Enactus Nigeria, a foremost international non-profit organisation dedicated to youth leadership and enterprise development has announced Enactus Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Team, as the national champion, while Tai Solarin University of Education takes second place team at her annual national competition.
In a statement by the NGO, it said despite the ASUU strike, in the last one year, Enactus teams in Nigeria, made up of undergraduates of tertiary institutions from all backgrounds and disciplines, invested time and other resources to develop and implement startup social enterprises with great potential to empower individuals, transform communities, create jobs and wealth opportunities while improving on the quality of life and standards of living of people in communities around the country.
The country director, Enactus Nigeria, Mr. Michael Ajayi, said, “Like all other national competitions preceding it, the Enactus Nigeria National Competition 2022 provided these resourceful and dynamic students (social innovators) the opportunity to showcase the impact of their efforts over the past one year to a panel of judges consisting of CEOs of top corporate organisations in Nigeria.”
He further stated that “a total of 16 Enactus university teams participated in the exciting and energetic event that took place in three stages. The opening round and semi-final round which were held as virtual events between July 26th and 28th, 2022, while the final round was held as an in-person event attended by top executives, students, lecturers and dignitaries in Nigeria, at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos on August 30th, 2022.”
He affirmed that at the end of the three stages of the entrepreneurial competition, the Enactus Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria team with two most innovative and impactful social enterprises namely, PUP Industries and Tompa was adjudged the Enactus Nigeria National Champion 2022 and will be representing Nigeria at the prestigious international competition, Enactus World Cup, holding in San Juan, Puerto Rico between October 30th and November 2nd, 2022.
PUP Industries, PUP stands for Plastic Up-cycled Products, a social enterprise that tackles plastic waste in our immediate environment, in Kaduna state, in Nigeria and the World at large by up-cycling plastics into higher value products such as first Nigerian made shoe polish, PUP polish and PUP board. Tompa converts fresh tomatoes into powdered form to tackle farmer’s losses due to farm insecurities, tomatoes wastage, draught, pests’ attacks and long-distance transportation in local communities such as Bomo and Samaru.
Enactus Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria team was also recognised at the event as the winner of the Team Ambassador Challenge for 2022.
Commenting on the development, Janice Akpobaro, lead, Special Projects and Communications, Enactus Nigeria, said “the initiative was set to challenge Enactus student teams to show how excited they are about the Enactus Nigeria National Competition 2022, the Enactus programme, the impact on them and the Nigerian society at large by creating video skits which was shared on all Enactus Nigeria social media platforms to determine the video skit with the highest social media engagements.
“To this end, six Enactus student teams namely, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Calabar, Babcock University, Tai Solarin University of Education, University of Uyo, and Bayero University Kano participated in the challenge. Enactus Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria won with over 10,000 social media engagements.”
Michael Ajayi further extended his appreciation to all institutions and corporate organizations that have, at some point, supported Enactus Nigeria in its over 20 years of operations in Nigeria, including but not limited to KPMG; BIC Group; Ford Foundation; Sahara Group; US Consulate; US Embassy; Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB); Sc Johnson; Enactus Germany; ACT Foundation; Netcom Africa; GIZ; Interswitch; Chevron; Bank of Industry (BOI); JumiaPay; AXA Mansard; GTBank; First Bank; Unilever; Nestle Nigeria; Accenture; Lekoil; Coca-Cola Foundation; Coca-Cola; MTNF; FHN; SEPLAT; ACA Foundation; STI; FCMB; UAC Foods; Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc; Microsoft; Accenture; Sterling Bank; SMEDAN; and Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC).
