ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD PARTNERS WITH HULT INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL TO HOST THE 1ST ANNUAL GLOBAL CASE CHALLENGE

(Boston—February 25, 2010) Imagine a world where even the poorest of children have access to a computer—the poverty gap that could be reduced, the problems that could be solved and the wealth of knowledge that could be shared!

In March, 2010 One Laptop per Child (OLPC) in partnership with Hult International Business School, TalentCastr.com and the Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center) will play host to top MBA and university students from across the globe who will compete simultaneously in four locations (Boston, London, Dubai and Shanghai) at the inaugural Global Case Challenge (GCC).

The Global Case Challenge compliments the renowned Action Learning Project, a cornerstone of Hult’s MBA program where teams compete to solve a real-world problem and present solutions to top executives of leading global companies such as IBM, Philips Healthcare, Emirates Bank, and BAE Systems. The inaugural edition of the GCC is expected to gather over 300 of the world’s best and brightest young business minds to develop innovative and effective strategies to provide a means for learning to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education. “Powerful, unique insights are generated when companies combine their abilities with the breadth of experiences and perspectives available outside their organization and beyond traditional partners. We are excited to work with OLPC and support this ‘open innovation’ initiative” said, Tyler McNally, Associate Director at IXL Center.

Participating teams include students from: Harvard Business School, Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon, Columbia Business School, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University, INSEAD and the American University of Sharjah to name a few.

“This is a unique opportunity for MBA and university students from top-ranked programs to develop and present innovative solutions that are aligned with the mission of One Laptop per Child” said, Charles Kane, former President and Board Director of OLPC, – to empower and educate children of developing countries by providing one rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop to every school-age child.

“What differentiates this competition from others is not only the international appeal of competing globally, but the social impact that the competition will have for children and education. This event will set a new standard in global case competitions as it addresses a socio-economic need. As the majority of the winning teams’ strategies will be adopted by OLPC at some point in the near future, participants realize that this competition provides them with an opportunity to truly make a difference,” said Ahmad Ashkar, event co-founder and President of the Hult Consulting Club. “We are also really pleased to have support from industry-leaders such as General Mills, Microsoft and locally based Continuum, and it is amazing to see so many students enthusiastic and driven towards solving a world-wide social problem.”