The first edition of the Feedback Series from the 2020 Ugwumba Enterprise Challenge was simply wonderful.
“If I was asked to recommend another participant as overalll winner, apart from myself, I would have nominated Ruth Ede of Scratop”.
– Bilkisu Garba, CEO, The Upcycle Architect
On the show this afternoon, Bilkisu shared her amazing experiences during the 2 months long competition with us among other things.
According to her, “it is true that most young women from the North and Muslims, like myself hardly get interested in competitions like this but after my research about the Ugwumba Enterprise Challenge, I discovered that the Ugwumba Leadership Center is non-political, non-religious and non-tribal. That was why I decided to apply to enter the competition and throughout the challenge, I was not harassed in any way. I even made new friends from across the country and my team is actually thinking of collaborating with some of the other participants who are also growing innovative startups.
I learnt a lot from the 2 weeks Boot Camp, preceding the pitching competitions before the finals. The course on Purpose Discovery by Ebi Elezianya actually made a lot of impacts in my life. It was as if she was talking to me, personally while her presentation was going on… The other facilitators and their courses helped in preparing me for the star prize.
During the Pitching competitions, my hope of becoming the overall winner was threatened by great business pitches from Ruth Ede, Mercy Eneh, Fwangkat Daburak and some others….
In fact, if I was asked to recommend another participant as overall winner, apart from myself, I would have nominated Ruth Ede of Scratop. She and her team are building a great business that will serve farmers in Nigeria, thereby helping to improve food security in the country”.
In 2021, we are going to launch the Upcycle Academy to enable us reach out to more Nigerian youths, who are interested in the sector. In the next five years, we hope that The Upcycle Architect shall become the leading brand in the sector in Nigeria.”
She concluded by calling on the Government and other stakeholders to collaborate with the Ugwumba Leadership Center to be able to develop sustainable job creation programs that will actually tackle the unemployment crisis in Nigeria.
Next week on the Feedback Series, we are going to feature, Valentine Nnamani, CEO of Next Origin Technologies, the winner of our second star prize at the Ugwumba Enterprise Challenge.
Please, keep a date with us!