The whole of MUT is holding its collective breath and praying that its student, Andile Mkhize, will continue with his winning streak. Mkhize, a student studying towards a Diploma in Agriculture, won the Existing Tech Business category in the regional round of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Intervarsity Competition hosted by the Durban University of Technology at the Indumiso Campus, Pietermaritzburg, from 1-2 October 2024. MUT was competing against DUT, UKZN, and the University of Zululand. The competition has four categories: Existing Tech Business, Existing Social Impact Business, Existing General Business, and Research-Based Business.
Mkhize has a business enterprise called Agrivalue. Agrivalue has developed a web application that monitors real-time crop health. Mkhize will represent MUT on the national stage of this prestigious competition, where the KZN Region will compete against Gauteng, Central, Northern, Eastern Cape, and Western Cape. The National Round of this competition is scheduled to take place from 28-30 November in Gauteng.
Mkhize said he was “thrilled” to have won the regional round of the competition. “It shows that the judges recognized our solutions to addressing the real challenges in agriculture.” Mkhize said that participating in the national competition means a great deal to him, “as it offers the opportunity to expand my network. While winning the prize money would be a bonus, my main goal is to share our story on how we are transforming the Agriculture landscape for the better as AgriValue”. Mkhize said the platform would allow him to represent MUT and the KwaZulu-Natal province best.
Ntombifuthi Mthembu, Student Business Activities Co-Ordinator at the University, said the purpose of the annual competition is to allow students to students to showcase their businesses and share their business stories “in the form of a pitch.” The competition further will enable universities to showcase the entrepreneurial support they give to their students, she said. The university also supports the students by preparing them for the competition.
The competition process starts by shortlisting internal competitors and then stages what we refer to as the MUT Internal Round of Intervarsity Competition.
Mkhize, a second-year student, was named to the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans Class of 2024 in June this year. The Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans is a prestigious accolade recognizing the country’s top young innovators, trailblazers, entrepreneurs, and solution finders. Andile said the award “celebrates his remarkable achievements in the sector and highlights his role in shaping the future of South Africa through his outstanding work in agriculture.