BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MBABANE – The future of innovation in the country is certainly guaranteed when one looks at the innovations high schoolers have come up with for the Junior Achievement enterprise competition.
Six schools will compete tomorrow for the honour of being the best in the country in enterprise development under the JA competitions. The six schools which have made it to the national finals are Hlathikhulu Central High School, Sifundzani High School, Manzini Nazarene High School, St Mary’s High School, Vulamasango High School, and Ekukhanyeni High School.
JA Marketing and Communications Specialist Siphesihle Mkhonta revealed that the winners tomorrow will receive a E10,000 cheque and payments for their hotel and flight to Nigeria where they will compete with 12 other African countries where the champion will represent Africa in the World championships.
The six schools made it to the finals after successfully battling it out in regional competitions. The theme for this year’s competitions is ‘Fuelling Change Makers.’
Among the innovative business model vying for the top prize in the competition is a water purifier by Eco-Exclusive from Hlathikhulu Central High School. According to profiles of the businesses shared by JA, the company members discovered there was a shortage of clean water in Eswatini’s rural areas. That is when they discovered that a solar water purifier would be a great solution since it uses renewable energy. The company provides rental services of the solar water purifier at a fee of E100 per day, and also sells the product at a fee of E3500.
Another competitor is Time Out (Pty) Ltd from Sifundzani High School. They offer a power saver monitor, which essentially regulates electrical consumption in a household. The monitor, which is the first of its kind in Eswatini, allows a user to set a daily limit of units. Once this electrical limit has been surpassed an alarm will go off or electricity in house will be automatically shut down. the power monitor will cost E2900, then sell it for E4500. In the first three months, Time Out estimates to make sales of E50,000.
Time Out’s business projections are markedly different from Vulamasango High’s Free Energy (Pty) Ltd, as they estimate to break-even after their first sale of their product – the Smart Electric Generators. They present their product as a generator which produces electricity at zero cost. The product is manufactured mainly from recycled car alternators which are driven by a DC Motor to produce clean and renewable energy.
Inevoke Pty Ltd from Manzini Nazarene High School chose a different field as they opted to model their business around an online rental management application (i-Rent). The rental system is designed to host rentals for apartments, cars, guest houses, gadgets, and furniture.
This year’s JA competitions returned to full force of participation as schools came closer to their normal schedules of operation which were disrupted during COVID-19.
“Our students have shown enthusiasm after the COVID-19 break, to them it was never a break as we continued our competitions virtually. The resilience they have shown has been against the shortage of time as schools opened late and there has been a lot of work for them to do. They, however, showed commitment and have come up with interesting products,” said JA’s Mkhonta.
She further encouraged all headteachers to show interest in the JA program by formally reaching out to JA as they look at increasing the number of schools going forward. There is a minimal registration fee, and all this information is accessible through the JA office.
