 on Tuesday. It's entrepreneurship Tuesday. At Michelle, Ashira is where you can find me across all my social media handles at Y254 channel. It's where you can find us across all our social. In this particular interview, we dive into a conversation about HALT prize. This is not the first time you've talked about HALT prize. We are promoting this particular event because young people are there. You need to get involved because you might walk away with the HALT prize. 100 million Kenyans, she likes. So stay tuned. You have so much coming your way in studio. I am joined by Kimberley Misambini. She is the judges coordinator for HALT prize 2020. They are from the University of the Eastern African University. Hello there, Kimberley. Hello, Michelle. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Welcome to the studio. Thank you. Thank you. Phil at home? I am at home. Okay, so Kimberley, this is not the first time right here why we have this conversation about HALT prize. I believe the intention is very good considering we are looking at the young people and these opportunities where they can grab and just, you know, get investors for their business while solving a problem in society. Starting us off, for the first person who is watching this conversation and they don't know about HALT prize. Let's start from there. What is HALT prize all about? Sure, thank you. HALT prize is a global program. It's a platform that offers university students a chance to be able to come up with sustainable business ideas that will be able to solve real world problems. Every year the HALT prize comes up with a theme for the year where students are supposed to come up with ideas, business ideas that can be able to solve the problems according to the theme of the year. Okay, and what's the theme for this year? The theme of this year is food for good. Food for good come up with an idea that is able to solve food insecurity. So many of us, of Kenyans, of people in the world are going hungry every day. The numbers, the statistics are high and it's majorly caused by food insecurity. So we are challenged to look at food insecurity in depth. Start from where do we get food from farmers? Start from looking for a challenge or a problem or a loophole at that particular state. What is the problem and what can I, what are the solutions I can come up with to solve this problem? So you look at the supply chain from the farmer to harvesting, to distribution, to consumption, to waste. Just there are so many things we can solve when it comes to food insecurity. And who is eligible to participate? Eligibility is just, you're supposed to be part of a university. You should be an ongoing student at the university you are in. Alright, and let's look at, because this program has been running for a couple of months now. When did the application open and can people actually apply right now? Yes, unfortunately the applications in our school ended yesterday midnight. We gave them a chance to apply through our HALT Prize TU website. And our applications are all by now. We are now heading to the program, the competition on Saturday. This Saturday on 5th? Yes, on 5th. Alright, tell us how does it work and the level, because I am sure the levels before someone gets to work away with the HALT Prize, which is 100 million Kenyan shillings. Yes, we have three major levels. The first level is called the on-campus level. This is where the teams from the particular university, like in our school, the East African University, we have teams that come together and during the competition they are able to compete. And we have judges who will judge their ideas. And from there we will have one winner and of course we will have top three. The first one will definitely make it to the regionals level. The other two teams, the second and the third team will have to go through some vetting so that we see if they can actually proceed to the regionals. But the first team will make it to the regionals. And at the regionals you meet also the first teams, the various teams from other universities. We have other universities participating in Kenya also. Yes, so you will be able to compete against these universities. And then from the regional levels we will have a couple of number of teams that will make it to the accelerator level. At the accelerator level now you compete with the top teams from the regional level. And at that point is where now you have reached the global level because you are competing worldwide. You are competing with universities in other continents. You see, at that level is when you get to pitch your ideas to those great amazing people up there. And luckily you might be the heart prize winner. Yeah, so it's not that easy. It's a competition on a global scale. What happens if I'm at the accelerator level? That's the finals. Yes. And I'm required to travel. So who covers the cost? The program covers the cost. I mean everything is sorted. As long as you have made it to the accelerator level, everything is sorted. Your work is just bring your brains, bring your ideas. I mean there are people who are waiting to see these ideas that young people are coming up with because they are the next leaders. All right. And from all these levels I'm working with the team. I'm not just as an individual. Yes, you cannot come as an individual. We are also in as much as we are being taught how to come up with ideas, we are also being encouraged to learn how to be with people, learn how to work with people. Because certainly from university you are going to a workplace