KBC x Hult Spring Competition

Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to compete in the Korea Business Competition × Hult International Business School alongside five of my teammates — Bria, Olivia, Hanna, Maria, and Elisha. It was definitely one of the most rewarding and unforgettable experiences of my high school career.

The competition began on April 17th, 2026, with a preliminary Zoom round consisting of 27 teams. We advanced as one of the top 8 finalists after winning all three rounds, which put us through to the final competition held on May 24th at COEX in Seoul.

The day opened with a morning workshop led by Professor Hossein Khatami, who teaches at Hult International Business School, London School of Economics, and NYU Stern. He guided us through using Excel and helped us identify weaknesses in our business models. We also heard from Professor Calle Torén, Vice President of Finance and Operations at Hult, who spoke on the importance of collaboration and effective leadership within a team.

Then came the competition itself. All 8 finalist teams presented their business ideas, followed by a judges' Q&A and an audience Q&A. Our team presented RiceCycle, built around the prompt: "Identify a sustainability challenge and build an innovative, scalable business model that creates lasting environmental or social value."

Our idea was inspired by Manyasiri Chotbunwong, a social entrepreneur from Bangkok, who founded a global nonprofit, HER (Health. Equity. Respect.), fighting period poverty through biodegradable sanitary pads made from sugarcane agricultural waste. The moment I read the competition prompt, I thought of her immediately and realized her work could serve as a meaningful foundation for the direction of our business model. From there, our team researched rice husk, the byproduct left over from rice milling, and how it is burned in large quantities across Asia, releasing harmful pollutants and contributing to serious air quality deterioration.

That is where RiceCycle came in. By repurposing rice husk waste into biodegradable sanitary pads, we designed a business model that addresses environmental issues and menstrual hygiene access in one solution.

I am so proud to share that RiceCycle took 1st place, along with the KBC × Hult Entrepreneurship Award and the KBC × Hult Best Report Award. As part of the prize, all of our team members who choose to attend Hult will receive a merit scholarship of $10,000 per year at the Boston campus or £7,000 per year at the London campus, along with the automatic application fee waiver worth $95 that all KBC participants receive.

I also want to take a moment to reflect on what Hult brings to a competition like this. What stands out most about them as an institution is their commitment to experiential, hands-on learning that is rarely found in traditional classroom environments. Experiencing this philosophy firsthand through this competition, I believe, truly made me appreciate it in a whole new way. I am truly grateful that they partnered with KBC to give students like us this kind of platform.

Below are some photos from the awards ceremony and the link to my LinkedIn post:

https://www.linkedin.com/m/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7471473595731296256/.