 Welcome back to why in the morning and if it's Tuesday, it's entrepreneurship Tuesday at Y2-4 for channel as you can find us across all social media handles at Michelle as you can reach out to me on all my socials in this particular session you're talking about the hard price foundation. 2020 in the previous week we also had guys come over and it's just a movement about the hard price foundation 2020 this year this year theme being food for change in studio. I am joined by Simon Josiah who is the campus director at the Kenyatta University. Then we have Karen Wairimu who is the head of public relations and in this particular conversation you just want to dive into what is all hard price all about and how guys back at home or universities how can you just be part of this particular program. And you might just end up walking away with 100 million Kenyan shillings so it's a conversation that you want to stick around for. Thank you guys for creating time to be with us. Thank you so much Mrs. Shearer. It's a pleasure being here. Thank you very much. So studying us off Simon for someone who is watching this conversation and they're wondering what is hard price all about. Okay so hard price is about changing the trajectory of normal students into the impact space and what we try to do is we're trying to lead a generation of change. And if I could give you a bit of context into what hard price does is that hard price came into partnership with the United Nations Office for Partnerships to come up with challenges that are aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. So that young people all over the world can come up with innovations that address the old problems but in a different perspective. So talking about the challenge this year going into food for good you know it's more about addressing how we're going to feed the ever increasing populations. Okay all right and Karen someone who is watching this and they're wondering who is eligible to participate in this particular competition. Anyone who's a student in between 18 and 35 years of age is eligible. It doesn't matter if you're undergrad or post grad as long as you're a student in between 18 and 35 you can participate. There's a time age limit. Yes because it's for youth. Absolutely so whoop whoop we guys been taking care out of here. So Simon back to you. I would like to find out what sort of educational background do I have to have if I'm a student what educational background should I have just to be part of this program. Okay so the way we describe it we say that it's open for all and what we mean by this is that any any any any course any any school is is eligible to participate in this program. And so what you try to do is actually to come up with interdisciplinary teams whereby you get people from various backgrounds coming into the same team because we believe that that is where there is a chance for innovation. Because we're talking about having four minds thinking differently from the perspective that that they have been exposed to. And you know they're going to think about the problem differently. They're going to brainstorm on ideas really differently. And so we believe that if we get such a mix then there's really a chance for people to come up with them disruptive innovations. What is the process when it comes to just you know being part of the hard prize program whereby I have an idea and I feel like this idea of mine it's going to be it's aligned to this year's theme which is food for good. And I feel like I have this particular idea of a student. What is the process? What process should I go through just to be part of this program Karen? The process is very easy. We have a website where you just go and sign up. You know you can find because it's a team of three to four people. Find the team, find three or two friends and you start a team and then register on our website. And then if you don't have a team there are other people as well who would love to participate but don't have a team so we are able to link you guys together. So where is the website? What can you find this particular website where we are actually doing the registration? Okay so the website is at www.hardpriceat.kenyatta. So once you go there you're going to find the registration form. You're going to find the challenge which can download and then read through it. So that's the situation whereby I feel like I want to be part of this program but I don't have an idea yet. But I feel like if I just get involved in it I might just develop one great idea well at it. Do you accommodate such people? Yes we do accommodate such people. Actually that is the real target market that you're looking out for because we want to inspire people who did not think that they would come up with such innovations because we are targeting the ordinary students that let me say due to our efforts came into the impact space. So you know once they sign up into the program they're going to be taken to business generation training and okay idea generation training rather. So you know they're going to be taken into the farm. They're going to understand the farmer. It's called human-centered design thinking. They're going to understand the needs of the farmer. They're going to understand the pain points. And from this they're going to see the insights that they're going to come out of the research that you've done in the market. So it does not require you to have an idea. Come into the program, get trained, go and experience how the aggregational value chain is working within Kenya. Get to know where there is a pain point and then solve that. Alright. As you see earlier on we had guys come over from Strathmore University and they were just speaking about the same thing Hulse Prize Foundation and just pushing the movement and encouraging