where you will be working with people. Absolutely teamwork. Yeah, so teamwork is encouraged a lot. Absolutely. So are there maximum number of teams that can compete? That is from each school? No, at the on-campus level we encourage as many as many that can compete. But the minimum is 10 teams. All right. And let's look at can different students from different universities participate? Like your from Eastern African University and problem from different universities. Can I still come to university? No, unfortunately not. At the on-campus level we only have students from that particular university. Okay, so let's look at, I believe there are people who are already participating on this particular event. In a situation where someone is wondering that does the accelerator count for college credit? Or it doesn't have anything to do with that? No, it doesn't have anything to do with college credit. All right, so let's look at what training will their selected team, like the couple of teams which are going to be selected after the 5th of December, the kind of training they will receive? Yeah, sure. So after you have been selected to move on to the regional level, you are basically, most teams are still at the idea level. Like you have the idea, you have the problem statement, you have the solutions in place. And you probably don't have made steps towards it. So you are probably going to be incubated, you are going to go through a lot of training where you will be trained on business levels and all that. So that by the time you are competing at the regional level, you are not just at the idea stage, you are now at a better place. Probably you have a prototype already or if people bought your idea, you could be, you have already started, you are in the market and there is no harm with that. And you Kimberlevi got into participate prior. No, unfortunately, it's not unfortunately, it's very fortunate. This is the first time you are having heart praise at our school. And yeah, we are the team that has been able to bring this to our school and I will also be a participant hoping to win. Alright, so what is your idea? You are not allowed to give us the idea. No, there is no problem. You can give us the idea? Yes. Alright. Our training is called the Smart Tech Shamba. We are planning in incorporating aquaponics and vertical shamba. So we will call our firm Smart Tech Shamba. We are planning on sensitizing Kenyans on food insecurity. We are planning to put a program where we will have Kenyans can be able to come and learn about aquaponics and vertical farming. Aquaponics is the rearing of fish and plants at the same time. So we are going to have a system where we will have no waste. The water we are using to rear fish will be circulating in a system where the same water is going to feed our plants. We will not need external manures like fertilizers or all that because some of those they make our food unhealthy. So we are going to have the water, the fish poop will be taken through a process where to go through the biodigester to remove the unhealthy stuff. Then the water will be manure itself. Then it goes to a system and it waters our plants and then the water is purified by the plants and goes back to the fish. So we will not have any waste that we are making run-offs from the fish bones or anything. So that is it. So after educating we will have a program where we are going to educate citizens. We are targeting the youths and the retired people because the youths currently are complaining of a lot of unemployment and the retired people are just at home. So we are planning to make use of that opportunity and time. We will have an education program where you come. We take you through a number of classes about aquaponics and vertical farming and by God's grace we will be able to certify you and we are not planning to charge but you know with time we might be advised further. For now we are not planning to charge. Then after you have succeeded and you have received your certificate you are now eligible like we will be selling these structures. We will be able to now let's say you have come to our program you have studied, you now have your certificate. So after that you might want to start this aquaponics farming at your own place. So we will be able to come in, we come to your place we see the kind of space you have and then we will be able to set up because we are also looking at space with vertical farming you can set even at the balcony you can do this even at the balcony and you will never miss Boga or Sapa you know. So once you have agreed we will look at your space and then we will figure out how we are going to put it how we are going to structure it. Then I think that's where we are going to earn because we will set it up for you and you will pay us and then you are also looking at you someone might not have the money to pay for their setup. So we will have loans where there will be a criteria for eligibility so that you can know who exactly is allowed to get the loan. And then after you have the loan we will work with you until you are able to pay back our loan and that's it. That's so cost effective. And so friendly to come on Monday in cheese. Yes and it's actually good because this can be done in both urban and rural areas. So we can say that we will lack food. Different agri-business ideas there. Yes. So what happens if like on the regional levels you get to have guys with good ideas? What do you think the judges are looking out for? Because coming from what you are saying and the ideas that