“VUT master’s student and entrepreneur Tumisho Tobejane reaches the EDHE Absa Entrepreneurship InnoVarsity 2026 national finals after winning the regional round.”
04 September | Story by:Qhawekazi Memani | Picture:
3 minutes read time.
The Vaal University of Technology (VUT) master’s student in Biotechnology, Ms Tumisho Tobejane, has secured a place in the national finals of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Absa Entrepreneurship InnoVarsity 2026 after winning the Existing Social Impact category at the regional round held on 27–28 August 2026.
The founder of Foodable, Ms Tobejane impressed judges with her social impact venture, earning a R5 000 prize and the opportunity to represent VUT on the national stage in November. There, she will compete against student entrepreneurs from universities across South Africa for a chance to win R500 000.
The achievement marks an important milestone in her entrepreneurial journey and highlights the growing impact of student entrepreneurship at VUT.
Her progression to the national finals will provide further opportunities to develop Foodable through advanced training, mentorship and exposure to investors and industry stakeholders.
She will receive continued support from the VUT Entrepreneurship Advisory Office (EAO) and participate in an EDHE boot camp ahead of the national competition.
“Tumisho will be in the national finals where she will be competing for half a million rands. She will receive further training from VUT EAO and attend a boot camp facilitated by EDHE,” said Matshepo Rathebe, Commercialisation Coordinator at VUT.
For Rathebe, Ms Tobejane’s success reflects the increasing quality of student ventures emerging from the university.
“Students have innovative ideas and are able to articulate the ideas clearly with confidence. What we need to do moving forward is to make sure that the students advance their products from prototype to testing and into the market,” she said.
Her comments point to a key challenge facing many young entrepreneurs: transforming promising ideas into sustainable businesses capable of creating real social and economic impact.
To support this process, VUT has strengthened its entrepreneurship development initiatives through practical training programmes aimed at helping students refine and communicate their business ideas more effectively.
One such initiative was an entrepreneurship workshop held at Auditorium 100, which focused on ideation and pitch readiness. The workshop was designed to help students sharpen their business concepts and confidently communicate them through effective elevator pitches.
Rathebe said the impact of the training was evident during the regional competition.
“The workshop was about ideation and pitch readiness. We saw a gap among VUT students: they needed to refine their business ideas and be able to articulate them in an elevator pitch. There was a great improvement, and we can see that they have been able to translate what they have learned from the workshop into their pitches,” she said.
The EDHE Absa Entrepreneurship InnoVarsity 2026, now in its eighth year, provides a platform for student entrepreneurs to showcase innovative business solutions that address social and economic challenges.
Aligned with the 2026 theme, “Entrepreneurship in Action: From Vision to Implementation. From Policy to Impact”, the competition encourages students to transform ideas into ventures capable of making a meaningful difference.
For VUT, Ms Tobejane’s achievement demonstrates the value of creating an ecosystem where students can explore entrepreneurial opportunities, test innovative solutions and gain exposure beyond the classroom.
As she prepares for the national finals in November, her success serves as both a personal achievement and an example of what can be accomplished when student innovation is supported by targeted mentorship, training and entrepreneurial development programmes.