Prize Winner Speaks To Future Enterpreneurs At BELA Tanzania
This past June, Babson students and staff visited the Ganako Secondary School in Karatu, Tanzania to work with roughly one hundred high school students to teach entrepreneurship. This partnership is a relatively new venture for the Babson Entrepreneur Leadership Academy (BELA) program, which has previously run in Rwanda, Uganda and Ghana. For more information on BELA, click here. The following is a press release from the one-week program.
Dr. Askwar Hilonga of Karatu, and Babson College staff: Michelle McCormack, Sarah Schwartz, Janai Mungalsingh outside Michela’s Room, Ganako Secondary School. Photo: Sharon yardley
Dr. Askwar Hilonga made a surprise visit to Ganako Secondary School, Karatu, TZ during the Babson Entrepreneur Leadership Academy (BELA). Dr, Hilonga is the recent and first winner of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, granted by the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering.
Professor Hilonga, encouraged students to concentrate on making their business/product the very best it could be. From excellence, comes opportunity. After a warm and appreciative welcome, he humorously added that the young Tanzanians might be curious about what an entrepreneur looks like – “Here I am!”.
The Babson program at Ganako Secondary School, Karatu, which Dr. Hilonga visited, is a one week intensive course created to magnify entrepreneurial thinking and action. Lectures, small classes, and interactive exercises, along with a 200-page workbook for each student expose attendees to the process of creating and maintaining a business.
This collaboration, June 16-20, between Babson College and Ganako Secondary School, enrolled 95 students, from 14 schools, recruited 10 teachers from Babson College, and is extensively supported by Ganako Secondary School educators. It was the third collaboration between the two educational institutions since 2012. Twelve educators taught the program: Sharon Yardley ( Babson staff), Farah Aldabbagh (Bason rising Senior), Puja Mehta (Babson alum), Salome Mosehle,( Babson rising sophomore), Kathy Martinez (Babson student), Kristen McQuaid (Babson Alum), Kristen Wainwright (independent), and Serena Harriman (independent), along with the 3 educators photographed above.
The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation awarded £25,000 to Hilonga for his ground-breaking water filter system which uses sand-based nanotechnology to absorb a wide range of contaminants including heavy metal, bacteria, and pesticides. A BBC June 02 article reports that 115 African people die every hour due to contaminated water and poor sanitation. Head Judge Malcolm Brinded said, “His innovation could change the lives of many Africans, and people all over the world.”
—
Contributed by Kristen Wainwright