The Enactus UDS team that participated at the Enactus Ghana National Expo 2023, which came off at the Accra International Conference Center on 6th of July, 2023, were adjudged the second runners-up at the competition after presenting an impressive range of business ideas and innovations that would impact society.

The UDS team faced stiff competition from other universities including the University of Energy and Natural Resources, CKT University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Sunyani Technical University, University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Technical University, Catholic University (Fiapre), Koforidua Technical University, Takoradi Technical University, Central University and the University of Mines and Technology.

Team Enactus UDS also won the Dr. Sayuti Spirit Award for being one of the most vibrant Enactus teams in Ghana.

The Enactus Ghana National Exposition is a social innovation contest held annually. The contest allows Enactus teams to showcase innovative ideas they have worked on over the past year to a panel of judges. The overall winner gets to represent Ghana in the Enactus World Cup to be held in the Netherlands in October 2023. This year's overall winner is CKT University of Technology and Applied Sciences.

The Enactus UDS team was led by Master Razak Kassim, the President of the team with support from Mr. Alhassan Mahama, the Faculty Advisor. The presenters of the UDS team were Master Ziblim Abdul Rahim, Ms Ragadawu Alhassan, Ms Mahamuda Faiza and Ms Khadija Yamyiya. Master Iddrisu Abdul Rashid, the team's Deputy Projects Head played a significant role in the successes of the teams. The university was represented by 25 students in the 2023 National Exposition.

The Enactus UDS team presented two main projects at this year's Enactus Ghana National Exposition.

PROJECT SMART-FLUSH
According to the UDS team, “the inadequacy of clean water in Africa has been a major challenge for decades. Millions of people still lack potable drinking water and some rural communities even have to share the unsafe water with animals. Yet about 90% of clean water is used in our washrooms to flush toilets within households and public places. But even the washrooms do not get constant supply of water compelling people to resort to open defecation in the presence of toilet facilities”.

The team adds that this is a major reason for the outbreak of most enteric diseases such as typhoid in Africa. The washrooms of most public places such as hospitals, schools, restaurants and workplaces are usually unclean and not accessible due to the lack of constant water supply. “If we can do something about the water, used in our washrooms, we will not only have constant access to the washrooms but will also reduce our water bills significantly” they said.

As a result of the problem presented, Enactus UDS developed the most pragmatic solution to curb this menace. “We believe if we can recycle water in our washrooms, we can solve these problems altogether. Our major aim is to give people constant access to washrooms and conserve more water for the Ghana water company to supply to people who lack clean drinking water. We call it, the Smart Flush, S-Flush for short”.

“We are constructing modernized and innovative toilet facilities that use recyclable water. A fixed amount of water is placed in the septic system and recycled back into the wash room whenever it is used, and the cycle continues.”

Enactus UDS posits that there is no need to connect such washrooms to the tap yet there will always be clean water available for flushing. Such washrooms will always be clean and accessible and through that, prevent people from practicing open defecation. “We can also harvest biogas for electricity generation and to replace LPG for cooking.  This will reduce economic burden on people and businesses”.

Explaining their innovation to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Seidu Al-hassan in his office upon their return to Campus, the team lead, Mr. Razak Kassim said the objective of our recycling is to purify the septic water making it debris free, colorless, odorless and with no tendency of disease transmission. “To do this, we are using readily available materials that causes no harm to the environment. We use different types of gravel together with sand arranged in a specific order for filtration”, he said.

During experiments the team realized that urine would increase the volume of water in the septic system which would then disturb its function. As a result, they decided to develop their own WCs with urine diverters which would collect out more than 95% of urine from the system and with an overflow compartment to take care of the little drops that may still pass into the system. “There is actually no WC producing company in Ghana. Therefore, we have taken the bold step to be the first producers of WCs in Ghana.” He said to an impressed and excited Vice-Chancellor.
Currently, the imported WCs in the market cost between 700-1500 cedis. But the cost of production for one of the WCs is 250 cedis and they intend to sell at 400 cedis making 150 cedis profit on each sale. This makes their product about 43% to 375% less costly compared to those on the market. The S-flush project perfectly satisfies the 3ps of Enactus; people, planet and prosperity.

On the part of the people, S-flush provides safe and convenient toilet facilities, ensures water conservation, cuts down on water bills and creates 100’s of jobs for people. On the part of the planet, it will reduce open defecation, and relieve the earth from plastic waste. On prosperity, they are constantly applying lean concepts to improve their product efficiency and effectiveness while reducing cost for their customers, to ensure sustainability. This project has gross impact on the SDGs including SDG1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12.

PROJECT MY PURE SOLUTION 
The novel COVID-19 pandemic has affected and hindered the progress of almost every facet of our lives. One sector that was hit hard in the country was the education sector. This led to serious problems such as apathy towards school by some students, increased cases of teenage pregnancy among others. Students lagged behind in their studies, whilst parents were worried and a lot of people seemed to have lost trust in the Ghanaian education system. Furthermore, the pandemic also taught us the importance and usefulness of virtual platforms, since people had to work and learn new skills from home.

It is for these reasons, that ENACTUS UDS developed the MY PS. My PS seek to provide two services to its clients.

First is to provide tuition to students at all levels in the comfort of their homes. And second is to provide online seminars and workshops with experts as guest speakers. To achieve this, the team designed websites with a zoom API for video communication. There are two websites, one for providing tuition and the other for organizing seminars and workshops.

They serve students at all levels. So, the system has been well partitioned into the various levels of education as primary, JHS, SHS and tertiary. The website for the tuition is accessible at www.mypuresolution.com

The platform for the seminars and workshops is beyond just theoretical tuition. It provides workshop programs on skill-based learning in different areas such as graphic design, basic coding skills, programming and mentorship programs among others.  People can learn all these and many more at the comfort of their homes or workplace. It also provides seminars on topics that aim at personal development including but not limited to entrepreneurship, marketing, sales and investing. This website is accessible at www.seminar.mypuresolution.com

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Seidu Al-hassan, who was visibly excited at the achievements of the Enactus UDS team, congratulated the team members for their commendable feat. He said he would report the remarkable achievement by the team to the Governing Council, adding that the team’s success will help to push the image of UDS further on the national and international stag-es.
Also present during the meeting with the Vice-Chancellor, were the dean of Students, Dr. Alhas-san Musah and the Head of the Directorate of Public Affairs, Mr. Abdul-Hayi Moomen.

Story by
Hamdan Wumpeka (UDS Media)