By Bogere Stuart
Kampala International University (KIU) in conjunction with Stick2Uganda on Tuesday, 22nd October 2019, organized a business competition, at the university main campus in Kansanga-Ggaba Road, Kampala.
After a series of scrutiny from various business ideas and/or services among KIU students in a business pitch event, the university management selected the best 3 to compete in the final round of the Stick2Uganda business competition.
The final competitors include:
- Twin Distillers (Wine distillers) – Bagire Albert/Kanga Ezra/Tindimwebwa Brolin
- Iteriat George – Shopping Basket Making
- Otenga Sila – Retail Grocery Shop
The event was sponsored by Stick2Uganda, a Foundation that works closely with the ICUganda Foundation to advise and offer guidance on projects of various organizations in Uganda.
According the Leader of Stick2Uganda, Cees Gouw, Stick2Uganda chose KIU almost four years ago, when a few Dutch students noticed that KIU was obviously the best International University in the country. Curious and excited to learn more, they visited the office of our DVC Academic Affairs, Professor George Nasinyama and worked out a three-year partnership eventually.
For this event in particular, Gouw said that one of the goals is to focus on business, which they deem fit to check out, select the best and encourage studentpreneurs within the KIU student community.
“Our highly intelligent students, who are preparing for University next year, think that doing business together can solve problems worldwide. So they’d like to use the knowledge they pick here about business in Uganda and link it to the way business it is done in Europe with the hope that it can lead to new ideas and new processes, which are sustainable and have the possibility to save the planet,” Gouw said.
The DVC AA, Professor Nasinyama, noted that this is the first one and it’s here to stay.
“This stimulates our students to come up with new business ideas that can help the society. There are so many possibilities that are not exactly rocket science. We want our students to look at their environment and change their challenges into business solutions,” the DVC AA said categorically.
The Students Lecturer; Madam Proscovia Namakula, thanked the lecturers, KIU management, the BOT, and all the partners that have helped train these KIU students including StartHub and Wadhiwani Foundations respectively.
“This is a step up from the one dollar challenge we had earlier in the year. It’s a big motivator for all our students to engage more in practical learning. I think the impact is huge,” said Namakula.
During the competition, members from KIU community and visitors from Stick2Uganda were present to witness the competition as finally a winner is to emerge amongst the competitors. And at the end of the competition, Otenge Sila, a third year student from the College of Education, with the Community Grocery store business pitch, emerged the winner, walking home with a cash prize of UGX 750,000.
“I’m proud of this win. It’s only the beginning. My grocery store solution will only solve one problem, for all those who travel a long distance to get fresh goods in my community. But, I have so many other business solutions that I plan to introduce to my community so I’m excited and encouraged,” said Otenge.
The first runner up was Iterat George, another third year student from the College of Education who pitched a basket making business. Lastly, the third runner up was Kanga Ezra and team, also in the third year, and pitched his “Twin Distillers” business idea.
While Otenge walked away with a UGX 750,000 cash prize, Iterat and Kanga also bagged UGX 300,000 each, to support to develop their business ideas afterward.
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