you have and the other ideas that have had from different conversations that guys came to one in the morning and you talked about hard price. So what do you think the judges will be looking out for? Well your idea should be solving a problem. Your idea should be able to solve a particular problem. And it should be able to create employment and it should be able to because the major thing with food insecurity is that we are producing less food and many are going hungry. So if you're able to double up food production then you're good to go. So what if the team wins in the regional but it's unable to attend the HALT accelerator? That's the final level on a global scale. So what happens to this particular team? Well I don't see a reason why you have won at the regional and you are unable because you are being fully funded to take place at the accelerator level. I really don't see a reason why he should not. But they should be able to look at it and the reasons behind it and the program itself should be able to find a way for you to make it to the accelerator level. Alright so what if I get to accelerator level and I don't know what happens to our business idea? Yeah you will be able to be incubated and advised. Remember you're meeting people who have already made it in this sector of life. So you will be able to be advised incubated and trust me people are listening. People are always listening to us. So someone might like your idea, might not be just the HALT press program but someone else might like your idea and decide to hold your hand and bring it to production. And act as an investor. Exactly. So it's a win-win situation either way? Yes it's a win-win situation. Okay so are there a maximum number of teams that can compete from each school? No, no, no. You as many as much teams can compete but now we will only have one winning team but any number of teams can compete. Alright let's talk about the oncoming event and what would be happening. Yeah sure. So we are planning a very colorful event at our school on 5th. Yeah it's just basically going to be the competitions where we will have the judges coming in and the students will be able to present their ideas and the judges will be able to judge. Alongside that we will have guests from different places and different faculties like we will have the Kajado County attending, we will have the Ministry of Education attending. So we'll have different people who will be able to advise us also as just as university students. So that's it for the day. Maybe an online like a version of High Prize or how is it even going to go down? The event is going to take place at our school. So the teams, the team members will be able to attend and the school itself and the judges will all be at the East African University. Alright and still making sure that you observe the machines. Yes exactly. For COVID-19. Exactly so distancing, sanitizing everything. Alright what would you like to say to guys who are actively participating on the High Prize 2020 as you end up? Oh, well first guys we are coming. My team is coming. Who doesn't know about your team? My team is called Smart Tech Shamba. Okay so give them a shout out. Yeah thank you guys Kate and Charlie. We are really working behind the scenes and yeah. So I will just tell because most of us who are participating are university students and for me this is new. I've never participated in something like this before and I'm excited. This is a great opportunity guys. This is a great opportunity because when you finish schooling at the campus I believe at most employment stages you should be able to come up with ideas that can solve problems and that is basically what we are doing here. So this if you get a chance to participate, participate. Just take the chance. It's a free chance I mean. Absolutely. And you may actually work out with the handed. And you will not be talking about employment anymore. Exactly and the most important aspect of it is having people who actually know more about business, holding your hand, the skills that you get. Yes. So it's an amazing opportunity right? Yeah. How can guys find you on social media? We are social media. We are at Facebook, the Halt Prize to you. Instagram Halt Prize to you. All right. And how can guys find you on social media as Kimberly? Oh, first of all I'm not told you I'm a painter. So I have a page. Oh right. I have a painting page on Instagram. It's called diverse underscore Kemi. And I have my other Instagram page for just my photos. It's Kemi Musabeni. Also at Facebook you can find me as Kemi Musabeni. All right. Why did that information just, you know, which give us that information for you're a painter? Yes. Okay. That's nice. Probably we can have you next time and you'll take us through the journey of the other side of business that you do, right? Sure. Sure. Okay. So thank you very much, Kimberly, for creating time to be with us and talking about matters pertaining Halt Prize. So guys back at home, you've had it. Make sure if you're participating, good luck. All the best in you winning the 100 million, 100 million Kenyashiles. Yes. Yes. And actually, you know, getting the skills, investors coming your way and learning way much more in there. And actually, the solving, the problem that you're intending to solve when it comes to food for good. I try to find as across all our social media handles at Michelle as she writes where you can find me across all my social media handles. So make sure don't touch that dial. We'll be right back on more on why in the morning.