Students showcase entrepreneurial prowess at competition finals

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) student entrepreneurs pulled out all the stops at two notable entrepreneurship competitions – reinforcing the university’s commitment to nurturing a pipeline of young entrepreneurial minds, and the students’ dedication to building scalable, innovative ventures that solve real-world problems.

Students went head-to-head with the country’s best during the final round of the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity competition, held in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 24 November. And they scored top honours in the social impact and existing business categories – placing the university firmly on the national stage. The competition is an initiative of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme and is presented annually by the Department of Higher Education and Training. It aims to identify the top student entrepreneurs at South Africa’s 26 public universities. At UCT, student entrepreneurs are supported by Careers Service, located in the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED).
 

“The Entrepreneurship Intervarsity competition is an event highlight for us at UCT.”

“The Entrepreneurship Intervarsity competition is an event highlight for us at UCT. It is a wonderful opportunity to showcase our students’ creativity and their out-of-the-box business ideas that aim to solve some of society’s most pressing challenges. We are so proud of them and extend our warm wishes on this achievement. Getting here was no mean feat. The competition is always tough,” said Nadia Waggie, UCT’s entrepreneurship intervarsity coordinator.

Shining stars

Malehu Mohale, a first-year MBChB student, topped the social impact category. Her business, Early Bird Testimony Academy, provides matric learners with affordable, online tutoring and mentoring to prepare them for their final exams. In addition, Thando Mzimela-Ntuli, a third-year Bachelor of Social Science student, was awarded runner-up in the general business category. His business, UniMark, is a one-stop digital hub for student services, which includes grooming, tutoring, as well as an events “what’s on” section.

The winning streak continued during the ABSA Innovation Challenge on Tuesday, 25 November. The programme, another initiative of the EDHE, is designed to identify, nurture and support students and alumni on their entrepreneurial journeys by helping them develop their businesses into scalable, sustainable ventures.

“Our students’ achievements at both competitions mean we are ending the year on a high note.”

Waggie said Darryl Nyamayaro and Charne Verster came in in seventh and fifth place respectively – an outstanding achievement given more than 600 students entered the challenge this year. Nyamayaro is completing his master’s in philosophy and his business, iDini, is an artificial intelligence-driven funeral insurance platform. Verster is completing her postgraduate diploma in entrepreneurship, and her business, SmartSchoolShoes, is a GPS-enabled shoe that expands in size (up to three sizes bigger) and contains built-in technology to track children’s whereabouts.

“Our students’ achievements at both competitions mean we are ending the year on a high note. It’s now up to them to put their learnings to good use and we’ll be watching closely as they do and supporting them all the way. We are excited to see what the new year has in store for them,” Waggie said.

Two other student entrepreneurs, Lesedi Dikhoba, founder of iWashCars – a digital car wash platform; and Sikozile Ncembu, the co-founder of an affordable cancer diagnostic application (APP) that aims to detect prevalent cancers like lung, breast and cervical cancers, also reached the final round of the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity competition and the ABSA Innovation Challenge respectively. Both Dikhoba and Ncembu are PhD candidates.