Introduction
The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) has been involved in various initiatives that aim at developing the innovative and entrepreneurial mindset of students as well as motivating them to start their own businesses before or after graduation. With consideration of the increasing unemployment rate among the youth in the country, UDSM is encouraging continuing students to see self-employment as a viable career option. Therefore, while continuing with their studies, the focus should not only be skewed toward the attainment of high academic performance but also on actively participating in extracurricular activities that nurture them to be able to turn the challenges facing local communities into business ideas.
Towards the efforts of instilling innovation and entrepreneurial culture in the students, UDSM, through its Directorate of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (DIEN), annually organises an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Challenge (UD-AIEC). The UD-AIEC aims at giving students a vital role to play as champions in solving socio-economic problems and, hence improving livelihoods. This aligns with the first and third strategic objectives of DIEN, i.e., to enhance the quality and employability of UDSM graduates and to enhance the commercialization of UDSM innovations.
UD-AIEC has been taking place annually since 2019 to date. The trend shows that the challenge has been gaining popularity and interest among continuing students such that the total number of team applications was 35 in 2019, 100 in 2021 and 188 in 2022. Unfortunately, there was no challenge in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just to mention an example of the impact of UD-AIEC 2022, the Upcyclers team was the first winner from the UD-AIEC 2022, and after receiving the award, the team has been able to [1] conduct major prototype refinement of their project, [2] pitch and exhibit their prototype at national level, e.g., 2023 MAKISATU, Tanzania Energy Congress, Sabasaba and TCU exhibitions; and at international level, e.g., 2023 Youth4Climate Sparking Solutions Global flagship event-Rome, Italy and AfriLabs Ideathon -Kigali, Rwanda [3] conduct field testing, demonstrations and initial sales. The team has also been able to register a business name and has already applied for a patent. The award that was granted to the team was 10 million TZS which was disbursed in three instalments. Throughout the financial year 2022/2023 to date, DIEN has been able to offer winners of UD-AIEC 2022 pre-incubation services, conducts physical verification visits at their project site, holds training, meetings and mentorship to the team members so as to enhance commercialization of their product.
DIENs engagement with stakeholders and the sharing of experiences and success stories of UD-AIEC initiatives has resulted in three stakeholders showing commitment to partnering with DIEN in UD-AIEC 2024. The first stakeholder is UNICEF Tanzania, which has offered a contribution of 7 million TZS and support for the incubation of the best child-related project. The second stakeholder is AESDEA (Agripreneurship Project), which will award one team for an agriculture-related viable idea. This stakeholder is interested in a teams project that focuses on agriculture problems in Tanzania and offers viable solutions including youth employment in the agricultural sector. The award is a three-month mentorship package that is basically going to facilitate the propelling of the agribusiness idea to a commercialisation stage. The mentorship package includes nine mentorship sessions to be conducted by the Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE), TU Berlin, the College of Agricultural Sciences and Food Technology (CoAF), and the Center of Banking and Financial Services Research at the University of Dar es Salaam Business School (UDBS). The third stakeholder is the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) whose support will be as follows: One week training on innovation and entrepreneurship for the top six teams; One month industry attachment/ Workshop/ Laboratory Work for the top three teams and, financial support for Proof of Concept (PoC) activity to One Team. Therefore, in total the UD-AIEC 2024 will have 11 teams to be awarded, which has improved when comparing with three previous years, where only 3 teams were awarded by UDSM alone. Other stakeholders are mostly welcomed to collaborate, sponsor, add into the Challenge Tracks in UD-AIEC 2024.
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