Delphine Ihirwe, Marie Rose Mushimiyimana, and Marie Aline Iraguha competed in the national Hult Prize competition in Kigali with their idea for hydroponic gardens.

How do we tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues through innovation and sustainability? That’s a question Akilah students sought to answer through the Hult Prize Competition, a global initiative that challenges university students to create sustainable change through entrepreneurship.

Each year, the competition focuses on a new theme tied to the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. This year’s theme, Harnessing the Power of Energy, challenged students from around the world to develop innovative business ideas that address local, regional, and global energy challenges.

Students must work their way through a series of campus-wide, national, and regional competitions for a chance to enter the global competition and compete for $1 million in funding. In March, three teams from Akilah made it to the national Hult Prize Competition in Rwanda. One team advanced to the regionals in Nairobi, where they came in seventh out of 32 teams, and another was invited to compete in London.

A team of our Information Systems students advanced to the regional round of the Hult Prize competition in Nairobi. In Kenya, the team pitched their idea of using car batteries and waste to produce electricity in rural areas.

A winning idea

Akilah students spent months developing their ideas, which ranged from developing a digital referral system for hospitals in Rwanda to using old car batteries and household waste to create energy.

Three Akilah students, Marie Rose Mushimiyimana, Marie Aline Iraguha, and Delphine Ihirwe, took on an issue close to home: food production in Rwanda. The challenge is a timely one — Rwanda’s growing population puts a strain on the limited arable land available.

The students developed a hydroponic gardening system that allows people to grow vegetables without access to land. Their system uses water and natural nutrients, instead of soil, to grow vegetables. The system requires few resources and saves space, water, and energy, compared with traditional vegetable gardens.

“We actually got the idea because Marie Aline’s mom is growing flowers in her house without using soil. We figured it must be possible to grow vegetables that way too. We went online to do research. We saw that the system already exists, but nowhere in Rwanda. We joined the competition with this idea and continued experimenting and researching,” Marie Rose Mushimiyimana explains.

“In Rwanda, we don’t have enough land to grow vegetables, but with this system, we don’t need much space,” says Delphine Ihirwe of her team’s idea to grow hydroponic gardens.

Their research quickly showed that their project could be easily implemented and offered a more affordable alternative to traditional farming.

“In Rwanda, we don’t have enough land to grow vegetables, but with this system, we don’t need much space. It also doesn’t require much water compared to traditional farming. Normally we are reliant on irrigation in the dry season, but this system works all year long. The system is very easy to set up. It only requires ingredients that you can buy at the market — everyone can afford it. We use 20 grams of nutrients in 250 liters of water, which we can use to grow 200 plants. The crops in this system are healthy and grow faster,” Delphine Ihirwe explains.

Before the project, none of the women were familiar with the concept of hydroponic gardens. But today, they are determined to transform the concept into a sustainable business.

“At Akilah we do Social Change Projects to create positive change in our communities, and this is a bit similar. We want this idea to have a positive impact on society and on the environment. At the same time, it’s not only about impacting the community, it can also impact our lives — we can make a profit from it,” Delphine says.

“I feel so motivated to keep working on this. I imagine seeing this system being used all over Rwanda, and people will know that three girls came up with it.”

After winning Akilah’s internal campus competition and receiving positive feedback from the judges in the national competition, the three Business Management & Entrepreneurship students are motivated to press on with their idea.

“We feel very encouraged because of the feedback we have been given from the judges. They said it’s ready to implement and that we just need to keep working on it. I feel like we have to make this happen, whatever it takes,” Marie Aline Iraguha says.

Marie Rose, Delphine, and Marie Aline were invited to the regional Hult Prize competition in London, but flights proved cost-prohibitive. However, that setback hasn’t deterred them from moving forward.

“I feel so motivated to keep working on this. I imagine seeing this system being used all over Rwanda, and people will know that three girls came up with it. I can’t wait for that to happen. Nobody else is doing something like this in Rwanda, and we are very excited to start it,” Marie Rose says.