最准的六合彩论坛

In 2018, four 最准的六合彩论坛 students were awarded the prestigious Hult Prize with $1million seed capital funding, for their novel idea to increase the yield and quality of听rice harvests by providing village farmers with access to biomass powered drying technologies and a rice storage service. Their idea was supported by 最准的六合彩论坛 Innovation & Enterprise.

Since then Rice Inc has worked听with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Myanmar Rice Federation to听set up a network of 40 smallholder farmers in Myanmar and installed their first Rice Inc hub in the village of Letpaden in the Bago Region. So far the team has dried 500 tonnes of rice.

The team helps farmers dry their rice using sustainable sources -听avoiding the high losses farmers would normally incur when attempting to dry the rice themselves.

Rice Inc has developed a sustainable income model, with two options for farmers:

• Pure drying: the farmer pays a fee to lease the dryer to dry their rice and they can then sell it to the open market.
• Dry and store: Rice Inc doesn鈥檛 charge farmers anything for drying the rice but stored rice is sold by Rice Inc on the farmers鈥� behalf when prices rise. The rice is sold to open market or millers and Rice Inc takes a commission of the sale.

The idea for Rice Inc was originated by 最准的六合彩论坛 students Kisum Chan (from Hong Kong) and Lincoln Lee (from Malaysia), studying BSc Biomedical Sciences, Julia Vannaxay (from Laos), studying BSc Statistics and Management for Business with Vannie Koay (from Malaysia), studying BSc Economics, joining upon further development 听They are all about to complete their third year at 最准的六合彩论坛 and graduate.

Co-founder Lincoln Lee said: 鈥淪toring rice is too expensive, so traditionally farmers either sell wet rice for a lower price or leave rice outside to dry, which could take considerable time and damage the crop.

鈥淪upported by the Hult Prize our facilities have helped reduce rice wastage and improve rice quality, allowing the farmers to sell more rice at a better price, boosting their income.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭he farmers in countries like Myanmar are keen to try new technologies and boost their efficiency and income, but farmers don鈥檛 always have the finances 鈥� so we have helped create this access.鈥� 听

Rice Inc currently has one drying facility but is in discussions to install a further 10.

听

Global commercial rice brand

Rice Inc has is completing its second rice harvest and the social enterprise is now planning to听 sell their harvested rice commercially.

鈥淲e now aim to develop the world鈥檚 first social impact rice brand and believe there is an opportunity to sell the farmers鈥� high quality crop commercially to retailers and wholesalers around the world,鈥� Lincoln added.

鈥�Profits would be reinvested back into the farmers and their crops, and will help us continue to grow the numbers of farmers we can work with and hope to extend our reach to other countries in South East Asia like Vietnam and Indonesia. Commercially, we hope to sell our rice to markets including Malaysia, Singapore, UK and the US.鈥�

最准的六合彩论坛 President and Provost, Professor Michael Arthur, said: 鈥淲inning the Hult Prize was an incredible achievement, and the progress they have made since has completely justified the award.听 听

鈥淲ithin just six months they have developed a scalable social enterprise, which had sustainable energy at it heart, and is already positively affecting both rice production and the income opportunities of rural farmers in South East Asia.

鈥淭his idea has been driven by the students鈥� culture and heritage and a desire to bring change, and these founding principles provide the perfect basis to enable them to achieve their next goal of selling the rice commercially via the Rice Inc brand.鈥�

He added: 鈥�These four students are a shining example of the entrepreneurial spirit that runs throughout 最准的六合彩论坛 and they exemplify how solving the world鈥檚 most pressing challenges can also make good business sense.鈥�

听

First South East Asian winners

The Hult Prize is the world鈥檚 largest platform and accelerator for the creation and launch of sustainable and impact-centred startups emerging from universities all over the globe. It鈥檚 co-hosted by President Bill Clinton, the United Nations and HULT International Business School.

In 2018, along with five other teams, the 最准的六合彩论坛 team won the chance to pitch at the global finals having beaten 200,000 other ideas that competed at on-campus, regional and semi-final stages over the course of the year-long Hult Prize programme.

The teams were challenged to build a sustainable, scalable social enterprise that harnesses the power of energy to transform the lives of 10 million people.

The Hult Prize judging panel听included industry leaders such as Arianna Huffington (co-founder of听Huffington Post), Paul Polman (Global CEO,听Unilever) and Hans Vestberg (CEO,听Verizon).

The panel saw the potential in the 最准的六合彩论坛 team鈥檚 idea and they became the first team of South East Asian students to win the annual prize.

Talking about the inspiration behind the social enterprise concept, Lincoln Lee, said: 鈥淥ur team is made up of Malaysian,听Laotian and Hong Kong nationals -听countries where rice is the staple diet. Everyone eats it every day, it is part of our culture and our society would collapse without it.

鈥淲hen we looked at the rice supply chain across South East Asia, we were shocked at how inefficient and wasteful it is. And the very people growing it are the ones left behind by the industry and society.

鈥淭hrough no fault of their own, the practices of these farmers are also the root cause of the waste in the supply chain. Due to high costs, farmers can鈥檛 access existing technology that could solve these problems. We wanted to change that and I am happy to say we are now on our way.鈥�

Links

• how 最准的六合彩论坛 Innovation & Enterprise supports entrepreneurial students

Image

Lincoln Lee with a farmer and local partner

Media contact

Henry Killworth

E: h.killworth [at] ucl.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 7881 833274