Everything You Need to Know About BLAZE Kenya

A lot of Kenyan corporates are realising that young people are the future and need to be supported. This is welcome news and the more the merrier. Safaricom hasn’t been left behind and has launched BLAZE Kenya to cater to their young subscribers. There have been many questions on what exactly the platform is about and the thinking behind it.  I sat in on a forum where some of these questions were tackle by a team from Safaricom.

1.What is BLAZE Kenya?

Blaze is a multilayered platform targeting and empowering young people. It is a sub-brand within Safaricom with its own sim cards, scratch cards, marketing team and customer care.

2. Why BLAZE Kenya?

60% of Kenya’s population is under 25. This is too large a population for any corporate with foresight to ignore. Young Kenyans are also very ambitious and with a high level of unemployment, there is a need to equip them with business skills.

3. Why is the target 10 – 26 year olds?

Safaricom did some research and concluded that 10 is when a number of Kenyan children receive their first mobile phone and that 26 is the oldest based on the maximum age a regular student can graduate campus.

4. What are the benefits?

BLAZE Kenya is multilayered and has a tariff specifically for the 10 to 26 age group. The platform also has summits, bootcamps and a TV show. The summit is a youth mentorship symposium open to all BLAZERs while the bootcamps are one on one trainings open to a select group of BLAZERS. The Be Your Own Boss TV show will be an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas.

5. Are all the benefits accessible to all BLAZERS?

The summits are open to everyone that qualifies for BLAZE ie 10 to 26 year olds but is ideally focused on the 18 to 26 segment. Underage BLAZERS are encouraged to attend the summits but with a guardian. The bootcamps and TV show are however, exclusively for the 18 to 26 segment.

6. How do you get on to BLAZE?

Dial *555# and follow instructions. Please note that you can’t access BLAZE if you don’t fall within the age segment.

There are a number of things that the BLAZE team can improve on but these are probably teething problems. It is a new concept and it will be interesting to see how it develops.

For more information on BLAZE, check out their official website.