Partner: IPP Group of Companies
Country: Tanzania
Project period: 2013 – 2015
A leading corporation commissioned IMED Foundation to co-design and implement a Business Innovation Challenge. The objective was to promote job and wealth creation by stimulating innovation and popularizing the idea that young people can start the entrepreneurial journey with meager resources and grow from there The project attracted over 20,000 business ideas and supported the creation or early development of a total of 98 through small grants and mentoring over the 2.5 years. The initiated supported young entrepreneurs and students to implement a wide range of innovative ideas, including making cheap chicken incubators from recycling disused freezers and refrigerators, backyard fish points made from recycles plastic, portable school tables made from hard paper for use in classrooms with no tables and chairs, urban vegetable growing, very low-cost enterprise resource planning programs for SMEs, job matching portal, an e-mail based notification system for colleges, etc. Due to the success of the project, the sponsor planned to buy shares in some of the most successful companies. The competition has contributed to building an innovative culture and demonstrating to youth that it is possible to start very small. At least 20 youth have created businesses that are growing fast and employing other youth.