The School of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS), in partnership with the Student Affairs department, hosted its 3rd annual (and first-ever virtual) Student Entrepreneurship Week (SEW).
The virtual event took place over a three-day period in October under the theme ‘AfroTech: African Entrepreneurship through Technology’. The three-day programme was well received as attendees found it to be insightful and enlightening.
ALL ABOUT AfroTech
The programme on day 1 was entitled “All About AfroTech”, featured a keynote address by Dr Malvin Nkomo of Hailer Technologies, a Pan-African on-demand mobility service. Dr Nkomo shared his views about the Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and the 4th Industrial Revolution. This was followed by an interactive Tech-Talk with Mr Keenan Gwells, former SPU student and Chief Heart Officer of the NCDev Ecosystem.
GET PITCHY
On day 2, students received expert advice on how to best pitch their business ideas. The programme highlighted key insights into business and the various tools and platforms they can use to help them ‘stand out’ from the crowd. This session was conducted by Mr Edward Matiwane of Diamond Creative Vision Hub, a non-profit organisation based in the city.
PITCH POP-UP
The final session was the highlight of the week where five studentpreneurs were selected to do a “Pitch Pop-Up” of their business ideas. The finalists had to put all the tips they received into practice to win prize money of R10 000. The top three finalists were also sponsored with a Virtual Business Incubation Programme, courtesy of Diamond Creative Vision Hub.
After an exciting round of pitches and much anticipated deliberations, the judges announced the winners for this year’s Pitch Pop-Up as follows:
1ST PLACE: JACEYL COSMETICS
Ms Seosenyeng Kotsi, third-year B.Ed student
2ND PLACE: NORTHERN CAPE CARTRIDGE AND TONERS
Mr Borhen Coleman, second-year BCom student
3RD PLACE: QWIKLY
Mr Klensch Aken Lucas, BSc Computer Science (Hons) student
On behalf of the School of EMS and the Careers Office, congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who made #SEW2020 a success. The School looks forward to hosting you again at the #SEW2021.
