The OISC in collaboration with Making More Health (MMH) facilitated students from the University to participate in V4C 2024. Venture for Change (V4C), supported by German pharmaceutical company, Boehringer Ingelheim continues with its mission to empower University students with social entrepreneurship skills. This year's program included the participation of 15 (fifteen) students each from the four participating Universities: University of Eldoret, Moi University, Kibabii University, and the University of Kabianga. Notably, this marks the fourth consecutive year of involvement for the University of Eldoret, where V4C is hosted at the Outreach Centre. The theme for V4C 2024 was ‘Holistic and Inclusive Development for Rural Communities.’ The target community for V4C 2024 was Kibisi Village in Mbakalo Ward, Webuye.
The 2024 Cohort from the University of Eldoret comprised of 15 forming 3 teams of 5 students each from diverse academic backgrounds, including fashion and apparel design, statistics, agriculture, and special education. The mentors for the 2024 cohort were:
- Dr. Heka Kamau (Coordinator, OISC)
- Dr. Becky Aloo (IPMO)
- Dr. Eng. Mohammed Swaleh (SENG)
- Dr. Daniel Chebet (SAGR)
- Mr. Kipkogei Chemitei (SSCI).
The students’ teams representing UoE:
I. Dynamic Innovators
| Name | Innovation |
|---|---|
| Wanjiru M Kabura | Tishawing A device to scare away birds from farms |
| Brian K. Yatich | |
| Keith Etyang’ | |
| Kimberly Scott | |
| Cynthia Chekirui |
II. The Think Tank
| Name | Innovation |
|---|---|
| Murage Moffart Muraya | Compabrique Entreprizes Produced briquetes from farm waste |
| Dianah Wasike | |
| Abubakar Said | |
| Benadeth Wabwoba | |
| Tonny Ojuok |
III. Team Alpha
| Name | Innovation |
|---|---|
| Titus Mutuma | Mende-kill Pest management by developing an ecofriendly pesticide to check cockroaches. |
| Rasoa Moraa | |
| Geff Gitonga | |
| Omangi Brian | |
| Justus Rotich |
The program officially kicked-off with a meeting in Webuye, Western Kenya, on July 3rd 2024. This event marked the beginning of the program and served as the ideation module, where students learned essential brainstorming techniques to generate and refine their ideas. In total the incubatees have covered six (6) modules and participated in two (2) field visits as follows:
| S.No. | Date | Module |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11th July, 2024 | Module 1: Kick-off and orientation, idea generation |
| 2 | 25th July, 2024 | Module 2: Marketing research |
| 3 | 8th August, 2024 | Module 3: Business analysis and value creation |
| 4 | 22nd August, 2024 | Module 4: Presentation skills and coaching |
| 5 | 5th September, 2024 | Module 5: Product development |
| 6 | 12th September, 2024 | Module 6: Launch and scale |
| 7 | 25th-26th September, 2024 | Bootcamp and Idea Competition |
The students had the first field visit to Kibisi on 1st August, 2024 for a needs assessment session. They then worked on their ideated solutions to the identified problems and got a chance to share these with the community in a second field visit held on 29th August, 2024. These visits were meant to ensure that the incubatees were addressing real problems and providing solutions acceptable and adoptable by the community.
Additionally, the OISC organized a training for the UoE teams on pitching which was facilitated by Ms. Linda June Adhiambo on Wednesday, 18th September, 2024 and Thursday, 19th September, 2024. The bootcamp and idea competition, which is the climax of the program, was held between 25th and 26th September, 2024 at Olukulu MMH Guesthouse, Webuye.
Image Gallery
