SA student wins global innovation award

Ludwick Marishane, age 21, is the first sub-Saharan African to win the Global Student Entrepreneurship Award (GSEA) as a result of his innovation.

Marishane won the award with his flagship product – Drybath- the world’s only bath substitute lotion for the whole body.

It was first designed for sleepy college students who are lazy to shower but today its greatest application is for millions of people who have no access to clean water.

A native of South Africa, Marishane is the founder of Headboy Industries and a final year student at University of Capetown, South Africa- majoring in accounting and finance.

The battle for the GSE Award, which began with nearly 2000 students from 42 countries around the globe and ended with 30 finalists competing for over 8 hours in presentation and answering questions from judges at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during the Global Entrepreneurship week(GEW).

 The GEW is the world’s largest celebration of innovators and job creators, who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and human welfare. It features the Global Student Entrepreneurship Award- a premier international competition for High School, College, and Graduate students who have founded and are operating revenue generated business.

The aim of the award is to inspire students to adopt entrepreneurial endeavour by bringing global visibility to student business owners that are socially responsible.

The contest which was run by Entrepreneur Organisation and sponsored by Ewing Marion Kauffman foundation and the NYSE earn Marishane the chance to share in the half a million dollar prize and in-kind business services, including a mentorship from Redbox founder, Mike Delazzar.

“Who would have known that a lazy friend not wanting to bath would lead to this”, Marishane said after being named as the winner of the competition.

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Posted by AfricaSTI on November 29, 2011. Filed under Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry