Jessica Alupo (right), Uganda’s Vice President listening to one of the beneficiaries of the 2021 championship. Besides her, are top executives of Stanbic Bank Uganda.
The acclaimed Stanbic Bank Uganda annual National Schools’ Championship (NSC) is back, and participants have up to March 8, 2022 to submit their business idea entries to stand a chance of winning grand prizes worth over UGX60million.
At least 60, 000 students from more than 100 Ugandan secondary schools are expected to participate in the months’ long grueling enterprise challenge that will climax in October with outstanding business ideas standing a chance of being linked to investors on top of winning expensive prizes from the bank.
Now in its seventh year, the 2022 NSC is running under the theme ‘Empowering the Job Creators of Tomorrow’ and will encourage participants to pitch especially climate smart business ideas in line with Stanbic Bank Uganda’s sustainability strategy.
“We are empowering job creators of tomorrow, but we also want to see them address global challenges such as climate change—that way, we can count on a generation of entrepreneurs that appreciate the importance of doing the right business, the right way,” said Cathy Adengo, Head of Business Sustainability at Stanbic Bank Uganda.
Launched in 2016, the NSC has registered growth each year from 32 schools participating in the inaugural year to over 100 (since 2020) with over 600 student business ideas generated.
At least 200 businesses have since been set up from the ideas submitted—90 of the 187 actively running student-led enterprises have received capital grants from the championship investor-relations initiatives that help link bankable ideas to financing.
Four-tier competition
The Stanbic National Schools Championship is a four-tier competition involving new schools (Startup Challenge); schools with existing businesses BizGrow Challenge); alumni (AlumGrow Challenge) and teachers (TeachGrow Challenge).
Participating students will have to compete in several qualifying rounds, including attending a boot-camp after which a winner is identified at a grand finale in September.
In the bootcamp, participants are taught different skills including business plan development, product development, customer care, communication skills, branding and marketing.
Elve Nshuti, 20-year-old alumni of the programme said, “I’ve been exposed to a variety of opportunities since my participation in the competition. Last year, I was able to win Ugx1.5million capital to invest in my tech company I-Tech Africa. I’ve gained more exposure equitably to customers through the championship. I’ve learned to be responsible and empowered, valuing collaboration over division and long-term gain over short-term gain because this is how my future will be bright.”
