Kenyan firm lands prize in world contest

A Kenyan enterprise beat 29 others to win $2,000 (Sh203,000) at the recently concluded seventh Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

Strauss Energy, a start-up, won in the People’s Choice category during the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (Gist) Tech-I competition held on the sidelines of the GES at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

Gist is organised by the US Department of State in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and lists 15 finalists whose innovations are at the conception stage, and another 15 that have already established firms and stand a chance to win capital seed.

Ms Charity Wanjiku, a co-founder of the firm that manufactures a two-in-one solar cell roofing tile, told the Daily Nation that she is excited about the achievement.

“There was a large group of start-ups. And given three minutes to convince a panel of investors and an audience that your business is the next big thing, without the aid of a slide presentation, was not a walk in the park,” she said.

Ms Wanjiku represented her company along with 10 Kenyans who were among over 700 entrepreneurs and more than 300 investors who attended the summit.

“For my team and I, the win was a reassurance that people out there believed in what we were doing,” she said.

Her three-minute pitch to investors won the people’s choice category which involved an active participation of audience who were required to vote for the best candidate.

The Company, conceptualised six years ago and whose operations started in 2014, sells electricity to the national electricity utility grid by manufacturing, selling and installing a two-in-one roofing tiles that are infused with solar cells to real estate developments.

“The need for reliable electricity cannot be overemphasised,” noted Charity.

Adding: “In Kenya, we have managed to only generate 2300MegaWatts of power in the last 53 years yet we have a target of 15,000MW before 2030. Unless we introduce a speeding catalyst, we cannot achieve that target within a third of the period.”

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The company, run by Ms Wanjiku, her brother Tony Nyagah and a third partner was born out a school project.

Last year Strauss Energy took part in the first pitch competition— the 1776 challenge held at the iHub— where it also emerged the only African start-up winner under the people’s choice category.

“The first time was scary since I had never stood before a panel of judges to convince them that our idea was the best.”

During the 1776 Challenge, a global tournament that looks for the most promising, world-changing start-ups, Charity’s firm won both locally and internationally.

Pitch competitions are seminars created for entrepreneurs with new business ideas and are in need of seed money.

In an era where investors are trying to offer seed funding to upcoming companies, Ms Wanjiku’s advice to an entrepreneur who wants to try a hand at any pitch competition is: “Always have the problem you are trying to solve, the solution you are offering, the market size and your growth strategy at your fingertips because that is what investors are looking for.”

Strauss Energy had been listed among finalists for their innovative building integrated photo-voltaic (BIPV) roofing tile technology.

It had also been shortlisted for GES Spark the Fire competition but did not manage to clinch the top position.

A Vietnam based interactive application that teaches kids how to read took the top prize of Sh1.51 million ($15,000) at the Gist.