have been so supportive.”
This also coincided with the registration for Module D and the possibility of rotating to other Hult campuses. Manon, Taliey, and Kei decided that no matter what happened in the Regionals, they were going to go back to Uganda on June to launch Musana.
“We had to decide what to do. Regardless on whether we won or not, we all agreed we were going to continue to do this. So decided to stay and not rotate, then we changed all our classes so that we finish at a certain time and go to Uganda in June”.
Two weeks before…
It is easy to get caught up starting the business, especially when their hearts were so set it, but when it came to the Hult Prize, it was all about the idea and how it was pitched.
It was during this time that they knew they needed additional market research to address the scalability of their business model. They took advantage of Hult’s international student body by pitching in front of the different communities of students who were from the same region. They met with the South America, Asia, and Africa to get their feedback on what they thought about Musana operating in their cities, what challenges would they most likely face, and would this work?
After getting the information that they needed, they began writing their script and practicing in front of the Hult faculty and students.
“Hult has been amazing! I know the professors couldn’t really help as much as they wanted because of conflict of interest, but they did as much as they could. They gave us feedback and time to go over every slide and every bullet point. It was really helpful.”
One week before…
Musana wanted to get the pitch just right because they wanted to pitch it in a way that the judges would understand the business right away. They preferred that the questions asked after the presentation be because they wanted to know more about Musana rather than needing to clarifying because they had misunderstood some things.
That last Sunday, they had finalized their presentation and wrote the final script.
“We didn’t want to accept feedback from people anymore because now we had to learn it. But oh my God…! That last week, every time we thought the pitch was good, it was destroyed by someone. Feedback is so useful, but it’s like a stab in the heart and that’s the truth! At the end of each day, we would adjust the presentation, just to have it destroyed again when we pitched it the following day.”
But little by little, their presentation was getting leaner and they kept getting better. They were able to chip away the fluff and keep what mattered. They kept improving til that night before, where they finally locked down their presentation.
“It was midnight and we were still at Hult. We had friends that were helping us change some of the slides, and then Tom, the night guard, came to kick us out”.
That day of the contest…
“We were scheduled to present in the afternoon, so we were peer panels in the morning. It was a good experience because we got to see other school’s presentations and we had an idea on what to expect for our own presentation.
That lunchtime, we had practiced before our adviser, Juan Diego, and he said ‘Guys, this is the one! You’ve got it!’ We were so happy that we finally got it right on time”.
But not everything went as smoothly as they wanted it to go.
That morning, all the teams needed to submit their powerpoint presentations to the Hult Prize coordinator. Once submitted, this couldn’t be changed. While they were briefly scrolling through the slides, they discovered that the slides weren’t in the order that they were expecting. They had made so many versions of their presentation that the one that got submitted was not the latest one. So they decided to change some of their words.
But they made it through, and the judges were smiling and seemed to like their presentation.
Everyone gathered that afternoon at Levi’s Plaza for the announcement of top 6 teams and to hear their pitches. Musana was 2nd team that was called up.
That night, during the reception, a call was sent out for everyone to be quiet because it was the time for the winner to be was announced.
Eric Harr, CEO Stand Technologies and Hult Prize Regional Competition Judge took up the microphone. “As judges, we went through this, we checked all the boxes, we looked at the criteria, we did all the head stuff. But then I think at some level, we as human beings know on a gut level, we know something great when we see it…and it came down to what was the gut homerun. So without further ado, I would like to say from the bottom of my heart, I am so happy and honored to welcome and congratulate… MUSANA.”
The room erupted with cheers and screams as the Hult students who had volunteered for the contest couldn’t hide elation.
Musana was going to New York on September to compete with the winners from Shanghai, Dubai, London, & Boston for the $1,000,000 seed money to start their venture.
MUSANA HAD WON!
[Read Behind the Scenes: Hult Prize San Francisco]
One Month before…
It was Superbowl weekend in San Francisco. The team had just arrived from their 10-day trip to Uganda. They were exhausted but they got right back to work.
