In what could have a fairy-tale ending, four recent engineering alumni are advancing their school project at the Hult Prize Startup Accelerator located in a 16th century English castle.
Devon Copeland, David Ferris, Mitchell Catoen, and Rareș Topor-Gosman, who all graduated from mechatronics engineering this spring, are spending five weeks this summer at the breathtaking Ashridge country estate, located in an idyllic little town just outside of London.
They’re one of 40 teams from around the world that is staying in Henry the VIII’s former residence while going through a rigorous curriculum to transform ideas into viable companies in the Hult Prize challenge, the world’s largest student social entrepreneurship competition.
The top six teams from the summer program will move on to the Hult final round this September at the United Nations in New York City for the chance to win $1 million and mentorship from the international business community.
The Better Bail for America team from left are Devon Copeland, Mitchell Catoen, David Ferris and Rareș Topor-Gosman.
The project the four new Waterloo graduates have taken to this year’s Hult startup accelerator is called Better Bail for America (BB4A), a solution to help prevent youth unemployment in the United States by enabling young, employed, first-time offenders on minor charges to access crowdfunded, interest-free bail.
“We want to help youth keep their employment opportunities and not find themselves in a downward cycle,” says Copeland. “If you are stuck in jail on bail, you’ll most certainly lose your job because you’ll be missing days, weeks or even months of work before trial.”
The BB4A team members came up with the idea for their project last year in BET420, a fourth-year social entrepreneurship course offered through the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business. The course’s social curriculum is designed around the Hult challenge each fall selected by former U.S. President Bill Clinton to create an innovative social enterprise that addresses the problem.
BB4A’s project topic turned out to be a perfect fit with the issue of youth unemployment, the focus of the 2019 international Hult challenge.
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