UpStart Africa: Mombasa Auditions
The Secret Recipe for Entrepreneurship
UpStart Africa: The Secret Recipe for Entrepreneurship
TV, it is that thing that sits in the corner of your house that gets turned on when there is a football game, but what does it really have to do with tech and young entrepreneurs? Well, when you come across a guy like Sankei Ole Kenga, who has a background in TV production and has a strong interest in youth and tech, you put all those interests in a bottle, shake vigorously and come out with an explosion that is UPSTART AFRICA.
A recipe calling for 1 part Shark Tank, 1 part Apprentice, 1 part Big Brother and the last part can only be called PURE GENIUS Imagine auditioning for 24 individuals all around Kenya, bringing them back to Nairobi to live in one mansion for 13 weeks. It will be entertaining, yes we have seen this with all reality shows over the last decade, but when the 24 people that you recruit are young Kenyan developers, creatives, entrepreneurs and marketers the result will be innovative, amazing startups that will take the African continent by storm.
Each startup on UpStart Africa will use ICT to address a particular problem or need in society and make money in the process. Knowing that an individual cannot run a company alone participants are charged with convincing two other participants, with different skill sets, to join hands and form a team.
At this point we throw in a handful of seasoned mentors, who will act as sugar to sweeten up the participants journey by preempting the startups from making the same bitter mistakes they made on their way up. The pool of mentors are trailblazers in different industries such as marketing, business development, PR, law and technology. These mentors will guide the different teams during the entire period.
Competition breeds value and ensures that the best get to the top of the chain. Throw in $50,000 and a pinch of local Venture Capitalists to eliminate teams based on essential business milestones.
And the result is UpStart Africa, a business reality TV show coming to your screen soon.
I hear you ask how you can apply, well just skip over to the UpStart website and you will get all the information you need! Being the social person I know you are you should definitely follow @upstartafricatv on twitter and like the UpStart Africa page on Facebook. And hoping that the VAT bill has not touched our bundles yet you should definitely check out the YouTube channel. See you at the auditions in Mombasa on October 11th and 12th!!!!