At least 25 entrepreneurs have been selected to advance to the next stage of this year's Nile Breweries Limited (NBL) annual entrepreneurship campaign dubbed "Be A Millionaire".
The 25 were selected from 50 participants who took part in a two-day business boot-camp facilitated by Enterprise Uganda, at Royal Suites in Bugolobi.
The boot-camp had attracted 50 aspiring youth entrepreneurs who were selected from five regions of North, West, Central, East and South West.
The 50, on Wednesday, faced-off in a quiz session through which 25 (five from each region) were selected to advance to the next stage.
Speaking at the campaign, NBL's director of Legal and Corporate affairs, Onapito Ekomoloit, thanked the participants for embracing the campaign and taking part in this year's challenge.
“I was shocked by the level of brilliance exhibited on the stage. I though I had become too cynical about Ugandans but you have disproved me," Ekomoloit said.
He added, "There were many plausible entries but like any game show, it’s only the best of the best that proceed from one stage to the next, and so far these are the successful candidates,”
Noah Wandera, the Business Development manager in charge of training at Enterprise Uganda, thanked NBL and other partners for coming on board.
He explained that as Enterprise Uganda, their role has been to build the entrepreneurs' capacity building and that the came up with the questions that were asked during the quiz session.
He added that after, they were able to identify 10 participants from each region, from where the best five from each were able to advance to the next round.
"We targeted 50 people who were invited for the boot-camp and the main goal of the boot-camp was to allow participants to be exposed to key habits of successful entrepreneurs but also to build their self confidence especially in the event that the next phase will involve the quiz," Wandera said.
Wandera explained that through the boot-camp, they looked at the power of the participants' mindsets focusing on how this impacts on their business operation.
He further noted that they were also able to look at financial literacy needed for them to manage their businesses, innovation and creativity.
Wandera observed that the knowledge, skills and competences got from the boot-camp can be used beyond just looking at the awards or the money that they are expecting to win from the campaign.
"As Enterprise Uganda, we believe that they have what it takes to grow their businesses given the mindset change that they have gone through and the key competences needed for them to grow their businesses from where they are to another level," he said.
The next phase will involve a regional face off where one participant will be picked each week from each of the 5 regions to participate in a quiz show for five weeks.
The five winners from each week will then make it to the national grand finale where the last man standing up will grab Shs100 million.
The grand finale will be broadcasted live on NBS Television.