“When we got back, the first thing we did was make a timeline on what needed to be done before Regionals. We needed to go over all the data that we had gathered and change our business model because everything changed. Our customer segment had changed…we were able to interview potential customers to find out what they did and didn’t want, what they thought would work and what won’t.
Another thing that also changed was our local partners. We went to Uganda with no partners, but when we got there, we were able to meet with local businessmen who wanted to be a part of Musana.”
They knew that they needed to align all their facts before they start on their script for the pitch.
They also needed to catch up on the schoolwork that they had missed. They were very thankful to their teams for being very understanding and supportive as they struggled to accomplish assignments in the 4 subjects they were taking in Module B.
“I am not used to asking people for help because it is not in my nature. But when we got back, there was so much schoolwork it almost drove me crazy! But people were so willing to help and our academic teams have been so supportive.”
This also coincided with the registration for Module D and the possibility of rotating to other Hult campuses. Manon, Taliey, and Kei decided that no matter what happened in the Regionals, they were going to go back to Uganda on June to launch Musana.
“We had to decide what to do. Regardless on whether we won or not, we all agreed we were going to continue to do this. So decided to stay and not rotate, then we changed all our classes so that we finish at a certain time and go to Uganda in June”.
Two weeks before…
It is easy to get caught up starting the business, especially when their hearts were so set it, but when it came to the Hult Prize, it was all about the idea and how it was pitched.
It was during this time that they knew they needed additional market research to address the scalability of their business model. They took advantage of Hult’s international student body by pitching in front of the different communities of students who were from the same region. They met with the South America, Asia, and Africa to get their feedback on what they thought about Musana operating in their cities, what challenges would they most likely face, and would this work?
After getting the information that they needed, they began writing their script and practicing in front of the Hult faculty and students.
“Hult has been amazing! I know the professors couldn’t really help as much as they wanted because of conflict of interest, but they did as much as they could. They gave us feedback and time to go over every slide and every bullet point. It was really helpful.”
One week before…
Musana wanted to get the pitch just right because they wanted to pitch it in a way that the judges would understand the business right away. They preferred that the questions asked after the presentation be because they wanted to know more about Musana rather than needing to clarifying because they had misunderstood some things.
That last Sunday, they had finalized their presentation and wrote the final script.
“We didn’t want to accept feedback from people anymore because now we had to learn it. But oh my God…! That last week, every time we thought the pitch was good, it was destroyed by someone. Feedback is so useful, but it’s like a stab in the heart and that’s the truth! At the end of each day, we would adjust the presentation, just to have it destroyed again when we pitched it the following day.”
But little by little, their presentation was getting leaner and they kept getting better. They were able to chip away the fluff and keep what mattered. They kept improving til that night before, where they finally locked down their presentation.
“It was midnight and we were still at Hult. We had friends that were helping us change some of the slides, and then Tom, the night guard, came to kick us out”.
That day of the contest…
“We were scheduled to present in the afternoon, so we were peer panels in the morning. It was a good experience because we got to see other school’s presentations and we had an idea on what to expect for our own presentation.
That lunchtime, we had practiced before our adviser, Juan Diego, and he said ‘Guys, this is the one! You’ve got it!’ We were so happy that we finally got it right on time”.
But not everything went as smoothly as they wanted it to go.
That morning, all the teams needed to submit their powerpoint presentations to the Hult Prize coordinator. Once submitted, this couldn’t be changed. While they were briefly scrolling through the slides, they discovered that the slides weren’t in the order that they were expecting. They had made so many versions of their presentation that the one that got submitted was not the latest one. So they decided to change some of their words.
But they made it through, and the judges were smiling and seemed to like their presentation.
Everyone gathered that afternoon at Levi’s Plaza for the announcement of top 6 teams and to hear their pitches. Musana was 2nd team that was called up.
That night, during the reception, a call was sent out for everyone to be quiet because it was the time for the winner to be was announced.
