University’s innovation culture pays off as students win big on the global stage
Mount Kenya University’s (MKU’s) investment in an incubation centre is paying off big time. It’s not only producing innovators who shine globally, but also entrenching an innovation culture that students have embraced with gusto.
In the first half of this year alone, several of the university’s students proved their mettle at global contests. In their words, incubation at MKU has demystified what innovation is, and connected them with amazing career opportunities.
MKU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Deogratius JAGANYI, says the institution is proud of its incubation centre. “The centre is open for use by our students and innovators from outside, and allows us to continue with the quest of accelerating the development of tomorrow’s job creators.”
Brian Kamau, a final year MKU Computer Science student, is one such beneficiary. In June, he continued the university’s tradition of producing winning students at the annual Huawei ICT Competition. At the 2025–2026 Global Finals in China. Brian, 22, went further than his predecessors. He was among the trio that brought Kenya top honours by scooping the Grand Prize, the first time the country has won the coveted award
“In the finals, I teamed up with Catherine Atieno (of JKUAT) and Salem Lumumba (of Machakos Univerisity), and qualified for the regional final after acing the national finals,” he explains.
He attributes the win to the team’s “deep technical competence, seamless collaboration under pressure, and precise troubleshooting of complex cloud architectures.”
Brian says MKU provides access to top-tier technical resources, specialised labs, and dedicated mentorship.
Winning the ICT award, he points out, “enhances my profile as a software engineer and opens up global networking and career opportunities.” The following month in July, MKU Bachelor of Commerce student, Chelang’at Mercy, excelled at the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition 2026-Africa Region Finals. She won the prestigious Gold Level award. Her Innovation – EduGreenTrack – ranked among the top five continental entries, earning MKU the ticket to represent Africa at the upcoming Global Finals scheduled for September 2026 in Nanjing, China.
Earlier in May, at the Wege Prize 2026 global finals in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a team of four students from the MKU School of Public Health – Wesley Njenga, Elijah Maina, Chinyere Ejike, and Franklin Mwendwa – competed against 87 teams from more than 30 countries. Their entry was EcoScrubber, a hybrid emission-control and carbon-capture system that converts toxic industrial pollutants into usable construction materials. The team won $2,500. In addition, it secured Ksh323,650 in seed funding after pitching to the judges.
For two months – from May to June – five MKU students underwent internship at the Digital Product School, UnternehmerTUM, Germany’s leading centre for innovation and business creation. This was under the Africa Meets Bavaria programme, a two-year innovation exchange funded by the Bavarian State Chancellery and coordinated through MKU’s Innovation and Incubation Centre.
According to MKU’s Head of Innovations, Intellectual Property and Community Engagement, Mr Donatus Njoroge, the university’s Innovation and Incubation Centre now runs a fairly consistent funnel – training students in practical product-development skills. “MKU is building the steps for its students’ ideas to survive past the pitch deck,” Mr Njoroge says. “We also support students during the prototype stages for promising viable products or innovations.”
eongwae@ke.nationmedia.com
