Blaze by Safaricom hosts 7th Be Your Own Boss Summit in Kitale

BLAZE by Safaricom on Saturday held the seventh Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) Summit of the year at the Kitale National Polytechnic in Trans Nzoia County.

The Kitale Summit saw over 2,800 youth engage BLAZE partners and mentors on achieving success in creative arts, fashion, film & photography, sales & production, music, agriculture and sports through G.R.I.T (Greatness Requires Internal Toughness).

“Through the BLAZE engagements, we continue to empower Kenyan youth by providing a platform that allows them to connect, learn and showcase their talents as they journey towards success in unconventional careers,” said Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom.

At the summit, attendees interacted with mentors such as Caleb Karuga (Agripreneur), Catherine Kamau (Actress), Brian Diang’a (Professional gamer), Wangari Nyanjui (entrepreneur) and Naiboi (Musician), while BLAZE partners including Google, IBM and Wezesha were present to provide a mix of content, training and employment opportunities.

To inspire youth who would like to take up gaming as a career, BLAZE introduced an E-Sports Tournament that held its grassroots knockouts in conjunction with the summit. Moses Violu, Joel Mungare and James Lilechi emerged the top 3 in the FIFA 19 tournament grassroots knockouts, where the winner took home KES 10,000 and a slot to compete in the regional finals.

The Rift regional engagement will culminate in a creation camp and the regional finals of the BLAZE E-Sports Tournament in Eldoret. At the creation camp, the top 3 entrepreneurs in 8 categories stand to win KES 50,000, KES 30,000 and KES 20,000 respectively, while the top 3 in the Regional E-Sports Tournament Finals will walk away with KES 50,000, KES 30,000 and KES 20,000 respectively.

Earlier this year, BLAZE committed to increasing the number of regional engagements and the Kitale Summit, which is the seventh of the year, has seen BLAZE hold more than double the three summits it held last year. In addition to the Kitale edition, BLAZE has also held BYOB Summits in Kakamega, Kisii, Kisumu, Mariakani, Kilifi and Kericho.