The P200 000 University Challenge To Be Launched In 2017.

At the just ended World Federation of Development Finance Institutions 3rd Joint CEO Forum that was hosted by CEDA, an interesting competition dubbed The CEDA/DBSA University Challenge was proposed. The Challenge calls upon the youth of Botswana, specifically those enrolled in institutions of higher learning accredited by the Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA), at all levels; Certificate, Diploma, Bachelor’s Degree, Masters Degrees or Doctoral Programmes to come up with implementable solutions to issues affecting the country, namely in the areas of:

1. Youth Employment
2. Employment Creation
3. Women Empowerment
4. Poverty Eradication

In taking up the Challenge, The Vice President of the Republic of Botswana, His Honour Mr. Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi said that government continues to drive toward addressing these imperatives, and as a result is dependent upon the youth and scholars of Botswana to be change agentsand come up with real solutions that will help move Botswana forward.

The Challenge was offered by Chairman of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) and the CEO of the Development Bank of Southern Africa Mr. Patrick Dlamini, with an offer to pay out P100 000 to any student who could come up with an implementable solution to address any of the key issues facing Botswana.He further offered P25 000 extra if a female came up with the solution.
To that end, Botswana matched the offer of DBSA Pula for Pula, and as a result, the winning solution would receive P200 000. Further, in order to encourage cutting edge innovation amongst women, if the winning candidate is female, they would receive an extra P50 000, for a total of P250 000.

The University Challenge will focus among others on:
1. Innovative fresh ideas.
2. Implementable proposals that address problems faced by Botswana.
3. Proposals with a focus on adoption of new and emerging technologies.
The Agency is still developing guidelines with other partners and the University Challenge will officially be launched at the end of January 2017.