2026 Hult Prize Campus Qualifier Winners
On February 27, 2026, ten student teams from Syracuse University competed at Syracuse University Libraries’ LaunchPad in the 2026 Hult Prize campus qualifier for a chance to pitch at the Hult Prize national competition at the Hult International Business School in Boston this spring. Winners of the national round then move on to a digital incubator stage where they prepare for the Global Accelerator competition in London over the summer.
This year’s winning team was Agbor Edouard Ransom G’27 (School of Information Studies) and Souleymane Bah ’26 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs), of GritGateway, a platform which provides a more efficient and cost-effective system to connect quality college applicants in Africa to international universities. GritGateway was awarded $1,250 from this year’s sponsor. This year’s pitch competition was sponsored in part by UmiVersity’s non-profit, The Audacious Dream, based in Pittsburgh, PA. James Slaven ’29 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) organized the qualifier competition.
First runner-up for the competition was Isaac Arnold ’26 (College of Arts and Science), founder of XO Technology, which provides a wellness intelligence platform aimed at providing real time mobility and mental fitness tracking and care programming for the aging population.
Second runner-up was Ava Lubkemann ’27 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), founder of Revamped, a mobile thrift shop focusing on reducing clothing waste.
Other competitors included:
- Haley Greene ’26 (Newhouse School of Public Communications), founder of Miirror, a wellness platform focused on early intervention for eating disorders.
- Amlan Pradhan ’26 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Damian Doyle ’26 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), of Swapify, a college marketplace app for buying and selling college dorm products and school materials.
- Ethan Yankey G’26 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), founder of The Boxer, a company that is developing products to reduce waste by converting cardboard into pulp.
- Dylan Bardsley ’26 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Clarity, an online educational platform to help people identify which credit card is best suited for their needs.
- Naheem Cadiz III ’28 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) and Noah Merhai ’28 (School of Information Studies), founders of Coveted Marketplace, an exclusive e-commerce platform for independent fashion brands.
- Samantha Kurland ’26 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), founder of Acellse, a fashion apparel company that creates unique medical-inspired designs, with proceeds going to medical research.
- Cameron Light ’26 (College of Arts and Sciences and School of Information Studies) and Martin Beredo ’26 (Newhouse School of Public Communications), founders of City Café, a food company that brings inexpensive but high quality and healthy meals to urban areas.
The Hult Prize is a prestigious global business competition started by a partnership between the Hult Business School and the United Nations Foundation. The Hult competition inspires student entrepreneurs to solve the world’s biggest challenges through innovative social enterprises with positive global impact. Through their year-long competition and since its inception, over 1 million young people from 130+ countries have participated in their programs, working to create high-impact startups that address the annual challenge in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Finalists pitch their businesses to a panel of expert judges, and the winning team receives $1M USD in funding to make their idea a reality.
Story by James Slaven ’29 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management)