Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ postgrads earn global innovation nod
- Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ University
A strong showing at a pan-African Makerthon secured students both a top prize and entry into a prestigious tech incubator.
Postgraduate students from various Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ Faculties recently made their mark at the African Engineering and Technology (AFRETEC) Makerthon.
Hosted at the University of Nairobi’s Chiromo Campus, this pan-African initiative, led by Carnegie Mellon University – Africa, brings together the continent’s brightest minds to develop innovative solutions under the network’s Entrepreneurship pillar.
Representing Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ with distinction were Zanele Dira (Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ Business School), Cuan Pienaar (School of Law), and Nish Parus (School of Electrical and Information Engineering). The students were placed into interdisciplinary teams tasked with tackling real-world problems through collaborative engineering and entrepreneurship. Through their hard work and creativity, one of the teams featuring Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ students secured the overall bronze prize.
More significantly, both teams involving Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ postgraduate students received an exclusive invitation to join the Carnegie Mellon University Africa’s Innovation Hub Tech-incubator. This prestigious opportunity includes financial support as well as access to specialist consulting services to help bring their visionary projects to life. The two winning projects addressed critical challenges: tackling the stigma surrounding women’s health issues, and navigating the structural paradox of Africa’s high-growth mobile economy to ensure inclusive, uninterrupted digital participation for all.