Students’ innovative business ideas enter regional competition
Up-and-coming scholar business owners at the University of Cape Town (UCT) pulled out all the stops to showcase their business talents, impressing judges through the inside spherical of the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity level of competition.
A complete of 18 college students participated in the 3-day pitch celebration held practically among 8 and 10 June. The winners have been declared on Friday, 11 June, and 8 budding entrepreneurs (two for every class) will move forward to the regional leg of the competition. UCT’s best pupil business people will go head to head with their friends at Stellenbosch University, the College of the Western Cape, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of South Africa.

“Every 12 months I am encouraged by our gifted scholar business people, and this year was no various.”

“Every yr I am encouraged by our gifted scholar business people, and this calendar year was no various. Their organization concepts are ultramodern, resourceful and address true-environment difficulties. It is just what our place desires at this time,” claimed Nadia Waggie, UCT’s Entrepreneurship Intervarsity coordinator and the head of operations at Professions Provider.
The Entrepreneurship Intervarsity competitors is an initiative of the Entrepreneurship Development in Better Training programme, and the internal spherical is hosted by the Occupations Services office. The competitiveness aims to discover the leading scholar entrepreneur at every of South Africa’s 26 public universities, recognise and showcase their firms and draw in traders to their company. It also offers aspiring business people whose businesses are continue to in the thought section an opportunity to pitch their concepts.
A nail-biting spherical
Waggie claimed that nerves and excitement stuffed the digital air, and the ambiance was palpable as learners shipped their 3-minute enterprise pitches. But college students shown a balanced aggressive spirit and supported each and every other every single phase of the way, she included.
Contributors entered the following types throughout the interior spherical:
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- New enterprise ideas
- Present organization – tech
- Present business – social impression
- Current business enterprise – basic.




She claimed after college students concluded their pitches, the panel of judges ended up standing by to carry out a two-moment problem and respond to (Q&A) session, to acquire a better being familiar with of each individual strategy.
“It was definitely nail-biting but everyone did so nicely and we could not be prouder of our learners,” Waggie stated.
Innovative concepts
Waggie reported when pupils responded to the judges’ Q&A, the judges ended up faced with the rough final decision of picking out just 8 contestants, in line with the competition’s stringent needs.
The prime eight college students proceeding to the future round are:
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- Basheer Phiri, whose software package-as-a-support foods shipping and delivery begin-up, Viero, allows end users to start a food dropshipping on line retail store in seconds.
- Chido Dzinotyiwei’s organization Vambo helps make discovering African languages and culture available making use of an online platform.
- Veroshan Chetty’s advertising and marketing and business alternatives business enterprise has not too long ago created a strategic strategy that seeks to tackle a substantial competencies gap in the South African market.
- Indiphile Jaji’s Varsity Kitchen produces do-it-yourself meals for students who are both far too chaotic to cook dinner or are constantly on the go.
- Vuthlarhi Shirindza’s mobile software Chewi tends to make online veterinary consultations and pet treatment basic and available.






“We are happy of all our pupils they were being so perfectly geared up and presented like professionals.”

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- Tshegofatso Masenya’s GoShare initiative is a group-funding platform dedicated to college students in have to have of economic help.
- Nkateko Shilaluke’s enterprise notion In Touch provides finish control over an individual’s particular information and facts. It’s inspired by the Defense of Personalized Data Act.
- Ammar Canani’s enterprise aims to lessen the time people today invest on mundane administrative tasks by way of automation.



“We are proud of all our learners they had been so perfectly geared up and introduced like professionals. This round went off with out a glitch — properly, which is if we don’t point out load shedding, but we navigated that bump in the road productively,” explained Waggie.
The regional spherical of the competitors will be hosted by Stellenbosch University afterwards this yr.