Students of Muyenga High School demonstrate urban farming during the national school championships exhibition in Kampala recently. Four schools made it to the finals where Holy Cross Lake View SS, Jinja emerged winner. PHOTOs BY GABRIEL BUULE  

At only 17 years of age, Joseph Bill Ainerugaba, Kennedy Bwiranda and Daniel Okiror all Senior Six students of St Mary’s College, Kisubi have already made their first million shillings in four weeks. The money is not from saving in a piggy bank but from sales made out of their mosquito repellant miracle briquette. The briquettes are their own innovation in which they recycle waste materials and add lemon grass, which they also discovered is a mosquito repellant.
The students alongside other three schools unveiled this and other innovations at the recently-concluded 2019 National Schools Championships. At least four schools competed in the finals that brought to life the theoretical and practical knowledge students have about entrepreneurship. 
While presenting their innovation, the Kisubi students said it would be a game changer in the energy sector but also the next big solution to global warming and malaria. “We are not only seeking to attain goal number seven of the sustainable development goals but our product can offer numerous solutions,” Joseph Bill Ainerugaba, their team leader, said.
In a nearly similar version, students of Nyakasura School say at one time milk production from the school farm was high. “We had enough milk from the school farm and the surplus would even be served to pigs at the school farm which forced us to think of how to utilise it optimally,” Betty Kobusingye, a Senior Four student, explains.

Finding solutions

Under their investment club, the students decided to buy the milk from the school and make yoghurt after identifying that most students at school craved yoghurt more than milk. 
Enock Ampaire, the team leader, said, “Our product is called Nyakasura Coffee Yoghurt and we sell to fellow students and the school canteen,” she adds.
For students of Holly Cross Lake View SS in Jinja who were crowned champions of this 4th edition, they make avocado appetizer together with other natural foods for students to buy. Their business is supplemented by liquid soap sold to the school and community. The winners managed to beat Nyakasura School (western region), St Mary’s College, Kisubi (central) and St Mary’s College, Aboke (northern region) who were selected from the penultimate stage at the boot camp.
Holy Cross Lake View SSS walked away with a fully installed solar system worth Shs20m for their school, including a four-day education trip to South Africa and the latest ipads for the two contestants, among other prizes.
During the awards ceremony, Stanbic Chief Executive Officer Patrick Mweheire thanked the champions for putting up a spirited fight and ably defending their business ideas.
“The aim of this project is to promote access to an all-round education and enhance skills development through equipping students with entrepreneurship, critical thinking and life skills that we believe will better prepare them to be job creators in the future,” he said.
The annual NSC is a flagship Corporate Social Responsibility project of Stanbic Bank that runs countrywide and has been taking place since 2016.

Growing popularity

The bank’s head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Barbara Kasekende, congratulated the winners, saying they won because they followed the business plan which fullfilled all the required sustainability tests.
“The quality of the competition this year has been very impressive. We are particularly pleased to see the great enthusiasm among the students which proves there is growing popularity for championship across the country each succeeding year. What is more exciting is the passion the teachers have, not only for the initiative, but also for their self-development as well,” she said.
The theme this year was ‘Empowering the job creators of tomorrow’. The competition began with activations across the four regions of the country. Participating schools then went through a boot camp, classroom tests after which they had a business idea generation session that allowed them to present business ideas to their respective school communities.

Source * https://www.monitor.co.ug