Eric Harr, CEO Stand Technologies and Hult Prize Regional Competition Judge took up the microphone. “As judges, we went through this, we checked all the boxes, we looked at the criteria, we did all the head stuff. But then I think at some level, we as human beings know on a gut level, we know something great when we see it…and it came down to what was the gut homerun. So without further ado, I would like to say from the bottom of my heart, I am so happy and honored to welcome and congratulate… MUSANA.”
The room erupted with cheers and screams as the Hult students who had volunteered for the contest couldn’t hide elation.
Musana was going to New York on September to compete with the winners from Shanghai, Dubai, London, & Boston for the $1,000,000 seed money to start their venture.
MUSANA HAD WON!
[Read Behind the Scenes: Hult Prize San Francisco]
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Image Source: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/musana-carts-the-solar-street-vending-revolution--2#/
“All of this would not be possible if it weren’t for being a part of the Master of Social Entrepreneurship program here at Hult International Business School. This is the best thing that happened to me and my teammates because every day, we sit in classroom with 60 passionate social entrepreneurs who are as crazy as us, and this will never happen if we didn’t have their support. The Hult staff and faculty who do everything they can to ensure that we can achieve our dreams of changing the world and making it a better place.” – Manon Lavaud
“I went through this competition not really worried because I knew, regardless of whether we win or not, we will still continue Musana. And this is what I want to tell the other teams. This was an international competition. Nobody knows what will change the world. Keep doing what they’re doing. Don’t let the judges’ decision stop you from pursuing your dreams of saving the world.” Keisuke “Kei” Kubota
“I want everyone to take this more seriously. Social enterprises are real and can make a difference. We want to show that social business is the future, and we will be successful in reaching a lot of people and impact their lives. So I want to encourage all the other teams, just because you didn’t win, that doesn’t mean you don’t go on. We were determined to go on, whether we won or not. It is not student competition for us, this is a business, this is what we want to spend the rest of our lives doing…doing business that will impact other people’s lives.” Nataliey “Taliey” Bitature
Conclusion
Anyone who has gone through disappointments knows the pain of expecting too much and not getting what you want. We didn’t know if they would win. Was it even possible to achieve was no other Hult team had ever done before? Can they actually be the regional winners?
Many Hult students were present as Hult Prize volunteers that weekend. We tried our best not to expect…but we still hoped our classmates would win. Crossed our fingers and held our breaths.
And when Musana was announced as part of the top 6, we all jumped out of our seats in celebration!
And when Musana was announced as the winner, many of us shed tears of joy.
I ended that first Musana article by saying that even if they win or not, I believe they would still launch their business. I end this one by saying I KNOW they will launch…and NOTHING can stand in their way.
Musana has already risen.
It is time for Musana to SHINE!
“I went through this competition not really worried because I knew, regardless of whether we win or not, we will still continue Musana. And this is what I want to tell the other teams. This was an international competition. Nobody knows what will change the world. Keep doing what they’re doing. Don’t let the judges’ decision stop you from pursuing your dreams of saving the world.” Keisuke “Kei” Kubota
“I want everyone to take this more seriously. Social enterprises are real and can make a difference. We want to show that social business is the future, and we will be successful in reaching a lot of people and impact their lives. So I want to encourage all the other teams, just because you didn’t win, that doesn’t mean you don’t go on. We were determined to go on, whether we won or not. It is not student competition for us, this is a business, this is what we want to spend the rest of our lives doing…doing business that will impact other people’s lives.” Nataliey “Taliey” Bitature
Conclusion
Anyone who has gone through disappointments knows the pain of expecting too much and not getting what you want. We didn’t know if they would win. Was it even possible to achieve was no other Hult team had ever done before? Can they actually be the regional winners?
Many Hult students were present as Hult Prize volunteers that weekend. We tried our best not to expect…but we still hoped our classmates would win. Crossed our fingers and held our breaths.
And when Musana was announced as part of the top 6, we all jumped out of our seats in celebration!
And when Musana was announced as the winner, many of us shed tears of joy.
I ended that first Musana article by saying that even if they win or not, I believe they would still launch their business. I end this one by saying I KNOW they will launch…and NOTHING can stand in their way.
Musana has already risen.
It is time for Musana to SHINE!
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