UL Medical Sciences student wins British Magazine Competition
Third-year Medical Sciences student at the University of Limpopo (UL) Jack Ruele won the Corporate Vision Magazine’s 2024/8 Most Innovative Online University Resource Award for his innovative online shopping website called www.VarsityXchange.com
The British magazine’s 2024 Technology Elite competition judges innovative online resources that are helpful for students across the world.
The 21-year-old from Rustenburg launched his student online shopping exchange business in 2024 after he struggled with selling his refrigerator. He then saw the gap in the market and created a website dubbed VarsityXchange where students buy and sell portable goods, such as microwaves, refrigerators, books, and tenants are able to locate accredited accommodation, among others.
Now among the world’s best innovators, Ruele says it is still surreal experience that he was chosen a winner. He says when he received an email from Corporate Vision (CV Magazine) informing him about the award, “I thought of my late mother who I wish she was still around to share my joy, but the rest of my family is excited, and I am thankful to UL students for their positive response to the website,” he smiles.
Raised by his grandmother at Tlhabane in Rustenburg, Ruele lost his mother at the age of eight. After matriculating in 2014, he did not have means to access tertiary education and spend few months inactive before receiving a scholarship to attend a one-year programme at Lebone II College of the Royal Bafokeng where his love for medicine and pharmaceuticals developed. He then enrolled at UL to study medical sciences in 2024.
“Enrolling at UL was not by chance but a purposeful dream come true. I might have started with websites but the world will soon know about something big that I am busy working on,” he says, adding that it’s early to reveal to the readers but he is certain his next project will change people’s lives.