10.12.2024
Life of the Association

Christophe Pralong and Olivier Cadot Prizes Evening 2024

On October 3rd 2024, a memorable evening was held to celebrate the winners of the Christophe Pralong and Olivier Cadot Prizes. This exceptional event brought together several representatives from the academic, economic and development worlds. This demonstrates the importance of these distinctions in recognizing talents in the student community. With an annual amount of up to CHF 10,000 each, these two prizes are intended to help and support student projects in the social, humanitarian, entrepreneurial or academic fields in an emerging country.

Event details

The ceremony was held at the Faculty of HEC of the University of Lausanne, highlighting the achievements of the winners of the 2024 edition of the two prizes in an inspiring way. The guests had the opportunity to share an enriching evening, punctuated by sometimes moving exchanges on the impact and importance of the initiatives of these students.

The Laureats

This year, the Christophe Pralong Prize was awarded to the following 2 projects:

Johanna Angeles (Master's student at the Graduate Institute in Geneva) with her project "Stitching for Hope" which was designed to develop a social enterprise active in sewing, hosted within a crisis intervention center for street girls in Manila metro, who have been victims of physical and sexual abuse, prostitution and mistreatment. The project aimed to offer a holistic approach to empowerment by integrating the development of professional skills with financial education and entrepreneurship workshops. In addition, it involves the refurbishment of old sewing machines and the replenishment of fabric stocks to ensure the sustainability of the business.

Alexandra Ceban (Master’s student in Public Policy and Management at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Public Administration - IDHEAP- of UNIL) & Sofia Benczédi Munar (Master’s student in Management with a focus on Business Analytics at the Faculty of Business and Economics of UNIL) for their project “Time Needles: Embroidering Hope in the Heart of the Forgotten” took place in Moldova where the Ukrainian crisis and the emigration that accompanied it have exacerbated the difficulties of Moldovan elderly people (60 years and over), who represent 22.8% of the population and face poverty, inadequate health benefits and loneliness. The project aimed to develop sewing skills among the participants, encouraging the creation of products that celebrate Moldovan culture, while forging a community atmosphere, united and supportive. The winners formed initiative groups to foster collaboration involving 70 seniors who were able to make and compose donations of 150 bags to Ukrainian refugees. In the long term, the goal is to create a community where former participants offer clothing repair services, thus promoting entrepreneurship and financial independence, particularly important given the low average pension.

In addition, the Olivier Cadot Prize was also awarded to 2 winners for these projects:

Hugo Troendle (Master of Management student with a focus on Business Analytics at the HEC Lausanne Faculty of UNIL) whose project "Swiss-Rwanda Partnership for the development and support of villages in the Burera district through community tourism" aimed to provide additional income to communities in the Burera district of Rwanda, through a responsible tourism concept, in order to help with development (such as improving access to water). In partnership with a local entrepreneur active as a tourist guide, they have developed offers allowing a redistribution of income to allocate them to projects for access to water or the promotion of local crafts.

Andrea Mathez (doctoral student at the Institute of Geography and Sustainability of the Faculty of Geosciences and the Environment of UNIL) whose project "Peasant agroecology - Science-society dialogue and cross-perspectives between Moroccan and Swiss actors" set up a meeting between Moroccan and Swiss actors of agroecology in the Canton of Vaud from October 2nd to 10th , 2024. This date and location were chosen to take advantage of the synergy and partnership with the Agroecology Days and the Origin, Diversity, Territories Forum, both of which took place in October 2024 in Switzerland. By bringing together researchers and farmers from Morocco and Switzerland, this project created a unique space for sharing experiences and knowledge, bringing together stakeholders who otherwise communicate little about the agricultural issues in their territories. Participants were able to exchange their knowledge and experience and develop their farmer networks to inspire, improve and consolidate farmers agroecology in both territories. The presentation of Andrea's project was one of the highlights of the evening, thanks in particular to the participation and testimony of a farmer and a researcher from Morocco. Their sharing of experience allowed the audience to gain, to a certain extent, another enriching point of view.

The winners expressed their gratitude for the support provided by the two prizes and shared their thoughts on their journey.

The conference

The evening was crowned by a conference by Aurélien Demaurex, a 2004 HEC graduate, during which he presented the company Ecorobotix of which he is the co-founder by developing the title "AI and agriculture, the example of Ecorobotix". Active in the development of intelligent agricultural machines that aim to optimize the use of inputs in crops, Ecorobotix uses artificial intelligence in particular. Aurélien managed to share his passion for the search for an intelligent and responsible balance between the requirements of a company subject to a need for profitability with an environmentally friendly activity, i.e. the convergence of sustainability and durability. Through the use of technology and artificial intelligence, Ecorobotix aims to contribute to the regeneration of nature.

Conclusion

This very enriching evening ended with a call for applications for projects for the year 2025, hoping to discover again a wide variety of impactful student projects in emerging countries.

The Christophe Pralong and Olivier Cadot Awards evening once again highlighted the dynamism of talent in our universities.

Students interested in applying will find more information on the HEC Lausanne faculty website

Link for more information

Following the project presentations and conference, the participants enjoyed a friendly moment sharing a drink and fingerbites, kindly hosted by HEC Lausanne. Such moments of exchange and sharing are often as enriching as the formal evening as well thanks to the engagement of all participants.