Enactus Club at Taita Taveta University (TTU) hosted its third Enactus Open Day. For the female members, the event coincided with the International Women’s Day 2024. The Open Day focused on how youth-led innovations can address the Triple Planetary Crisis in a sustainable way. The event was a meeting point of innovative ideas from university students, alumni, faculty, and industry leaders. The winning Lightning Talk was on a mobile mapping solution by John Ngugi, BSc (Geoinformatics).

A Reflective History

Founded in 1975, Enactus (Entrepreneurship, Action, Us) is the largest experiential learning platform globally. It aims at creating a better world while nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators. The Enactus network brings together global business, academic, and student leaders with a collective and shared vision: to create a better, more sustainable world. By March 2024, Enactus had a footprint in 33 countries globally, 10 countries in Africa, and 33 universities in Kenya.

Enactus Taita Taveta University Chapter

Started by Patrick Musyoka, a business student, the Enactus Club of Taita Taveta University (TTU) was revived to be an active and registered Club in 2019. This reinvigoration took a dedicated youth-mentorship approach of a seasoned youth mentor, lecturer, and Founder of IBD, who is also Enactus Faculty Advisor and Patron of the Club, Nashon Adero. The Club hosted its third Enactus Open Day on March 8, 2024, under the theme Empowering Youth-Led Innovations for Sustainable Solutions to the Triple Planetary Crisis. Climate change, pollution and the associated waste menace, and biodiversity loss are the three crises. They are choking the world with increasing severity and calling for collective action and inclusion for impactful innovations and sustainable social entrepreneurship.

A Memorable Open Day – Advancing the Cause of Young Women in Leadership

The 3rd Enactus Open Day at TTU coincided with the International Women’s Day 2024, which called for accelerated action with inclusive empowerment to help bridge the gender gap, which has been estimated would take 131 years to close at the current pace. Enactus Club of Taita Taveta University has demonstrated women empowerment, having had three female presidents out of four since 2019: Imelda Nasubo (2020-2021), Lacena Amanda Odhiambo (2022-2023), and the incumbent, Domitillah Kwamboka (2023 – present). Paul Njinu (2021-2022) was the only male president in this inclusive time bracket.

Key Presentations at the Enactus Open Day

The 2024 Enactus Open Day was undisputedly a meeting point of innovative ideas from university students, alumni, faculty, and industry leaders. The Patron of the Club welcomed Prof. Justin Maghanga to read the official opening speech of the Vice Chancellor. The speech praised the wins the Enactus TTU Club and individual members have secured over the years, including winning the first position in the National BIC Education Challenge of 2022 and the second position in the Esri Eastern Africa Geogeek MApp Challenge of 2022.

As the Academic Registrar, he represented the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academic Research and Outreach (ARO) at the event. Dr. Eric Kosgey, the Chairman of the Department of Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering, presented on green chemistry.

Imelda Nasubo, a mining engineer working at Base Titanium Ltd, Kwale, and a TTU alumna, addressed the university community virtually. She motivated the university students, more so Enactus leaders, to believe in themselves as a necessary first step to influencing a positive change in society, then progressing by upskilling and reskilling. She recounted how her humble beginnings with some tinge of self-doubt as President of Enactus TTU Club gave way to the maturity of her otherwise nascent leadership skills, eventually propelling her to a pedestal of public confidence while offering her a platform to believe in herself. “Reasons don’t matter; results do,” so was her emphatical statement that she attributed to the Club’s Patron as part of the key mentorship messages that drastically shaped her perspective and leadership philosophy.

Everton Namasake, from Esri Eastern Africa, dignified the occasion with a thought-provoking presentation rich in GIS-based perspectives for effectively addressing the triple planetary crisis. It must not be lost on us that GIS is critical to anticipating, organising, perceiving, and interpreting the variables and parameters that leverage decision support towards combating the triple planetary crisis.

Lightning Talks Contest

To bring the students up to speed with international industry trends, the Open Day featured a five-minute Lightning Talk Contest, on affordable and innovative solutions. The winner of the contest was Mr. John Ngugi, a finalist of BSc (Geoinformatics), Taita Taveta University. His solution was using a smartphone application for a mobile mapping solution with a multi-constellation capability, locating points of interest to within one-metre accuracy. He later demonstrated to the students and faculty how further geoprocessing can be conducted in ArcGIS Pro to deliver richer spatial analytics.

Overall, the Enactus Open Day at TTU empowered the participants and challenged them to be the next generation of leaders with a transformed mindset to forge a sustainable future. By interweaving the spirit of innovation with the principles of social entrepreneurship, the event not only celebrated the achievements of young women leaders in scientific innovations but also sparked a dialogue on actionable solutions to the triple planetary crisis. The Open Day series aligns well with the broader mission of Enactus to foster a global community of academic and business leaders dedicated to creating a better, more sustainable world.

The Patron of the Club takes this early opportunity to invite you to the next Enactus TTU Open Day, to be held at Taita Taveta University with an international audience. Keep checking for the grand announcement.