| SU-SIFE Wins Entrepreneurship Award |
Strathmore University Students in Free Enterprise (SU-SIFE) team won the 2007 Coca Cola Africa Foundation SIFE Kenya Entrepreneurship Award. The team was also first runners up in its league in the 5th annual competition on student entrepreneurial skills after presenting four projects at a ceremony held at Pan Afric hotel on Saturday, 26th May 2007. Other universities in the league included Africa Nazarene, Daystar, Kenyatta, and Masinde Muliro universities.
The projects ran for a period of one year. SU-SIFE Mawingu project was collaboration with Kibera's Initiative for Sports and Social Arts (ISSA). SU-SIFE imparted business proposal writing skills to ISSA members SU-SIFE also helped ISSA set up an ICT centre which is operational. The team trained ISSA to use computers. Now, ISSA members are in turn training other youth. Project partners in these initiatives included Maji na Ufanisi, Haco Industries, Umande Trust, Pamoja Trust, PC for Africa, and Strathmore University. SU-SIFE also helped ISSA organize Mr & Mrs Kibera beauty pageant. Ten people participated in the event and about 1200 youth attended. During the event, issues on HIV/Aids were tackled. The team also helped ISSA set up a theatre troupe which is full operational and is making money. ISSA ploughs the money back into its activities. SIFE-SU also helped ISSA market its beads. ISSA is now getting revenue from the beads. The second project was Jiendeleze (Kiswahili for develop yourself). It aimed at enlightening SU students on entrepreneurship. SIFE-SU invited different entrepreneurs to talk to students. It also held a one day seminar on the topic where various entrepreneurs addressed SU students. The third project was dubbed Faulu. Its target was the youth of Kambi Muru Self-Help Group in Kibera. SIFE helped the group conduct seminars on business management. Now, the members of the group keep records of their business transactions. The group has also increased the volume of manure it sells. It has also begun a new business of collecting and selling scrap metal and waste plastics. The fourth project was dubbed 'Ngumbato' from the Kiswahili 'kumbata'. It was in collaboration with Mwiri Women Group, Limuru. The women in the group had various problems. They could not access loans from banks owing to high interest rates. And although the women were selling milk, they sold it in different forms and didn't keep proper records of their transactions. By the end of the project, the women in the group had enrolled as a group in Faulu Kenya. They are also selling milk in its pure form and they can now keep a record of their transactions. |
