Speaking during the launch, Unilever Managing Director East and South Africa Yaw Nsarkoh, said the project will offer students exposure and the opportunity to stretch their potential as they unearth their creative abilities.
NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 5 – Unilever on Monday launched the “IdeaTrophy Edition 2” initiative that focuses on the development of personal and entrepreneurial competencies amongst Kenyan undergraduates.
“They will have personal development, gain different perspective and experience in readiness to business life,” Nsarkoh said.
The challenge will include public and private universities in Kenya and it will be phased in three stages.
The first stage will be the online registration and submission of business ideas. This will be followed by zone competitions with nine teams competing at the zone championships.
Two finalists from each zone will emerge from this process while the third and final stage finalists will present their execution plans.
“This challenge will also trigger creativity and nurture innovation, a pre-requisite demand for industry,” he said.
The first prize is a trip to South Africa to visit the Africa Region Head Office and iPads, while the first and second runners up will win laptops and blackberry phones with certificates.
The winners also stand a chance to represent Africa in Singapore for the Talent League which will bring together finalists from across the globe.
The “IdeaTrophy” was launched by Unilever in 2012 in collaboration with Rexona Brand and partnered with nine universities.
Students generated and submitted innovative ideas on creating brand awareness and growing usage of Rexona among their peers in the target universities.
The ideas were subjected to judging based on creativity and feasibility.
Out of these, there were three winners and the grand prize was a trip to the Unilever Africa headquarters office in South Africa, interaction with the Africa leadership team and an internship opportunity in the Kenya office.
