Students FLUX their entrepreneurship muscles

Strategies for effective entrepreneurship was the name of the game at UCT's recent FLUX business challenge that took place at the UCT Library Learning Lounge.

The FLUX challenge, based on a fast-paced business game, gives students a day-long introduction to entrepreneurship and a chance to propose solutions to real-world business problems with the help of business experts and employers.

The annual event is a collaboration between Careers Service and UCT Libraries.

Gwenda Thomas, executive director of UCT Libraries, said: "The event has demonstrated beyond doubt that the Library Learning Lounge is a great incubator for new forms of collaboration and entrepreneurial discovery.

"An essential function of the library has always been to facilitate the creation and transfer of knowledge. By partnering with Careers Services, the Library Learning Lounge has brought together talented entrepreneurial students from across disciplines who normally would not have crossed each other's paths."

Business experts in human resources, finance, marketing and strategy as well employers were on standby during the day to advise the almost 100 students, who were grouped into teams and presented with a social or business problem to solve.

In the second half of the day, students presented their strategy and pitched their solution to a panel of these experts, who then chose the winning team from each stream. The audience had the deciding vote on who should be crowned the 2015 champions.

Triple Bottomliners took the top spot as FLUX champions and the first prize of R9 000. Their winning strategy entailed the use of containers to build RDP houses, which would create employment and be more cost-effective than building standard RDP houses.

"Feedback following the event has been overwhelmingly positive," said David Casey, director of UCT Careers Service, adding, "It is interesting to note that students who are not exposed to entrepreneurship as a curriculum offering asked for further exposure to it as a career option, and 98% of participants said they would recommend their FLUX experience to a friend."