Students from different undergraduate programs in our branch campus in Quito took part in the 2025 Hult Prize and presented projects that have a positive social impact and create environmental awareness. 

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Department in our branch campus in Quito organized this contest, which represents the first qualifying phase for the global competition, which awards the best project with seed capital.

 
Three teams stood out for their coordination, group skills, understanding, alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as for their business model, financial sustainability. 

 
First place was for “RepelTech” project, which is a long-lasting insect repellent that seeks to protect vulnerable communities from diseases.

Anahí Cevallos, student majoring in Communication and the representative of the winning project, said: “We want to help more than one community; Our mission is to support the care of as many families as possible so that, thanks to our products, they can enjoy their activities safely and worry-free.”

Second place was for “Trueque” project; a collaborative learning platform between students, that eliminates the economic barrier and promoting accessible education. And third place was for E-Health; an anemia prediction model to improve early detection and prevention in vulnerable populations.

 
Cristian Ron, director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in our branch campus in Quito, said: “Beyond competition, these events foster an entrepreneurial mentality and generate valuable connections with the industry, investors and experts who can promote their projects at a national and international level.” The jurors of this competition were Andrés Villarreal, expert in agile entrepreneurship methodologies; Adriel Beltrán, AI trainer in the Quito Chamber of Commerce; and, Priscila Mora, specialist in project coordination and fundraising at World Vision-Bloque Andino.

 
Mora stressed the impact of these initiatives on student education, “those who participate in these types of contests motivate other university students to leave their comfort zone and put what they have learned in classes into practice in real contexts. In addition, they contribute to their education in areas of entrepreneurship, leadership and multidisciplinary work.”

After their outstanding participation, the three winning teams will go to the Hult Prize Ecuador regional final, where they will compete with nine other universities. The projects that win in this phase will advance to the Global Acceleration Summit, where they will receive intensive mentoring to strengthen their business model and reach the international grand final, where they will be able to win investment funds and capital of up to USD 1 million dollars to implement their project.