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SA Teens’ SMS appliance switch box takes them to global entrepreneurs contest

Five teenagers from Risinga Secondary School  in Giyani, Limpopo, will be heading to an international young entrepreneurs competition to present their invention that can turn lights on and off via SMS.

The learners, going by the team name Centronix, participated in and competed against ten other high schoolers in the South African regional Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) finals held at the University of Free State recently.

SAGE is global non-profit organisation aimed at grooming teenage entrepreneurs in 21 countries, including South Africa. Teens are taken through an entrepreneurship and mentoring course and thereafter build a product or service to present in a regional competition for the chance to move onto the international finals.

Centronix’s Cell Switch can turn any appliance, including security alarms, on and off by sending an SMS via cellphone to a SIM card inside the box. It even supposedly works over long distances.

Icasa and SABS have given the Cell Switch their stamps of approval and Centronix has already started selling a few Cell Switch units. Their plans to mass produce Cell Switch and patent the invention are already in full swing.

“We know that not all of these young people will become business people as they might choose different careers after university, but the competition instils a sense of confidence in young people and makes them think innovatively,” said national co-ordinator of Sage SA ,Thabo Pitse.

The International SAGE competition runs from 7th to 10th August in Seoul, South Korea and the first prize winners will walk away with $2 000 (around R48 000) in cash.

[Source – Business Day Live, image – SAGE Facebook]

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