UK charity rewards varsity entrepreneurs

The African Innovation Prize (AIP) has awarded four students from public universities a cash prize of Rwf1 million each following a business competition.AIP is a UK Charity that aims at inspiring and supporting university entrepreneurship across Africa by providing a world-class business plan competition supported by focused training and mentoring. The one-year competition, which attracted 100 students, was divided into two phases.Phase one dubbed “Best Idea Challenge” called for students to generate innovative business ideas and communicate them in under 250 words with the best ideas being awarded £50. Phase two required participants to write a full business plan in under 1,500 words and clearly identify and quantify a market niche, as well as build a team to actualise the idea. In this category, winners received a cash award of £1,000 with each of the participating universities producing a winner. The winners included Jessie Gakwandi from KIST with ‘UniCopy Ltd’, David Karuranga from the National University of Rwanda with ‘Artificial Cultivation of Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms’ as well as Issa Ntambara, Robert Karamuzi, Francis Bazatsinda and Nathan Muramira with ‘Hot Dish Restaurant.’According to Jessie Gakwandi, a computer engineering student at KIST, her printing project based at the university, enables students to access services through mobile money.“What I am doing is linked to what I am studying. I am so grateful because it’s paying off. I aim to do my best to make it grow,” she said, adding that she would use her prize money to fortify her project.The Director General of Science, Technology and Research at the Ministry of Education, Marie Christine Gasingirwa, said the entrepreneurial skills facilitate students to compete in the business world. “As a ministry, we now want to focus on students with a business background to help them capitalise on their ideas,” Gasingirwa said.Alex Handy, the co-founder and Trustee of the African Innovation Prize, said that entrepreneurship lies at the heart of economic development, adding that youth unemployment and a narrow private sector can hinder this growth.“By inspiring and supporting young entrepreneurs in African universities, we believe we can help tackle these development obstacles.”The AIP programme was launched in the country in 2010 after drawing inspiration following a public policy lecture on Vision 2020 delivered by President Paul Kagame at Cambridge University in December 2008 where its trustees were students at the time. The programme is funded by De La Rue Identity Systems and the Segal Family Foundation.