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19 August 2019 | Story Charlene Stanley | Photo Ayanda Makhanya
Entrepreneurship Intervarsity
Entrepreneurship Intervarsity finalists, far left, Christopher Rothman, and second from right, Grace Mthembu, with fellow Kovsie competitors Driaan-Lou Kemp, second from left, and Martin Clarke, far right, at the regional finals held at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein in early August 2019.
A natural heating and cooking system and liquid yeast in its purest form – used in the brewing of beer – form the basis of two innovative business ventures that have earned their inventors a place in the finals of this year’s Entrepreneurship Intervarsity.

LiquidCulture

Christopher Rothman is currently busy with his PhD in Biotechnology at the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the University of the Free State (UFS). He and a fellow student started the company LiquidCulture last year to make high-quality yeast for their own commercial brewery called Kraft Brewing Co. 

“We realised that because of our backgrounds as microbiologists, we could grow our own yeast, have a better quality product, and save some money while also expanding our choice of yeast strains to use. This quickly became more than a solution to our own problems, as other breweries were also interested in using our yeast. We then formed LiquidCulture and started supplying the industry,” says Christopher.

Organic Heat

Grace Mthembu’s inspiration for her eco-friendly, cost-effective heating and cooking device, came after reading about devastating fires in rural and informal settlements caused by cooking fires.

“I decided to investigate the cause of these fires and found that the majority of the households did not have access to electricity or they couldn’t afford it,” explains Grace.
Her invention is based on the traditional metal cylinder or “imbawula”, used by many households in informal settlements to cook or heat with wood or coal. What makes her invention different is that it has a water filtration interior system which makes it safer and ensures that the smoke produced during the heating of the sources does not get released into the home and the air in general.

Her invention has already earned her awards for best community development, best mechanical engineering and best rural development project in the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, plus a gold medal and all-expenses-paid trip to represent South Africa at the London International Youth Science Fair.
She plans to establish a brand for the system with the name “Organic Heat”.

Student entrepreneurs showcased
  
The Entrepreneurship Intervarsity gives student entrepreneurs from across the country’s 26 public universities the opportunity to submit their innovative ideas as part of a competition supported by Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE), in collaboration with the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation.
Both Christopher and Grace see it as a great honour to represent the UFS in the finals, which will be held in Johannesburg on 18 September 2019. 

“The intervarsity has been fun thus far and the quality of the competitors is really high. Luckily I like public speaking and I am really passionate about my company so pitching to the judges has been very comfortable for me so far,” says Christopher. 

“I’m not obsessed about winning,” says Grace. “I’m looking forward to networking and connecting and building relationships with potential investors. If I do happen to win, it will obviously be amazing and will provide me with a lot of exposure and bring opportunities.”

News Archive

Renowned writer for Africa Day
2012-05-31

 

Attending the lecture were, from left: Dr Choice Makhetha, Vice-Rector: External Relations; Prof Kwandiwe Kondlo, Director of the Centre for Africa Studies;Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong'o; Prof Lucius Botes, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, and Prof Andre Keet, Director of the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice..
Photo: Stephen Collett
25 May 2012

Photo Gallery

Lecture: THE BLACKNESS OF BLACK: Africa in the World Today

Audio of the lecture

Profile of Professor Ngugi wa Thiong'o (pdf format)

“Flowers are all different, yet no flower claims to be more of a flower than the other.” With these words Kenyan writer and one of the continent's most celebrated authors, Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, delivered the tenth annual Africa Day Memorial lecture on 25 May 2012 in the University of the Free State's (UFS) Odeion Theatre on the Bloemfontein Campus. The lecture was hosted by the Centre for Africa Studies.

Long before Prof. wa Thiong’o was led inside the venue by a praise singer, chairs were filled and people were shown to an adjoining room to follow the lecture. Others, some on the university's Qwaqwa Campus, followed via live streaming.

In his speech titled the Blackness of Black: Africa in the world today, Prof. wa Thiong’o looked at the standing of Africa in the world today. He highlighted the plight of those of African descent who are judged “based on a negative profile of blackness”.

Prof. wa Thiong’o recalled a humiliating experience at a hotel in San Francisco in the United States, where a staff member questioned him being a guest of the hotel. He shared a similar experience in New Jersey, where he and his wife were thought to be recipients of welfare cheques. He said this was far deeper than overt racism.

“The certainty is based on a negative profile of blackness taken so much for granted as normal that it no longer creates a doubt.”

Prof. wa Thiong’o said the self certainty that black is negative is not confined to white perception of black only.

“The biggest sin, then, is not that certain groups of white people, and even the West as a whole, may have a negative view of blackness embedded in their psyche, the real sin is that the black bourgeoisie in Africa and the world should contribute to that negativity and even embrace it by becoming participants or shareholders in a multibillion industry built on black negativity.”

“Africa has to review the roots of the current imbalance of power: it started in the colonisation of the body. Africa has to reclaim the black body with all its blackness as the starting point in our plunge into and negotiations with the world.”

Prof. wa Thiong’o concluded by saying that Africa must rediscover and reconnect with Kwame Nkrumah’s dreams of a politically and economically united Africa.

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