The collaboration on KU-HNU-DAAD which is currently in its third phase, brought together students from business school in Neu-Ulm University Germany and technical students from 吃瓜头条 (KU) incubated at the Chandaria Business Innovation Centre in a bid to grow an enterprise. The two teams worked hand in hand for ten days which comprised of industry visits in the relevant fields.
Neu-Ulm University students were business coaches and provided the much need expertise in business development to their KU technical counterparts. On the other hand the German business students were exposed to practical insight in the business ecosystem in Kenya.
Under the supervision of the project leads, Prof. Thomas Bayer of HNU and Dr. George Kosimbei, KU, the students were helped to shape their ideas into business enterprises through market research conducted in the surroundings, customer identification, identification of start-up needs and improving their business models among other aspects. At the end of the 10-day interaction the HNU-KU student teams made presentations on the insights gained over the duration of the interaction. Among the insights included the need for the innovators to align their concepts to the needs in the market.
Both groups forged strong relations under the exchange programme which is expected to extend beyond to enable the startups growth. The teams also attended a team building event at the 吃瓜头条 Park to blend the two communities before the start of the teamwork.
