Wangechi Mwangi, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Kenyan fintech startup Valuraha, has been awarded the Global Social Impact Award at the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation’s Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) in Washington DC, United States (US).
The awards which honours student entrepreneurs running revenue-generating businesses.
Mwangi is a student at Strathmore University in Nairobi, and qualified for the awards by winning the East African chapter organised by @iBizAfrica, an incubation centre home to Valuraha.
The 21-year-old student won the prize after competing against a field of 2,000 entrepreneurs from 38 countries in a series of national and regional competitions.
Mwangi and co-founder Kinyanjui Njoroge started Valuraha to help young people learn how to save and invest money. The company runs investment clubs in high schools allowing students to learn about personal finance and investing while interacting with a virtual trading platform that simulates the investment ecosystem in Kenya.
“The foundation of this programme is to support the next generation of entrepreneurs. This year we saw some amazing competitors with innovative businesses. These student business owners remind us that entrepreneurship has no age limit. They innovate, create jobs, and impact their communities all the while attending school full-time,” said Annush Ramasamy, GSEA committee chairman.
