NEW Germany resident, Bathabile Mpofu, was part of the social entrepreneurs who were given a platform to showcase their innovations at the Red Bull Amaphiko Social Innovation Festival in Umlazi last weekend.
The festival is a celebration of the community entrepreneurship spirit and creativity and it honours those who are creating solutions to some of the most pressing social challenges faced by South African communities.
The festival featured a range of innovators in the health, technology, music, fashion and film sectors.
“The day offered multiple opportunities to explore fresh approaches to entrepreneurship. It was great to be exposed to different innovations and creative minds,” said Mpofu.
ALSO READ: New Germany resident honoured for her innovative project
She is the co-founder of Nkazimulo Applied Sciences with the tagline ‘unleash the scientist in you’.
“We make a portable science kit named ChemStart intended to help young people become scientists.
“We all know that when matric results come out, most schools do not do well in Science and Mathematics and the big part of the problem is that most of them do not have labs.”
Mpofu said to build a lab is expensive and takes a long time and we decided that we should build this kit to assist learners.
“Being exposed to science experiments will encourage the younger generation to become scientists. Seeing a science experiment for the first time is overwhelming. It is always nice to see the excitement on the learners’ face when you show them how to use the kit,” she said.
Mpofu grew up in Ulundi and studied at a rural area school which did not have a lab. With her innovation, Mpofu’s work has been honoured and awarded in various occasions.
She has received a lot of support from companies who bought kits for the schools.
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