Two students from the North-West University (NWU) recently achieved second place with their own business in the category for green technology in the national Gauteng Accelerator Programme (GAP) competition.

Kgaugelo Maripane and Mzwakhe Sifuba, co-founders of the student business, Business In A Bag™ (BIAB), are both BCom Accounting students at the campus in Potchefstroom.

They won prize money of R200 000, a trophy and a certificate – with the prerequisite that approximately R180 000 of the prize money has to be reinvested in their business.

Kgaugelo started the business – comprising starter packs for a waterless car wash enterprise – in 2014. These packs include equipment and consumables for one month, full-colour training modules and Excel sheets to manage the finances of the business. The packs also include eco-friendly soap – a definite competitive advantage and a way to save costs.

The NWU’s Technology Transfer and Innovation Support (TTIS) office supports these non-academic projects as part of their Innovation Highway initiative. This support ensures that projects such as this one gets off the ground.

The NWU, via Innovation Highway, is also a minority shareholder in the business, which is registered as MS Intuitive Concepts.

According to Boipelo Sebesho from TTIS they are very glad about this award. This has shown once again that perseverance does pay off and that students can start their own businesses with the necessary support.

• Any student or staff member who is interested in entrepreneurial opportunities can send an email to entrepreneur@nwu.ac.za.

 Kgaugelo Maripane and Mzwakhe Sifuba are the co-founders of the student business Business In A Bag™.

 This is the award that the students won.