Safaricom Blaze To Host Third Youth Empowerment Summit In Eldoret

 

Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) will hold the third regional summit of BLAZE BYOB season two on 7th October in Eldoret at the Eldoret Sports Club.

The event is part of the Blaze Summits pegged on the theme Greatness Require Internal Toughness (G.R.I.T) and is aimed at empowering the youth to possess GRIT and showcase what it means; fall, get up again and keep pushing through.

This follows a successful kick-off of the first two summits held at Meru Polytechnic and Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium attracting a total of 15,000 Blazers.  Also Sh1.5M worth of cash has been given in business support to deserving ventures that have demonstrated potential to grow and ingenuity.

Three integrated learning institutions for the visually impaired schools from these regions have also received mentorship and donations of learning resources courtesy of Safaricom Foundation supported by BLAZE.

For the Eldoret Summit, over 350 participants have so far been pre-screened in the pre-creation camps and are now set to get access to the boot camps from Wednesday 4th October till Thursday 5th October where they will interact with mentors, learn and get inspired from their stories and capture the spirit that is needed to achieve success and greatness; Perseverance and Resilience.

Those who will have the best business ideas from each category will take home Ksh100,000 in cash plus 10,000 in Airtime from Blaze to help kick-start their business.

During CSR Friday, a team from Safaricom Foundation supported by a team of Blaze mentors will visit Mosoriot Teachers College to give mentorship and various donations to support learning.

“Vulnerable young people are often without positive role models to provide guidance and mentorship. Blaze fills this gap by delivering one-on-one mentorship programs. At Blaze we believe mentorship programs are powerful not just to show that someone cares, but to awaken the underlying talent and zeal that is in each of us,” said Sylvia Mulinge, Director -Consumer Business, Safaricom.

Additionally, on Saturday during the Summit, the youth from Eldoret region will also get a platform to audition for the BYOB TV show between 10 am - 2pm. The show is set to air early next year.

Some of the artists expected at the Eldoret summit include; Musicians -Nyashinski, Khaligraph Jones, King Kaka and Timmy T Dat. Mentors will be; Joy Kendi – 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, Nasreen Dhanji, Catherine Gitau and Confrey Alianji - for Technology as well as Bryan Wanyama of Matwana Matatu Culture.

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.