Kenyan University Don Donatus Njoroge Wins Global Entrepreneurship Competition

Weeks after Teacher Peter Tabichi made global headlines, a Kenyan university don, Donatus Njoroge, has placed the country in the global limelight again.

Njoroge who is a Kenyan scientist emerged top in the State Department's Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2019 competition.

The don beat 23 other finalists to scoop the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (Gist Tech-1) 2019 Award.

Following the win, Njoroge will get $15,000 in seed capital and $50,000 as Amazon web services credit.

Besides, he will receive specialised mentoring by David Hamod, President and CEO of the National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce.

The global recognition came after he developed a novel bio-pesticide to manage post-harvest losses in grains.

According to Njoroge, it was a big challenge competing with some of the best minds in the world.

"Being the only Kenyan in the competition made me nervous, but the desire to succeed kept me going. We were 24 finalists drawn from 18 different countries," he was quoted.

This comes shortly after he won the 2018/2019 National Innovation award organised by the Kenya National Innovation Agency in line with the government’s Big 4 Agenda.

Njoroge also bagged the East Africa Post-Harvest Technologies 2017 award in a competition organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).