…Green Guard pesticide innovation earns team E20 000
…Students to represent Eswatini at ENACTUS World Cup in Brazil
BY SIBUSISEKILE NDLANGAMANDLA
MANZINI– An idea born from the need to help farmers protect their crops while caring for the environment has propelled University of Eswatini (UNESWA) Luyengo Campus students onto the global stage.
UNESWA Luyengo Campus has been crowned the 2026 ENACTUS Eswatini National Champion after impressing judges with its Green Guard organic pesticides project, an innovative solution aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture and addressing some of the challenges faced by farmers.
The victory means the young innovators will now carry the Eswatini flag to Brazil, where they will represent the country at the prestigious ENACTUS World Cup and compete against university teams from across the globe.
Their achievement also came with a financial boost.
The Luyengo team walked away with E10 000 in prize money after claiming the national ENACTUS trophy. Acting Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Savannah Maziya added another E10 000 in recognition of the students’ entrepreneurial spirit and the potential of their innovation.
In total, the team received E20 000 following its national triumph.
At the heart of Green Guard is a simple but increasingly important question: how can farmers protect crops while reducing reliance on conventional pesticides and supporting environmentally responsible agricultural practices?
The students’ answer was to explore the development and use of organic pesticides that could potentially offer farmers another option while promoting sustainable food production.
Their success highlights how young Emaswati are increasingly looking beyond the classroom and using entrepreneurship to develop practical solutions to challenges affecting communities, businesses and the environment.
The national competition brought together university teams presenting projects designed to tackle social, environmental and economic problems through practical and sustainable business ideas.
UNESWA Luyengo may have taken the top prize, but the competition also showcased impressive innovation from other tertiary institutions.
Limkokwing University of Creative Technology secured second place through its ECOBRIQ ESWATINI project.
The project explores an unusual but creative use for waste by transforming potato peels into coal, potentially creating value from organic waste while opening conversations around alternative energy and sustainable waste management.
In third place was the Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU) Faculty of Health Sciences with its Sisonke Lifestyle project.
The SANU students demonstrated how organic plants could be processed into therapeutic health ointments, combining natural resources, entrepreneurship and innovative approaches to health-related products.
Together, the three finalists painted an encouraging picture of a generation of students increasingly willing to use their education to develop solutions that could eventually create businesses, employment and wider economic opportunities.
Maziya said the projects demonstrated the ability of young people to transform innovative thinking into businesses capable of responding to genuine community and market needs.
She challenged aspiring entrepreneurs not to allow promising ideas to remain confined to presentations, competitions or business plans.
Instead, she encouraged them to build sustainable enterprises capable of surviving in the marketplace, employing people and contributing towards Eswatini’s economic growth.
According to the acting minister, the real measure of entrepreneurship should not simply be how many business plans young people produce, but how many of those ideas ultimately become functioning enterprises that create jobs and opportunities.
She also called for stronger collaboration between Government, the private sector, educational institutions and development partners to create an environment where young entrepreneurs can take ideas through the different stages of development — from concepts and prototypes to tested products, registered businesses and ultimately growing enterprises.
For the UNESWA Luyengo students, that journey has now taken a major step forward.
From developing an environmentally conscious agricultural solution at home, they are preparing to present Green Guard before an international audience in Brazil.
Their challenge will no longer be merely to convince judges in Eswatini.
They will be demonstrating that innovative ideas developed by young Emaswati can stand alongside solutions created by students from around the world — while carrying with them the hopes of a country increasingly looking to its youth for new businesses, jobs and sustainable solutions.
