Sinapis, an entrepreneurship training program has announced the fourth round of the annual Business Plan Competition that will see the most compelling enterprise bag Ksh1 million in seed capital.
The organisation seeks to support entrepreneurs with innovative, scalable business ideas by providing the business training and financing. The program which is currently in its sixth year has to date held three annual business plan competitions and provided more than Ksh20 million worth of funding and seed capital to viable businesses.
Participants of competition have to first undergo a four-month entrepreneurship training program which consists of six hours of training every week. The finalists in the competition will then be granted an opportunity to compete for Ksh 1M in seed capital for their businesses.
“Since inception, we have accelerated over 500 Kenyan companies. The average growth of companies one year after the end of the program is 125per cent, the average increase in investment capital raised for these businesses after the program is over is 500per cent and nearly 80per cent of businesses that go through our program survive 3 years or longer,” said Mr. Karibu Nyaggah, the program Co-Founder.
The top performers in the competition are then invited to join Sinapis’ Fast Track Fellows Program, which is a 6-month accelerator program that provides the entrepreneurs with access to high quality consultants, professional advisors, successful entrepreneur mentors, advanced training and investor matchmaking.
“This is an advanced practical entrepreneurial training at the MBA level that will catapult your business from a dream to a reality and grow it to the next level, at a fraction of the time and cost of a traditional MBA programme without all of the theory that entrepreneurs don’t need or have time for, we invite all interested entrepreneurs to our class launch on Nov 5th 2016” explains Courtney Mills, the Sinapis Executive Director.
Mrs. Mills has a Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and a Masters in Public Policy, Political and International Development from Harvard Kennedy School. She has in the past worked with for McKinsey & Company where she advised Fortune 500 companies on strategic issues such as reducing costs in the supply chain for a large consumer package goods company and analyzing high potential investments at a large hedge fund firm.
Mr. Nyaggah, the Co-Founder is a Kenyan and graduate of Harvard Business School where he received his Masters in Business Administration. Prior to business school, Karibu was an Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he worked in the Advisory practice. Both Mills and Nyaggah met at Harvard University and this is where Sinapis was ignited.
“Once these entrepreneurs become successful in business, they will not only create sustainable jobs and help alleviate poverty but also gain societal influence as business leaders, said Mr. Nyaggah.
He added it was now critical for the country to nurture entrepreneurial skills, as the country is on the verge of having a glut of graduates against a backdrop of quickly diminishing formal employment opportunities.
