BLAZE Unveils BYOB TV Show Judges and Contestants

Safaricom’s youth network, BLAZE, has unveiled the 12 contestants who will be taking part in its new reality show, BLAZE BYOB TV, which will premiere on Monday 6^th February 2017 on KTN. The launch was at the iHub with a reception cocktail at the Nailab, both on the 4th floor of Bishop Magua Building.  It was a well organized event by the Safaricom BLAZE team and BAKE (Bloggers Association of Kenya) that saw media introduced to the 12 contestants and the 3 judges.

The event was MCed by Elsaphan Njora and Mwalimu Rachel and began with a panel discussion on entrepreneurship versus employment. The panel was moderated by Samuel Mbugua and had Wandia Njoya, Michelle Mtalami, Marion Wanyoike and Trushar Khetia.

The TV series will be on air for 8  weeks, during which the contestants will be evaluated on their ability to perform outstandingly well across a series of tasks that will assess their business skills, navigating carefully crafted challenges that simulate real-life situations, and working with mentors and established brands to earn the judges’ and audience’s favour. Basically similar to The Apprentice.

Contestants will be eliminated each week, with the overall winner bagging a grand prize of KES 5 million that includes KES 3 million in start-up capital and the remainder in the form of mentorship, financial advice and business support from Safaricom and various partners. However, no contestant will go home empty-handed, with each receiving a consolation prize that will go towards supporting their businesses upon elimination.

The contestants were selected from Nairobi, Rift Valley, Central, Western and Coast regions, and include: Susan Mueni, Joseph Wanja, Paul Zakaria, Cate Akoth, Valentine Nekesa, David Kimani, Wayne Ochieng’, Sam Ngure, Susan Maina, Vinsencia Gisore, Keith Asumba and Lynette Achieng’. The aspiring entrepreneurs are all aged below 26 years, and were selected following a rigorous auditions process that was carried out during the BLAZE BYOB mentorship summits held between June and October 2016.

The 3 judges are: Media Personality and Chief Marketing Officer at Radio Africa Group – Caroline Mutoko, Tria Group and Society Stores Founder and CEO – Trushar Khetia and Rapper and Kaka Empire CEO – Kennedy Ombima, aka King Kaka.

A few things I noticed from the launch is that the the contestants are between 19-25 years, with both the youngest (19) and oldest (25) contestants being ladies. Majority of the contestants are 22 and are universtiy students. This was a little disaapointing as most entrpreneurs in the country tend to not have gone to university. Also, majority of the businesses are in entertainment/arts. Only 778 young men and women auditioned for the TV show, which is a low turnout considering the BLAZE platform has close to 900,000 subscribers with over 44,000 youth attending the mentorship summits in Eldoret, Thika, Nakuru, Mombasa and Kisumu. Hopefully, all this is because this is the first season of the show and the numbers and diversity will increase with subsequent seasons.

Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore and Standard Group CEO, Sam Shollei both spoke on the benefits of the partnership and the hopes that the show will encourage entrepreneurship

The BLAZE BYOB TV show will air on KTN between 8.00pm and 9.00pm every Monday, beginning 6^th February 2017 and closing with a live grand finale on Monday 27^th March 2017.