Top Student Enterprises Compete in National Business Competition

On April 25th Educate! held its National Student Business Club competition to exhibit and celebrate the huge achievements of its 2014 Business Clubs! The competition was an opportunity for Scholars to showcase their Club projects, as well as the public speaking, presentation and business skills they learned through Educate!.

Clubs from all of the 238 schools that Educate! partnered with in 2014 were invited to participate in eighteen regional competitions across Central and Eastern Uganda. Judges selected one exceptional Club from each of Educate!’s eighteen Community Units to advance to the National Competition in Kampala, and each Club nominated ten members to represent the Club at Nationals.

On the day of the Competition, 180 top Educate! Scholars and Club members flooded the St. Augustine Conference Center at Makerere University in Kampala, carrying boxes of their products, marketing banners and Club reports to be submitted for judging. Products ranged from very easy to transport (herbal soaps, all-natural mosquito repellent and shoe cream) to very challenging (energy-efficient incubators and a rabbit hutch with live rabbits!).

Scholars traveled anywhere from one to ten hours to attend the event, and for many students, it was their first-ever trip to the big city. The excitement level continued building throughout the day as Clubs presented their projects to judges and guests, including representatives from the Ministry of Education and National Curriculum Development Centre, Barclays and Centenary Banks and Educate! partner organizations, as well as media outlets, including NTV and the Daily Monitor.

At the end of the day, all eighteen Clubs were recognized for their outstanding achievements, and four Clubs received trophies and cash prizes for accomplishments in innovation, social impact, sustainability and social entrepreneurship. The top 300,000 UGX prize was awarded to St. Anthony’s in Masaka, a rural district southwest of Kampala. St. Anthony’s not only ran a successful business, but used their profits to establish a Savings & Credit Cooperative through which they plan to help members pay university tuition after graduation. See St. Anthony’s and the other winning clubs celebrate here!