BLAZE has finally unveiled the 12 contestants and 3 judges who will be featured in the much awaited BYOB TV show.
The show is set to premiere on Monday 6th February 2017 and judging from the trailer, it’s going to be a great show.
The contestants were selected from five regions in Kenya namely Nairobi, Rift Valley, Central, Western, and the Coast.
They are below 26 years of age with the youngest being 19 years old.
The 12 contestants are:
- Susan Mueni
- Joseph Wanja
- Paul Zakaria
- Cate Akoth,
- Valentine Nekesa
- David Kimani
- Wayne Ochieng’
- Sam Ngure
- Susan Maina
- Vinsencia Gisore
- Keith Asumba
- Lynette Achieng’
The judges are:
- Caroline Mutoko- Media Personality and the CMO at Radio Africa Group
- Trushar Khetia-The Tria Group and Society Stores Founder and CEO
- Kennedy Ombima- A Popular rapper who goes by the stage name ‘King Kaka’
Notable figures present during the unveiling were Safaricom’s CEO Bob Collymore and Sam Shollei, Standard Group Limited CEO.
Collymore took to the stage to talk about youth unemployment in Kenya and how this problem will continue to grow.
He added that the show was searching for people who have a passion and a dream. Shollei described BYOB show as transformative.
The 8-week show will expose the contestants to a myriad of challenges with the aim of testing their ability to perform a series of tasks using their business skills.
They will be guided and evaluated by judges with media and entrepreneurship backgrounds.
Each week, contestants will be eliminated.
The good news is that while all of them will be competing for the top prize of Ksh. 5 million, none of them will go home empty handed.
Apart from the rich learning experiences, those eliminated will walk away with a small prize and important networks.
Since BLAZE was launched, it has signed up over 900,000 subscribers yet only about 44,000 attended the mentorship summits that were held in various major towns.
Of these, only 778 auditioned for the BYOB TV show. This is a bit disappointing since this number is small compared to the fair attendance.
Through the rigorous audition process, the number was cut further and that is how they ended up with the 12 contestants.
The BYOB show-abbreviation for Be Your Own Boss-is a good platform to encourage self-employment in Kenya.
The 12 contestants will act as models to encourage entrepreneurship from young people who keep complaining about their unemployment status.
It will be interesting to see young people demonstrate their business skills as this is likely to equip young minds with valuable business ideas.
The Kenyan youth will also learn the important role that guidance and mentorship play in the entrepreneurship journey.
The BYOB TV show will air on KTN every Monday between 8.00pm and 9.00pm beginning February 6th, 2017.
The winner will be crowned in the grand finale which will be held on Monday 27th March 2017.
