Colour-Me-Amba: You-Innovate | You-Create

Hello Everyone!!!

..So, the 2013 YouWin Business Competition is on and the first stage of applications run till December 27^th. Now, if you are still unsure what business you would like to venture into or develop, time is not too short to look within you (your passion), or perhaps around you (your environment).

To help inspire those ideas, we decided to share the story of a young Kenyan student’s interesting innovation borne out of the need to solve a social problem. Please read on -

(Robyn Curnow, CNN) -- When Joel Mwale was hospitalized with dysentery, his doctors advised him to focus his energies on making a full recovery.

The Kenyan student had caught the illness after consuming contaminated water distributed by his municipal council during the country's annual dry season. But as he lay in bed yearning for medication, Mwale, Now 20, came upon the idea that would provide his community with access to safe drinking water and put him on the road to becoming one of Africa's most promising young entrepreneurs.

"I thought that what if this thing keeps on happening, year in, year out, what if next year the same problem happens?" he says of the illness which also affected numerous other people in his home village. "I should do something," he said to himself. "I'm not just going to sit back and watch things happen."

Upon his release from hospital Mwale invested his life savings, 10,000 Kenyan Shillings ($95), in building a borehole in his village -- a deep well that could reach the water flowing far beneath the ground. With the help of local volunteers and tradesmen, he began digging on a patch of land close to his home and before long they struck water. The team then set about putting the pipes, infrastructure and mechanical system in place that would enable its extraction.

Many years on and the project has been so successful that it still provides clean water to around 500 households. "It works in such a way that somebody has just got to turn a wheel then a lot of water comes out on the other end," Mwale says.

Galvanized by his DIY borehole success, Mwale soon set about planning bigger projects and investigating how he could bring safe and reliable drinking water to the wider Kenyan population.

He was initially held back by a mixture of financial constraints and the need to help his unemployed mother, but before long he found the spark that would bring him his next project.

"One day while I was walking around my community ... it was raining and I saw water running off the ground," explains Mwale. "So I said that if there's anything that I can do to be able to trap this rain water, store it in a reservoir, then be able to purify it and sell it to the public ... this can be a good idea," he adds.

With the help of a financial loan from a local farmer, Mwale began investing in the necessary equipment and business infrastructure to put his idea into action. Within a matter of months he had founded Skydrop -- a company that would come to specialize in capturing falling rain water in a series of giant tanks before purifying and bottling it for sale on the commercial market.

The start-up has since helped Mwale bring clean drinking water to a much wider consumer base as well as providing a service that is more reliable and cheaper than those provided by the Kenyan government, he says. It has also enabled him to provide for his family, offer employment to a growing number of people in his community and win him the Azisha prize -- an African award for innovation that comes with a $30,000 prize.

Such high praise and financial rewards seemed a long way off as he lay prone on his hospital bed, admits Mwale. But he adds he hopes his success will inspire others in Africa to act upon their ideas and become more involved in different types of entrepreneurship.

"I think there are many more youths who are sitting on their potential," he says. "But the most important thing is that in order for Africa to realize its goals ... youths and everyone will need to embrace the true spirit of entrepreneurship because it's only (through) true entrepreneurship that people are able to utilize their full potential." By taking chances and acting on their instincts, he adds, African people can help solve the myriad problems their elected representatives have so far failed to address.

..So, have you been inspired?

If you have an idea and need help in developing it into a business, help is here!!!

Akwire Global Solutions (AGS) could help you put your idea together to start-up and kick-off stage and of course assist you in packaging business proposals to secure available grants. With focus on local innovations and running of business training sessions, AGS helps inspire and train young people to create new business opportunities for themselves, hence promoting entrepreneurial development within Nigeria.

If you wish to contact AGS to begin your journey to entrepreneurship,
Email akwiresolution@yahoo.com or call the following numbers -

08095547749; 07082651119; 08184068894 to speak to one of the Resource persons. You could also follow @akwiresolutions on Twitter for business info, Grants and training updates..

I hope today's post was of great benefit to you. Please refer it to someone in need of such information and of course, inspiration. If you wish to make contact, please send an email to colourmeamba@gmail.com or follow @colourmeamba for helpful information and blog updates.

Thank you so much for clicking by. See you at noon, next Tuesday!

....Bye!!!