20-year-old Nigerian emerges runner-up in international competition

A  Twenty-year-old Nigerian, Kola Bayole, who represented a team from South Africa, has emerged as one of the three innovative and enterprising young winners in the inaugural INDIAFRICA business venture competition organised by theideaworks and the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

The winners emerged after a keenly contested competition with hundreds of entries and 25 featured presentations by nine teams from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and India before a 9-member Grand Jury.

The contestants were expected to generate business and innovative ideas that were realisable, continuous, beneficial and socially impactful on the economy.

The winners included Pllonam Kumari from India with her idea of a solar powered harvester; Zubaida Bai from India with her novel health-care venture; Kennedy Kithake and Kola Bayole of South Africa for  education ventures; and Bhiraw Kumar Mandal of India for his innovative hydrogen based energy solution emerged first, second and joint third place winners.

Bayole studied Information System Engineering in Computer Training Institute, Cape Town, South Africa.

He said, “I would love if the country can take their citizens seriously. I am proud to be a Nigerian, but nobody will want to come into the country if there is no system that will assist them. I would have loved to represent my country, but the team we built in South Africa is one of the best team in the country.

“I approached Nigeria about a year ago concerning a similar project that I worked on and how it can be rolled out in the country, but got no response.”