Banofi Leather wins the 2023 Hult Prize and 1 million US dollars

Banofi Leather, the social entrepreneurial start-up from Yale University, which develops plant-based leather products, including materials used for handbags and apparel, has been awarded 1 million US dollars after being crowned the winner of the 2023 Hult Prize.

The annual Hult Prize competition challenges student entrepreneurs from around the world to create and launch businesses aimed at tackling some of society’s most pressing issues through social entrepreneurship. All ideas must create a measurable positive impact on people and the planet and support the United Nations in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline.

Every year since 2010, the Hult Prize has posed a different challenge to competitors, with previous contests focused on healthcare, food insecurity, early childhood education, and water access. This year’s theme was ‘Redesigning Fashion’.

Banofi Leather, which has developed technology to convert banana crop waste into vegan, sustainable and cruelty-free leather used for handbags, apparel, and other products, was chosen as the Grand Prize winner over five other finalists who were all invited to Paris for the final.

Those finalists included Innovious, a start-up from Cranfield University in the UK, which is making sustainable and scalable inner packaging, such as hangers and tags, from the leaf sheaths of areca trees, as well as Graff Inc., which is manufacturing sustainable material made from textile waste for applications in the fashion industry.

Other solutions included Effct from Alexandria University, Egypt repurposing textile waste to develop board panels for use in furniture, construction, and packaging, as well as Labwear Studios from the ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland) using on-demand manufacturing and circular product design to minimise overproduction and reduce fashion waste, and RiiVerse from the National Taiwan University utilises recycling textile waste and repurposing it into raw materials for other industries.

Holt Prize names Banofi Leather as the 2023 winner

Each of the other five finalists was awarded 100,000 US dollars from the Hult Prize Foundation to develop their business. In addition, the winner and finalists also received three intensive weeks of mentorship at the Hult Prize Accelerator to prepare for the finals.

Lori van Dam, chief executive of the Hult Prize Foundation, said in a statement: “The Hult Prize Finals are the culmination of so much hard work by so many student entrepreneurs working to drive social change. This year, it has been a pleasure for everyone involved at Hult Prize to experience the evolution of our finalist businesses and their growth during this journey.

“I’m so happy for Banofi Leather and all the runners-up, but I’m just as excited about the impact the whole Hult Prize community will continue to have on the fashion industry. The ingenuity and optimism that is representative of the more than 40,000 students who have engaged in this process is nothing short of an inspiration that can guide all of us to find ways that businesses can positively impact our world.”

More than 40,000 students participated in the year-long Hult Prize competition, which started with on-campus programmes at universities around the world in September 2022 and went through several regional elimination rounds. In June 2023, semi-finals were held via online and live events in 12 cities worldwide, including New York, Mumbai, Nairobi, Lisbon, Dubai, Taipei, and Rio de Janeiro. Through August 2023, a narrowed field of more than 20 teams participated in a virtual learning experience where they transformed their ideas into investment-ready social ventures.

Judges who narrowed down the prospects represented partners of the Hult Prize and influential leaders across the fashion industry, including Olivier Gabet, director of the Department of Objects of Art at the Louvre, Sweaty Betty founder Tamara Hill-Norton, and fashion environmentalist and interdisciplinary designer Runa Ray.