This archive report was first published on 12 July 2019.
Published on July 12, 2019, Safaricom's BLAZE hosted the second Be Your Own Boss summit of 2019 at Kisii National Polytechnic, attracting over 3,000 youth from the region.
The summit, which is part of BLAZE's mission to empower over 1.3 million youth by 2019, featured industry experts and mentors who shared their experiences and skills with the attendees.
BLAZE's CEO, Michael Joseph, emphasized the company's commitment to empowering youth, saying, 'As has been our mission since we launched BLAZE in 2016, this year we hope to empower over 1.3 million youth by providing access to a platform that allows them to connect, learn and showcase their talents.'
Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) is a youth engagement programme that has expanded to 18 summits this year, up from three last year, engaging over 26,000 youth.
Attendees interacted with local mentors through interest-specific pods, where they went through workshops and learned from the mentors' experiences.
Some of the notable mentors who attended the Kisii Edition included Fundi Frank, a fashion designer, Catherine Kamau, an actress, and Eric Musyoka, a music producer.
BLAZE has partnered with several organizations, including Huawei, Google, IBM, and USAID-K-YES, to provide a mix of content, training, and employment opportunities to BLAZE subscribers who attend the summits.
