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(Dateline 12th November 2007, Nairobi.) 4 Million Shillings worth of Prize Money courtesy of the Kenya Pipeline Company is at stake as the curtain falls on Kenya’s first ever National Youth Business Plan Competition. State of the Art Lenovo T60 Laptops donated by the global computer giant Lenovo are also up for grabs. Starting on the 12th of November 2007, 100 Chora Bizna finalists arrive at the Brackenhurst Baptist Conference Centre in Limuru for the final round of the competition. Participants will get a chance to defend their ideas before a panel of judges made up of venture capitalists, investors and successful Kenyan entrepreneurs. The finalists will be taken through specialized business training and pep talks by motivational speakers. Team building exercises have also been incorporated into the finals to give practical leadership training. 17th November – Final Awards Ceremony His Excellency Hon. Moody Awori Vice President and Minister for Home Affairs will on Saturday, the 17th of November 2007 preside over the Final Awards Ceremony to be held at the KICC Amphitheatre starting at 9:00am to 2:00pm. The prestigious audience including MOYA officials, sponsors’ executives, and finalists’ mentors, families, friends and other supporters will celebrate the top 100 Chora Bizna participants’ hard work. Kes 4 Million Distributed to 10 Prize Winners The crème de la crème—the top 10 out of 5,100 Chora Bizna applicants—will walk away with various cash prizes and laptop computers to start up or expand their businesses. These coveted awards will include 1st Prize – Kes 1,000,000 and Lenovo T60 Laptop 2nd Prize - Kes 750,000/- and Lenovo T60 laptop 3rd Prize - Kes 500,000/- and Lenovo T60 laptop Best Agribusiness Initiative – Kes 250,000/- Best Woman Entrepreneur – Kes 250,000/- Most Innovative Business – Kes 250,000/- Best Light Manufacturing Business - Kes 250,000/- Best Services Business - Kes 250,000/- Best ICT Business – Kes 250,000/- Best ASAL Business (Arid and Semi Arid Lands) – Kes 250,000/- What about the other 90 finalists? All of the 300 semi-finalists who received in-depth business training should be able to approach any financial institution with bankable business plans. To specifically support the top 90 finalists, TechnoServe is actively seeking partners among corporations and financial institutions who want to recruit entrepreneurs in specific industry sectors. We hope to help all Chora Bizna finalists find mentors, coaches, internships, and/or funding. Importantly, the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs’ Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) is seeking good business ideas to underwrite. The Chora Bizna team together with the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs is working closely to integrate the finalists –in fact all 5,100 applicants--into the mainstream of Financial Institutions who are disbursing the Youth Fund About Chora Bizna: The Ministry of State for Youth Affairs and TechnoServe Kenya supported by the Kenya Pipeline Company, Lenovo and Kenya Commercial Bank have joined forces to promote entrepreneurship and private sector development in Kenya through a Business Plan Competition called Chora Bizna - Believe Begin Become. The program is designed, managed and executed by TechnoServe on behalf of the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs. The competition was launched on 12th of April 2007 and since then has reached thousands of young people in Kenya. Chora Bizna held road shows for tens of thousands of young people in 23 towns across the country and as a result, over 5100 young people applied for the competition. Chora Bizna short listed 300 of these for training and coaching on how to improve their plans and teamed them up with local business mentors. After a second round of judging, the top 100 finalists now travels to Nairobi for the final round of the competition to select the national winners. About TechnoServe: TechnoServe helps entrepreneurial men and women in the developing world to build businesses that provide jobs, income and economic opportunity. Since its founding in 1968, the U.S.-based nonprofit has helped to create or improve more than 1,500 businesses, benefiting millions of people in 30 countries. TechnoServe is currently working to build and expand businesses in Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda, Ghana, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia and India. TechnoServe was recognized as one of the world's """"Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs"""" by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
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