young people to be part of this particular movement. When you talk about the idea generation training how long does it take and what is the deadline for registration and yes. Okay so there's only one registration so that is just the team registration. And so right after that is then when we start the idea generation training. And so these are going to take like they're going to be one week workshops. So maybe one week dedicated just to business idea generation whereby the only topic that is going to be covered on that particular week is going to be business idea generation. Because we do understand for some people we're actually going to be introducing such concepts to them. So we give them that full week for them to really completely understand this particular module. And you know for the Hulse Prize in Kenyatta University what you're doing different is that we're bringing in like entrepreneurship programs that do exist within the Kenyan ecosystem. So we're talking about companies like the Cinepeace Group who have partnered with us just to offer those types of business modules. So it's going to be really insightful for the people who are going to register. And I hope the best in terms of idea generation. Alright speaking still on matters pertaining the idea generation guy. When is the deadline for pitching one guy's pitching and whom are they pitching the ideas to. So we are currently working to get a team of rockstar judges who the participants will be pitching to. And the main pitching event will be on December 4th. Although before December 4th we will have the semifinals. So on December 4th will be the finals for people to pitch their different startup ideas. Alright and it's also an opportunity whereby young people get to interact with other individuals all over the world because it's a global competition opportunity. What happens after now the deadline the pitching on December 4th? Yes. Now what next from there? Okay so after you pitch on December 4th the final three teams the winning three teams rather get to go to regionals. And the regionals are situated in over 50 countries worldwide although this time we'll have to do it virtually due to the corona pandemic. So during regionals now the different teams get to compete with other teams from all over the world. And when they win the regionals the finalists now move on to the HALT Castle in London for an accelerator program where they get coaching and mentorship from world-class leaders and experts. Imagine that in London and your accommodation and meals are catered for. So after they get that training for about five weeks now you move to the United Nations headquarters to pitch your idea in front of the whole world. It sounds glimpse and glum when you put it that way. The whole experience of just learning and getting to be with the business individuals who are well known in the world just get to train you, coach you. Someone is watching this and wondering it's on a global scale right? Do you have canyons who have won HALT prize before? Yes we do. This was in the year 2016. The company was called BUPAS and maybe you have heard about it. And so the idea that they came up with was a ticketing system for the normal what we call the matatus. And you know they presented that on the global plenary and the idea was disruptive I would say. And so you know such an example shows us that as a Kenyan youth we can make it. And talking about this year the challenge 2020 which is currently ongoing. So they are currently doing the accelerator. There's a team from Jaramogi or Gengawdinga University and you know even for them to get the accelerator just one step behind the global final which is going to be at the New York UNHQ. So we have seen Kenyan ideas going all the way to the global finals. And we believe that this year there's also going to be the same same kind of Kenyan team going all the way to the global finals. Still on news Simon have you participated before? I know you are campus director but have you participated in this program? Maybe had you give out your idea and maybe tell us the story behind it. Okay thank you so much for that question. So yes I have participated in the HALT prize on campus program. So I did participate last year where my team came out fourth. What was the team last year? The team last year was on climate action. And every startup that came into the program was challenged to increase the earnings to 100 million dollars to make impact by every dollar earned. So you know we had a startup that was more inclined into SDG6. And you know from the program it made us environment conscious. And we reiterated the product that we had to be more environmental conscious in such a way that it could be produced by using waste. And that just came out of participating in the HALT prize competition. So we do understand that the HALT prize competition not only gets the students to think about business ideas but then they also think about business ideas that are impact centered and also environmental conscious. Alright okay that's interesting. So back to you Karen. Back at the campus level you know these are individuals that come together. A team of three to four that you said. There are quite different personalities and everything. There are times there could be challenges I believe. And I would like to find out how do you guys manage or just control the situation by one individual first. Like in the course of the journey that is that they feel like I'm no longer interested to be part of this team. And how does that work? I think at first it comes with the team formation. First you have to form a team with very like-minded individuals you know. People you get along with so that you can you know get along with them and come up with this great idea. And you know when there is that contact