Representing Zimbabwe at Enactus World Cup 2024
University of Zimbabwe
Established: 2005
Student members: 47
Proudest moment from 2024: When we held our first prototype and we could not (and still cannot) believe this great feat we have accomplished. Work by a few students at the University of Zimbabwe solving a challenge one of our team members – Shingisai Vutete experiences on a daily basis in her Waterfalls community has given birth to ground-breaking innovation with massive global potential. And when the President of Zimbabwe, His Excellency Dr Emerson D Mnangagwa was impressed with our innovation and gave us a pum pum, we knew this is just the beginning to bigger and better opportunities coming our way.
Biggest challenge paced in the past year: The lack of a maverick solution in our project ideation and we overcame this with Project AquaFlora – a ground breaking innovation not just by Zimbabwean standards, but by global standards.
One word description: Tenacious.
Featured Project: Aqua Flora
Aqua Flora aims to address the infestation of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in Zimbabwean water bodies while simultaneously capitalizing on opportunities in the Zimbabwean furniture industry. Our intervention ropes in responsible government bodies – the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, the Environmental Management Agency, and ZIMPARKS, – the local Waterfalls-Mukuvisi river, and Lake Chivero community in the removal of Water Hyacinth. Once the Water Hyacinth has been collected, it is processed to produce powder which is then further processed with a binding agent, placed into moulds of different sizes to produce high quality and lightweight Hydraboards with various applications in furniture production depending on the size of the mould and thickness of the board.
