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DUT STUDENTS WIN BEST INNOVATOR IN THE SAB SHARP COMPETITION

DUT STUDENTS WIN BEST INNOVATOR IN THE SAB SHARP COMPETITION

Two Durban University of Technology (DUT) Students, Simphiwe Ntuli and Siyabonga Mngadi, who are the founders of Izipho Zokuphila Tracking Company won a grand prize at the South African Breweries (SAB) Sharp Competition under the ‘Best Innovator’ category. The student entrepreneurs currently incubated at the innobiz DUT Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation competed with some of the best performing SMMEs in the country and are elated to be chosen as the best.

The South African Breweries (SAB) Foundation finds, supports, and scales social innovations through challenge funding and tailored mentorship which can directly and indirectly improve quality of life. They define social innovation as innovation that demonstrates a sustainable business model while solving a social problem, with a particular emphasis on innovation that benefits women, youth, people with disabilities or those in rural areas.

This year’s SAB Sharp competition focused primarily on innovative ideas or prototypes that aimed to empower women in at-risk communities either by assisting them to become economically independent or by addressing issues associated with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome or Gender-based violence.

Izipho Zokuphila addresses the scourge of gender-based violence through manufacturing and selling GPS Smart Watches, used to track and locate women or children being abused or trafficked. This therefore placed them as the perfect candidates for this competition; Jewellery Design and Manufacturing student Simphiwe Ntuli explained this innovation as their contribution to making the world a safer place for women and children.

“Our aim is to fight against women and children abuse as well as human trafficking. Therefore, if you ever become a victim of such cases, you can simply just press the panic button on the watch, and it will send signals to our rescue team who can then locate and assist you,” he said.

Having attended innobiz DUT’s first ever Hackathon in April 2022, this team was able to learn how to use design thinking as a tool in entrepreneurship, prepare a well-structured presentation by applying the Lean Canvas Model amongst other workshops that they learned, as well as acquire good pitching skills in order to grasp the attention of investors.

“We are grateful to innobiz DUT because we have managed to gather the courage to step into such a door opening opportunity, and we would recommend innobiz to anyone who wants to gain business knowledge,” said Ntuli.

He further expressed that this is only the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey, and they will continue to grow through networking in the right spaces and with the right people.

Sharing her congratulatory message was the Director: Technology, Transfer and Innovation.: Professor Keolebogile Motaung.

“Today I am happy for you as you succeed in your work. The award you are rewarded is for you effortless trying. I wish many more awards in your life. It is the beginning of a journey and there are lots of things that are yet to be achieved. Congratulations for winning this award.”

Pictured: Simphiwe Ntuli and Siyabonga Mngadi.

Thabile Zamandaba Ndaba/Waheeda Peters

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