Applied Science University team clinches Jordan Hult Prize

AMMAN — PartMan, a start-up founded by six students from Applied Science University, won the Hult Prize competition in Jordan on Friday, qualifying them for the Hult Prize finals and giving them a shot at winning $1 million dollars.

Over 700 students from 21 Jordanian universities participated in this year’s Hult Prize challenge, which challenged teams to propose an idea for a start-up that would create 10,000 jobs in the next 10 years, according to Hult Prize Global Director Ayman Arandi.

This is the second year that Jordan has participated in the Hult Prize, after the Crown Prince Foundation (CPF) introduced what the UN calls “the world’s largest student competition” to Jordan.

This year, Amman was one of 25 cities to host the Hult Prize competition.

CPF CEO Tamam Mango said the Hult Prize and the CPF “share a common goal, which is allowing youth to solve youth’s problems in today’s cycle of unemployment and poverty”.

The winning team, PartMan, tackled unemployment by creating an app that would link jobseekers with companies looking for part-time workers.

In their pitch to the judges on Saturday, the team said that PartMan “could facilitate linking part-time job seekers and employers by easily connecting them together through a single platform”.

They added that by “removing the inconvenience of looking for a part-time job, the app could battle unemployment, at least partially”.

Ali Yaghi, general manager of the Al Hussein Fund for Excellence and a Hult Prize judge, said the team “embodies the spirit of change makers”.

Hult Prize Director Arandi said that the “excitement and enthusiasm radiating from not only PartMan but from all 40 teams is an indication of what the youth of Jordan can put forward”.

PartMan will compete with teams all around the world in the Hult Prize finals in London this September. The winning team will receive $1 million in funds.