THANDEKA MGQIBI
Durban - DURBAN-born Shruti Dowlath has won prizes worth more than R50000 in the UCT Shark Tank competition for her student entrepreneur start-up website, UnifySA.
What was initially meant to be an app called UNITE(CT), has now shifted focus and become a website - UnifySA.com - which was launched last month.
Dowlath, a final year BCom CA stream student at UCT, said the website sought to bridge the gap in entrepreneurship by helping like-minded students find one another and collaborate on start-ups.
“Students sign up by telling us their skills and we then unite the teams and help student entrepreneurs turn their ideas into a reality,” said Dowlath.
The 21-year-old said she came up with this idea in May.
“My grandfather and father, both entrepreneurs, encouraged me to put my idea out there, for an app that I wanted to create. As an accounting student, I realised that I didn’t have the skills. Therefore, my idea for UnifySA began as a solution to a personal problem.”
The competition entries had also opened in May and Dowlath entered.
The entries closed at the beginning of July, with the selected start-ups given a chance to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges via Zoom.
Thereafter, the contestants received coaching sessions to help them improve their pitches, with the final taking place in August.
Dowlath said of her win: “I was actually taken aback because I was competing with people who had prototypes for their businesses. All I had was an idea that I was passionate about. Personally, it meant that the Shark Tank was willing to invest in my idea despite not having a prototype.”
The UCT Shark Tank is a joint event brought to students by UCT Investment Society and UCT Entrepreneurs Society.
The purpose is to showcase the pool of student start-ups at UCT to various experts and institutions in different fields in the hopes to allow them to see their businesses to fruition.
The initiative is now in its second year.
Dowlath’s prizes included Business in a Box from Iridum Business Solutions, a marketing package from Zero1Creations, a start-up law package from O’Reilly Law, mentorship from Akro Capital and a Grandmasters of Success programme from Impumelelo Institute.
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