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Extra Correspondent
The University of Zimbabwe Enactus team easily shrugged off competition from local universities at the Boost Enactus National Championships held recently at the Cresta Lodge, Harare to earn a place to represent Zimbabwe at the 2015 Enactus World Cup to be held in October in Johannesburg, South Africa.
This is the third year running that University of Zimbabwe teams have trounced local universities in the national championships.
Held annually, the national championships bring together student teams to present the projects they have developed over the last 12 months and demonstrate how they are changing lives within their communities, thus enabling progress through entrepreneurial action.
In the preliminary round, the UZ team subdued the Midlands State University (MSU) and Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE) to book a place in the final round.
The final round saw the team sailing past Midlands State University and the National University of Science and Technology to clinch the championship and earn a place to represent Zimbabwe at the 2015 World Championships in South Africa.
Running under the motto, “A New Light that Beams Beyond Frontiers,” the presentations by the UZ Enactus team consisted of two projects — the Sani-Saver (a cost effective re-usable sanitary pad) and Sky Shine detergents.
In the Sani-Saver project, the team worked with MyPad company in the development of marketing models for the pad and assessment of its re-usability without harmful effects to consumers.
The product has significantly benefited women and schoolchildren in underprivileged and poor rural communities. The Sky Shine detergents project is a soap-making venture that has re-ignited lives of a group of youths rehabilitating from drug and alcohol abuse by way of employment.
Both the Sani-Saver and Sky Shine detergents projects have been applauded by and received endorsement from the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Enactus is an international non-profit organisation founded on the basic principle that entrepreneurial action can be a powerful catalyst for human progress.
It provides a platform for teams of outstanding university students to create community development projects, while developing the skills necessary to become socially responsible business leaders of the future.
Online Reporter