between different people. And we also do team building so that people can get in line with each other. Even for our teams like every Friday night we normally have a game like just to get to bond with each other so that we can get to work better. So you believe this social interaction and this kind of team building will help people to avoid such conflicts in the future. Speaking about team building I think it's very important to just keep the young guys propelled you know very energetic in the aspect of just events. What couple of events that you guys have this year on the aspect of you being head of PR? Okay sorry I didn't get your question. Couple of events that you guys have. Currently we have webinars online. They're happening weekly where we get to interact with different speakers like last week we had Mentor Aidanganga on our platform. So that we can get to interact with different people and people can ask us different questions. And even on our social media pages people can reach out and get in touch with us. Alright so Simon in a situation whereby I'm a participant and I had this great idea. I didn't get my pitching but at the end of the journey I didn't walk away with a hundred million Kenyan shillings. Then what's next for me? Am I going to get an opportunity where I will have a coach to hold my hand even also to implement this idea even if it didn't end up being accepted on the global scale? That's a great idea. Okay so for the startups that are going to come into the on-campus program but are not going to win the hundred million dollars. I think that university as an institution of learning has set up an ecosystem that enables such ideas to go forward even from such innovation competitions and on to the market. So we have set up the Chandariya business incubation and innovation center which is just set up to support such kind of student led innovations and initiatives. So it is just about applying into the center and then you're given the incubation. So when you're talking about the incubation, getting into the incubation program, you're given the access to resources. You're given the space to even conduct your business activities. You're given the links, the mentors and so you know the startups that are not able to go all the way to the global final can tap into the Chandariya incubation center to also get that support in terms of acceleration. Karen, I'd like to find out still on Mattis Patel in this program, when it was introduced to the campus and for that period of time what are some of the achievements stories that you guys have? Even if you didn't make it to the, you know, the hundred million care shieldings that is. Okay, so one, we have a team called Fixit. Okay. They had participated, when have they participated? In the regionals last year. They participated in the regionals last year. They got all the way to Jordan for regionals and are currently being incubated at the Chandariya Innovation Center. That's interesting and fantastic. Yeah. So a couple of challenges, challenges that you guys face while working with different personalities and so show you guys some couple of challenges. Okay. So I'd say one of the challenges that we have faced, especially during this pandemic is that we cannot have like physical workshops and you know that the Kedya University community is made up of students from various areas in Kenya. And you know, we're talking about internet connectivity because you know streaming and talking about Zoom, Zoom workshops, you know, you don't get as much participants as you would have had on a physical workshop. And so that is actually the biggest challenge because yes, we do have the numbers in terms of registration, but then when coming into the trainings and all that, then the same numbers are not reflected. And so, you know, we're talking about the business ideas at the end, they're not going to be as ripe as we want them to be. And so that is actually a major challenge. And even when we're talking about the venue, you know, compasses are closed. Yes. So when you're talking about even the final pitch event, it's also about trying to consider if we're going to do it online, or we're going to find some off location, off-campus location. And now we're talking about more expenses in terms of even hiring a venue. So those are the kinds of challenges we're facing. And also the fact that not every student is, we cannot assume that every student has access to a smartphone or data. Yes, yes, yes, it is true. Okay. That's a really huge challenge. Yes. We shall overcome. I like that. We shall overcome. So how can guys reach out to you on your social media handles to just get more information about this program? Okay. So on Twitter, we are HaltPrize underscore KU. We are also on Instagram, HaltPrize Kenyatta. On Facebook, HaltPrize Kenyatta. As simple as that. Yes. Alright. So you guys, we should look out for, you know, this year. You may just walk away with your hand in the middle of the cloud. Definitely. Yes. So thank you very much for creating time to be with us. If there's any project that I've missed or any question I've not asked, probably we could just dive into it right now. Do you feel like you've touched all base? Yes, we have. Yes, we have? Yes. Alright. Thank you very much for creating time to be with us and just talking about the HaltPrize program. It's actually a great opportunity for young guys who are back still in school and just looking for opportunities. And considering that you don't need funding, you actually present your idea to be funded. Yeah? Yes. Absolutely. So guys, make sure you keep the conversation going at Y2FA for channel. At Michelle Ashirezo, you can find me across all my social media platforms. So right now we are going on a short break and we'll be right back with another interview.