In February this year, Catherine Mahugu, a fourth year BSc Computer Science student at the School of Computing and Informatics, teamed up with Ella Peinovich, a graduate student at MIT, and entered the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition organized by the Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.

The team submitted a product named SasaAfrica, a women‐owned and operated social enterprise that offers an innovative and independent platform for female artisans and entrepreneurs in Africa to create micro-enterprises, connecting developing world vendors to global e-commerce, even if they do not have access to the Internet, a computer, or a bank account. Focused on promoting under-served communities, SasaAfrica aims at shortening the distance between vendors in developing nations and the global marketplace by integrating MMS uploads, SMS notifications, and mobile money payments with an e-commerce storefront. 

At the competition, the team won the Information and Communications Technology Prize worth US$10,000, and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance award worth $2,500. http://depts.washington.edu/foster/34000-for-best-social-entrepreneur-ideas-of-2012/

Since then, Catherine and her teammate have continued to receive recognition, accolades and prizes all over the world. These include the following:

1.       A mention in FORTUNE Magazine (May issue 2012) - Rice Business Plan Competition: Hail to the Champion’s article.
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/05/17/rice-business-plan-winners/
 

2.       Rice Business Plan Competition 2012 Awards (Rice University)
Courageous Women Entrepreneurs investment Award,  Sheafor–Lindsay Social Impact Venture Award, and the Edward H. Molter Memorial Prize for Best Presentation http://rbpc.rice.edu/RBPC2012_Winners_PressRelease/

3.       DEMOAfrica 2012 participant
SasaAfrica is one of the 15 teams who have been invited to participate in the DEMO Africa 2012 event sponsored by Microsoft, Nokia, IDG, DEMO, Lions@frica, and the World Economic Forum.
http://demo-africa.com/
 

4.       2012 Travel Scholarships from the Women's Travel Club of Boston
Awarded one of two 2012 Travel Scholarships from the Women's Travel Club (WTC) of Boston.

5.       MIT100K Finale Competition
SasaAfrica was selected as one of the start-ups to receive the inaugural Founders' Skills Accelerator award during the MIT100K Finale Competition held in May 2012 at MIT. http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/news/mit-founders-skills-accelerator-announces-inaugural-teams

6.       Fellows of Village Capital - GrowthHub Africa Incubator

SasaAfrica is one of the 15 Kenya’s top innovators at the Village Capital-Growth Hub Nairobi program, a 4 month accelerator program featuring monthly conferences, supergroup meetings and prominent speakers from Kenya’s investment and enterprise community and beyond. Two of the 15 teams will receive peer investment of 50,000USD.
http://www.vilcap.com/nairobi-growthafrica/

7.       Fellows of the inaugural Unreasonable at Sea program

SasaAfrica founders are 1 of 10 technology businesses hand-picked to travel with tech industry leaders and renowned mentors to 14 countries in 100 days to introduce and test businesses in the local markets around the globe.

http://unreasonableatsea.com/portfolio/sasa/ 
 

8.Finalists for Young Innovators Competition at ITU Telecom World 2012

Katherine Mahugu is one of the 12 Finalists among 400 applications in the ITU Telecom World 2012’s Young Innovators Competition that will be held in Dubai.
http://world2012.itu.int/competition-entries

9.Finalists for ING's BidNetwork Women in Business Challenge 2011-2012

SasaAfrica has been invited to Growing SMEs Netherlands in November 2012 among the 5 finalists chosen out of 292 applications. Professionals will coach the finalists to strengthen their business skills through a customized training program and prepare their face-to-face meeting with high-end investors.
http://www.bidnetwork.org/en/news/5-finalists-women-business-challenge-2012