Some of the youth who turned up for a Blaze Symposium in Thika. [Photo/Dhahabu]
Safaricom will hold the fourth regional summit of BLAZE BYOB Season Two on 11th November at Machakos Stadium, Machakos County. The Summit is pegged on this year’s theme of G.R.I.T (Greatness Requires Internal Toughness) and is aimed at empowering the youth to face their challenges in entrepreneurship and business head on and persevere through them. “Young people from Machakos and surrounding areas will get an opportunity to interact with mentors, hear their stories, learn from the journey and get inspiration from their own fields of interest. Additionally, interested youth will get a platform to audition for the BYOB TV show that is set to air early next year,” said Sylvia Mulinge, Director, Consumer Business – Safaricom. Over 300 participants were pre-screened in the pre-creation camps held at Machakos University Hotel between 20th and 21st of October. “We are delighted to have selected over 300 business ideas from hundreds of youth who turned up for pre-screening. They will now receive mentorship and training from a team of our able mentors,” said Ms. Mulinge. So far 3 regional summits have successfully been held in Meru, Nakuru and Eldoret regions empowering over 25,000 Blazers.Over Sh2.2M worth of cash has been given in business support to deserving ventures that have demonstrated potential to grow and ingenuity. Some of the mentors expected at the Machakos summit include; Nick Ondu – Fashion Blogger, Tosh Gitonga – Film Director, Jibril Blessing-Producer and videographer, Njugush- Comedian and actor, Abel Mutua- content developer, Wycliffe Waweru- entrepreneur and bicycle manufacturer, Caleb Karuga – Agripreneur as well as Bryan Wanyama of Matwana Matatu Culture. For technology mentorship Blaze is partnering with E-mobile, an agency delivering the Digital Skills Africa Program in partnership with Google. BLAZE is a sub-brand of Safaricom and was created to give the youth aged 26 years and below products, services, and benefits tailored specifically to meet their everyday needs. A first of its kind platform in Kenya, East, and Central Africa, BLAZE was founded on what Kenyan youth say is most important to them: freedom, empowerment, and success.