MKU unveils state of the art Innovation and incubation Centre

Mr. Benson Muthendi, the Chief executive officer of Youth Enterprise Development Fund on 8th July, 2022 commissioned the Innovation Hub at University’s Thika campus . The centre, which was co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union through the African Higher Education Leadership for Advancing Inclusive Innovation for Development (AHEAD) project, is intended to support the life cycle of innovations, from inception to market diffusion and commercialization. It will enable scientific findings, knowledge and intellectual property to flow from creators to the benefit of the community.

The centre will admit its first cohort of 20 finalists out of a recently released call for innovation challenge 2022. The innovations will be incubated for 6 months at Mount Kenya Innovation and Incubation Centre and receive support value of up-to Ksh 2,000,000 for all innovations. The incubation package will include access to the facility, customized coaching by experts, access to state of the art equipment’s and assistance in intellectual property protection and commercialization.

The ceremony culminated in a pitch competition to identify the top three award winning innovation. Mr. Githinji G. Gatambu was named the overall winner for his innovation, Plastikrete a venture that seeks to repurpose waste plastic management by amalgamating molten plastic with additives and using it in place of rock ballast as a component in concrete casting, achieving the same great results as with mundane concrete. He will benefit from Ksh.400,000  for his product development.

Nthuku Mumo came second with his innovation, Silo Feeds. A novel technology that utilises black soldier flies to valorise organic waste; to produce sustainable animal protein & organic soil conditioner. The  First Runners-up, will benefit from Ksh 250,000 seed funding  while Ms. Margaret Wambui Wahome came in third with his innovation dubbed Gucone, A rapid diagnostic kit for testing chicken against Gumboro Disease. She will benefit from Ksh 150,000 to develop her innovation.

“We are open to hold bilateral discussions with you like-minded organisations to help innovators in the discovery and development of new knowledge and its subsequent exploitation for the socio-economic development of the Kenyan people and the region in line with the objects of Kenya Vision 2030.,” Prof. Deogratius Jaganyi Vice-chancellor said. On his part, the chief guest, Mr Benson Muthendi tasked the finalists to play their role in shaping the future of Kenya

ABOUT MKU INNOVATION & INCUBATION CENTRE

Economic growth may not create enough jobs to absorb new entrants into the market. Formal larger organizations and corporates are not able to absorb numbers. Most wage employment comes from Small Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), therefore at small scale per enterprise. Entrepreneurship has come out as the biggest opportunity for the youth, especially in creative arts, agribusiness and online working. However, there is minimal support and unfriendly conditions to run businesses.

The global 4^th industrial (digital) revolution, is changing the way we live and digital innovation can help many Kenyan business models improve their business performance and/or tap into new markets. There is more demand for digital skills, a trend that has been observed across sectors.

The MKU Innovation & Incubation Centre is a timely opportunity to provide the appropriate environment to nurture innovations. It has been found that startups are likely to fail in the first two years, or stay micro-size. Government policies for starting a business are unfavorable.

To this end, MKU announced the first Innovation Challenge on 17^th February 2022 which was open until 18^th March 2022. The purpose of the innovation challenge was to provide an opportunity for Kenyans to display their innovations that will lead to groundbreaking products and services. The innovations included scaling up of new products, technologies, processes and services with the intention to bring them closer to the market for accelerated industrial and socio-economic development in the country.

This year’s call focused on innovations addressing the following five sustainable development goals (SDGs):

• SDG 1: No Poverty
• SDG 2: Zero Hunger.
• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being.
• SDG 4: Quality Education.
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities