Online Reporter
Mbulelo Mpofu [email protected]
IN a historic milestone for youth-led economic development, Bulawayo Province hosted over 200 young entrepreneurs, innovators, and start-up founders on Monday for the inaugural National Pitch Deck Challenge 2026 provincial qualifier.
The flagship entrepreneurship initiative, convened by the Confederation of Youth Entrepreneurs (CoYE), marks a crucial step toward building a globally competitive youth enterprise ecosystem in Zimbabwe.
The high-stakes event brought together a diverse mix of participants, including students from local tertiary institutions, independent entrepreneurs, informal sector innovators, and aspiring business founders.
Implemented in partnership with the Lupane State University (LSU) Faculty of Commerce, the qualifier served as a powerful engine to strengthen innovation, industrialization, and enterprise development, among Zimbabwean youth.
The Pitch Deck Challenge ecosystem is structured around a multi-stage progression, beginning with the provincial qualifiers where over 200 young entrepreneurs recently competed in Bulawayo, leading up to the national finals in Harare scheduled for December 2026 where the top 30 provincial teams will go head-to-head, all driving toward a long-term impact of directly assisting more than 3 000 youth across Zimbabwe.
The annual challenge is strategically designed to identify scalable business ideas while building a nationally connected ecosystem capable of penetrating regional and global markets. Organizers confirmed that additional provincial qualifiers will roll out across Zimbabwe over the coming months.
The competitive journey will culminate in the national finals scheduled for December in Harare, where the top 30 provincial teams will compete for national honours, strategic business support, and vital investment exposure.
The long-term programme is projected to directly impact more than 3 000 young people across Zimbabwe, while indirectly benefiting over 10 000 through structured enterprise development, innovation support systems, and ecosystem-building initiatives.
Beyond the competition itself, participating start-ups will receive assistance to access financial services, incubation support, mentorship, and scalability services.
The competitive arena saw a flurry of products and concepts cutting across agriculture, fintech, manufacturing, digital services, and environmental sustainability.
In the agricultural space, innovations included novel cereal products, organic fertilizers, and creative value-addition solutions aimed at boosting food systems and regional productivity.
Technology-based innovations also dominated the platform, with cutting-edge fintech products and mobile applications drawing heavy attention from the adjudication panel.
Ultimately, a team representing the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) emerged victorious. Their technology-driven solution impressed the adjudicators for its sheer innovation potential, scalability, and immediate commercial viability.
At the centre of this national initiative was Tedious Ncube, the national chairperson of CoYE and convenor of the National Pitch Deck Challenge. Ncube has increasingly positioned himself as a leading national voice advocating for youth-led industrialisation.
Speaking during the event, Ncube emphasised that the initiative is designed to build a cohort of globally competitive young entrepreneurs who can create products and services that thrive far beyond Zimbabwe’s borders.
“The future of Africa’s economy will depend on our ability to build globally competitive entrepreneurs who are capable of competing for markets, attracting capital, and creating products and services that solve real problems,” he said.
Ncube added that entrepreneurial success requires far more than just a good idea: “Competitiveness, execution, and the ability to create strategic advantage are what will ultimately give Africa a greater share within the global economy.”
He further noted that the challenge aligns strongly with Zimbabwe’s Education 5.0 framework, which tasks tertiary institutions with moving beyond traditional academics to focus on innovation, industrialisation, and the commercialization of ideas.
The competition highlights showcased a diverse and highly competitive environment, anchored by the NUST winning team, which secured the top spot with a high-potential, scalable technology-driven solution.
The platform also featured impactful innovations in agritech and value addition, such as organic fertilisers and local cereal processing concepts, alongside cutting-edge grassroots fintech developments that showcased digital applications designed to connect informal workers with formal economic value chains, ultimately earning strong industry and academic endorsement.
The event successfully attracted an array of stakeholders from the Government ministries, financial service providers, researchers, and academia. This created a direct networking pipeline connecting grassroots innovators with industry leaders.
Agnes Maradze, a Department Lecturer and Supply Chain Management Programme Co-ordinator within the Faculty of Commerce at LSU, applauded the participants for their high-quality,
competitive presentations.
“The level of innovation and competitiveness demonstrated by these young entrepreneurs is extremely encouraging. The ideas presented here show strong potential and reflect the importance of creating structured platforms where young people can test, refine, and commercialize their innovations,” said Maradze.
The sentiment was shared by the participants themselves. A student entrepreneur from NUST who pitched a cereal production and value-addition concept expressed gratitude for the real-world exposure:
“Platforms like this help students move beyond theory and start thinking about scalable solutions that can compete within larger markets,” said the student.
For independent innovators operating outside formal networks, the challenge offered unprecedented visibility. A Bulawayo-based independent entrepreneur who presented a digital task-matching application remarked that the environment welcomed those often excluded from mainstream corporate systems.
“The feedback from judges showed that there is genuine interest in practical, technology-driven solutions emerging from young people,” they said.
Reflecting on the exhibition, adjudicator Roemello Ngwenya expressed admiration for the creative depth on display, calling on stakeholders to build stronger, early-stage support networks.
“There is clearly immense entrepreneurial potential among Zimbabwean youth. What is now required is stronger support systems focused on identifying these ideas early, refining them, and bringing them into the mainstream economy,” Ngwenya observed.
Widely regarded as one of Zimbabwe’s fastest-growing youth enterprise organizations, CoYE continues to expand its national footprint through tactical institutional partnerships. With the
Bulawayo provincial qualifier successfully concluded, the organization is already preparing its rollout to the rest of the country’s provinces, ensuring that youth-led commercial innovation is unearthed in every corner of Zimbabwe.
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