What this company is doing with kids will definitely inspire you if not make your day

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH (Konica Minolta) assists children with their education and growth by helping shape their ideas together with the Kenyan Ministry of Education in conjunction with Nairobi County. The creative story writing and drawing contest was designed to inspire young talent and provide room for their creativity. From September 2016 to January 2017 Konica Minolta encouraged all eligible children to participate in the contest and giving them the chance to win great prizes.

As a company aware of its social responsibility, Konica Minolta strives to assist with creating a brighter tomorrow for everybody. In particular, in growth areas, such as Africa, Konica Minolta aims to facilitate identifying young talent and allow them to shape their own future. “Because Africa is one of the strategic growth areas for Konica Minolta, we feel we need to make a difference by supporting the future of the country”, said Mark Oldfield, Senior Area Manager CAMEA region at Konica Minolta. “What better way than by supporting the children and trying to give shape to their ideas and visions?”

“Space” as a creative challenge

Konica Minolta and the Kenyan Ministry of Education launched a “Space” themed story writing and drawing contest for school children from 205 schools in Nairobi County. Anne Lokidor, Nairobi City County Education Executive, said “We are excited to have been part of the creative “Space” competition. We are happy with Konica Minolta’s involvement in inspiring not only Nairobi school students but also young Kenyans with the aim of shaping their ideas as well as providing room for their creativity.” To ensure that all pupils who wanted to express their creativity and ideas were able to enter the contest, Konica Minolta nurtured talent by providing paper and coloured pencils for all participants. By supplying the necessary equipment, this ensures that every inspirational idea has the opportunity of becoming a winning entry.

Enabling ideas with potential

A judging panel compiled a shortlist from the entries of 10,000 pupils from the sixth grade and then choose the winners. Some of the shortlisted entries are published in the book (“The little book of anything Space”) and will be distributed to the school 2

libraries. The three finalists in each category (poetry, story writing and drawing) will attend the award ceremony at Discovery House in Nairobi, where the winners will be announced. Besides giving all shortlisted entries a book, the three top entries of each category will also be rewarded with a great prize. In addition, all 10,000 participants will receive a bookmark. After the event the book can also be downloaded via: http://storycontest.konicaminolta.eu/

About Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH, based in Langenhagen, Germany, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta Inc., Tokyo, Japan, forming part of its Business Technologies business area. As a leading global services provider in the field of IT- and document processes as well as digital production printing solutions the company excels in services-led business consulting, implementation and management and provides a range of world-leading printing systems and solutions. In this context, Konica Minolta’s Optimized Print Services concept (OPS) combines consultancy, hardware, software implementation, and operation in order to enhance business process efficiency and cost-effectiveness. To support customers optimally with powerful and sustainable solutions, technology leader Konica Minolta continuously invests in research and development work and regularly sets new standards.