Kabarak University emerges tops in student business competition

Kabarak University students (Photo: Courtesy)

Nairobi, Kenya: Kabarak University (Main Campus) was crowned the 2014 National Champion during the 12th Edition of the Enactus Kenya National Business and Entrepreneurship Competition that was held at Pride Inn Hotel (Nairobi) on July 12, 2014. They will proceed to Beijing, China later in October for the Enactus World Cup, to battle it out with other university teams from 37 countries worldwide.

Kabarak University (Nakuru Town Campus) clinched the second position while Maseno University was ranked third. This is the third time Kabarak University Main Campus has clinched the National Championship title. They won in 2011 and represented Kenya in Malaysia and in 2013 in Cancun Mexico where they advanced to semi-finals at the World Cup.

The Kabarak students spent a total of 12, 800 hours to initiate 3 projects dubbed cheki, legcedes and uripest. The cheki project focused on people with disabilities in Nakuru and Baringo counties to empower them with entrepreneurial skills in basketry, ornament making and detergent production. The Legcedes project focused on public health to get rid of jigger menace in Baringo County. The Uripest project sought to control the spread of the lethal necrosis disease in maize by developing the ‘Uripest’ pesticide. This saw the increase in maize production, profit among farmers, job creation and food security in Baringo and Nakuru Counties. The projects impacted the lives of over 800 people directly and over 12, 000 people indirectly.

The Kabarak University (Nakuru Town campus) flagship project focused on developing cooling equipment for Mogotio slaughterhouse and improved hygiene in the beef sector. Maseno University in their "Emabungo Lumiluci" project facilitated access to solar lamps in Vihiga and Kisumu Counties.

The competition attracted over 600 students from 20 Enactus Kenya affiliate university teams (private and public). The event was also graced by Mao Yizong, Chief of Information and Public Affairs Section, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Kenya.  Mr. Yizong hailed the Enactus Kenya initiative for facilitating partnerships among businesses, universities, students and communities. He welcomed the winning team to China and asked it to be good ambassadors of Kenya.

Enactus Kenya was launched in 2003 as a partnership between Enactus International and the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN). Enactus is an international organization mobilizing university students around the world to make a difference in their communities through outreach projects while developing skills to be socially responsible business leaders.

Enactus Kenya operates under the advice of the Enactus Kenya Business Advisory Council whose membership includes business leaders from both the private and public sectors and has an annual membership of over 800 active students from 19 Kenyan universities (both public and private). Enactus Kenya has nurtured over 3000 young business leaders since inception and implemented over 400 projects.