Johan Juul Jensen and student team from Georgetown University accelerate to regional finals of Hult Prize.
Johan Juul Jensen (MPP Class of 2016) spent the fall 2015 semester at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. During his time there he teamed up with fellow students to establish, Mobilized Construction, an initiative which aims to reinvent how dirt roads in rural communities are maintained by equipping local community members in areas of need with shovels, pickaxes, wheelbarrows, and smartphones. This social entrepreneurship project has secured them a spot at the regional finals of the Hult Prize.
Jensen and his classmates believe that their initiative can lower the costs of road maintenance to 5-10 percent of the current $16,000 USD per km cost while also heightening the frequency with which roads in rural areas are maintained. Through providing communities directly with tools to service and repair roads, Mobilized Construction seeks to avoid both transportation delays and the high costs of heavy machinery and skilled labour. The first community to receive aid through Mobilized Contruction is in Luwero, Uganda. The community is working to rebuild Nabagaya Road, the main throughway to the region’s only maternal health clinic. So far, 1.3 km have been rebuilt.
The Hult Prize is an international student competition and start-up platform for social good. Student teams compete in six cities around the world for a chance to secure the grand prize, one million dollars in start-up funding to launch a sustainable social venture.