BUAN agriprenuer scoops the CEDA/DBSA challenge
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday November 3, 2017 12:02
Pule beat 221 other competitors, pocketing P200 000 for the top spot and an additional P10 000 that was given to each top 10 finalist.
Pule’s proposal entails producing fertiliser from organic waste thus reducing farmers expenditure on chemicals fertilisers. He wants to use earthworms to accelerate the aerobic decomposition of organic waste into fertiliser. Speaking during the awards ceremony, the Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi commended the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) contribution to the project. “The contribution of DBSA is appreciated as this is a testimony of their partnership with CEDA and indeed Botswana. These kind of partnerships demonstrate the historical relations between our nation and our people,” he said.
Further, Masisi urged youth to take advantage of the policies government has availed to empower themselves. He said that a majority of target group of the challenge is in the age group 15 to 24 and according to Statistics Botswana this group constitutes more than 20% of the population.
In addition he said that according to the 2015/16 Botswana Multi-topic household survey, youth unemployment constitute 69% of those seeking employment. “It is my view that government continues to develop policies, strategies and programmes to address unemployment,” he said.
The CEDA/DBSA University Challenge was launched in June this year as an outcome of the World Federation of Development Finance Institutions (WFDFI) third joint Chief Executive Officers Forum that was hosted last year. The challenge called on the youth of Botswana specifically those enrolled in institutions of higher learning accredited by Botswana Qualifications Authority at all levels, certificate, diploma, bachelor’s degree or doctoral programmes to come up with implementable solutions to issues affecting the country.
The applications closed on September 25, with about 222 applicants followed by the screening for compliance for two weeks. Top 50 applications were selected followed by the judges’ preliminary assessment, ending with10 finalists. The finalists then did presentations, which contributed 20% of towards their final mark. The challenge’s majority of the applications were from University of Botswana students at 34% followed by Botswana Accountancy College at 18%.
The chairperson of DBSA, Patrick Dlamini offered the challenge. He offered to pay P100 000 to any student who comes up with an implementable solution to address any of the key issues facing Botswana. He further offered P25 000 extra if a female came up with the solution.
To that end Botswana matched the offer of DBSA resulting in the winner walking away with P200 000. Further in order to encourage women participation, if the winning candidate was female, she was to receive extra P50 000 resulting in a total prize money of P250 000.