The Student Entrepreneur Awards is an important enterprise competition for students in Kenya. It helps students to grasp real life skills associated with running a real enterprise including working as part of a team, managing production and finances, organizing a sales and marketing campaign and liaising directly with customers, judges and the media.
The Student Entrepreneur Awards is the biggest enterprise competition for students in Kenya. It helps students to grasp real life skills associated with running a real enterprise including working as part of a team, managing production and finances, organizing a sales and marketing campaign and liaising directly with customers, judges and the media.
The competition compliments the business studies curriculum and is a rewarding experience for transition year students in particular, who have that bit more freedom to develop their business concepts to the fullest.
Introducing enterprise to students in such a relevant fashion can only help to create more entrepreneurs in the future. The Small Business School of Management provides significant support to teachers and students involved in the competition and we would encourage all schools to sign up and get their students involved.
As well as finding out what life is like as their own boss, participating students could also winsome great prizes including National Trophy and Cash Prizes National Media Profile including TV and Radio appearances and Free Business Coaching for one year from small enterprise development experts.
This programme will help students to:
- Learn what it is really like to be your own boss – to set up and run your own business.
- Evaluate different business ideas to find one that offers the best potential to help you make a profit.
- Work with others on delegation of work duties, finding group members best suited to the different business tools.
- Write a properly structured business plan.
- Meet and learn from existing entrepreneurs in their community to better understand the rewards and pitfalls involved in running your own business.
Rules & Regulations
To ensure the competition is as fair as possible, all students participating in the Awards must abide by the following rules:
- Students may enter the competition either as individuals or as a team. There are no limits to the number of students on a team however each business must be represented at the National finals by a maximum of 5 students.
- Students must undertake their work in the current academic year.
- Students must operate a real business.
- Students must submit 4 copies of their business report (following the required format and with a maximum of 20 single sided or 10 double sided pages) by the designated date.
- Students are required to set up a display stand at the awards venue by the designated time.
- The judges’ decisions in all matters are final.
How to enter Entering the Student Entrepreneur Awards is very straight forward.
- Any school interested in entering should first make contact with the Small Business School.
- Normally a teacher enters a whole class for the competition.
- Transition (KCPE) students can enter the Junior Competition Transition (KCSE) Students can enter the Intermediate Competition Tertiary (College) Students can enter the Senior 1 Competition.
- Tertiary (University) Students can enter the Advanced Senior 2 Competition.
- The class is then divided into groups of any size up to 5 persons per group. Individuals can run their own enterprise but we would encourage teachers to try and get students to work in a group setting.
- Groups within each school firstly enter a school competition normally held early in the New Year.
The schools/colleges will invite leading representatives from the Enterprise Development Sector and local business community to help judge and select winners on the day. Depending on the local capacity in your area, a number of winning projects (i.e. one or more) will be invited to attend the County final. The County final will be judged using the same criteria as the school/college final. Successful groups from your school/college will be competing against successful groups from other schools in the County.
A County winner in each of the four categories, Senior 2, Senior 1, Intermediate and Junior, will be chosen to represent the County at the National Final to be held in September each year.
Winners of the National Final receive a range of prizes. In addition, they will be profiled in the national media.
