SOHOMBO GEDIS: NBII BUSINESS IDEA COMPETITION WINNER

Brief: NBII Business Idea Competition winner

You recently won the NBII Business Idea Competition. Please tell us more about this competition? NBII, together with other sponsor, hosts the competition. It is focused on bringing entrepreneurs and individuals with ideas together, mentor them through workshops and provide them with information needed to kick start their businesses.

You are developing a mobile application. Tell us how your idea was born and what you want to achieve with it? As a student, I had experienced problems regarding school material such as books. I would usually ask classmates and lectures to send me digital documents. With my classmates, we had trouble doing group assignments especially when we had to do them until late at night. Then I thought of this idea what if all my school work was just a click away. Six months ago I did a survey. What if most students were also experiencing the same problem. I’m aiming to solve the problem, satisfy the student needs and improving the system.

How will this mobile application impact the Polytechnic student? This will make a huge impact, as the social media platform has grown and majority of students spend most of their time on messaging applications anyway. The application includes instant messaging, cloud storage and an e-book facility; so students can access all their work on their mobile phones through an App. Late development features will include Moodle services, a search engine, live class streaming videos and video calling.

Winning the NBII Business Idea Competition, how do you feel about the accomplishment? What is your secret to success? Winning the Business Idea Competition was the beginning and opened a door. I am proud of how far I have come. Through my accomplishment I also learned and acquired entrepreneurial skills and abilities. My secret to success is that I live by being motivated and tested. I always look up to young entrepreneurs in Africa who made it. I always tell myself anything is possible. My close friends and family have a huge impact on me, as my friends would literally tell me, “we will make it and improve systems in most countries.”

How did this competition benefit you? And would you encourage other students to enter their business ideas. I went through workshops where I learned entrepreneurial skills like marketing, understanding your business and its purpose, identifying your clients and competitors and always to keep working until there’s progress and everyone’s happy. I also got funds which I used to develop the android mobile application.

Success Quote: "The goal should not be about money. It should not be the exotic car, the luxury bags, the house or impressing people. The real goal is building value, respect and having the type of success that doesn’t require you to prove it with materialistic stuff" – Shawn Thomas