Nyamuka Zambia semi-finalists graduate to next phase
SIXTY of Zambia’s most promising entrepreneurs gathered in Lusaka to start the next phase of their journey towards becoming their own boss.
The Nyamuka Zambia business plan competition semi-finalists officially graduated during a ceremony at Lusaka’s Radisson Blu where they heard details on the journey ahead in their quest to win the K250,000 top prize, along with runner-up prizes and support to bring their business concepts to life.
The 60 entrepreneurs were selected from over 650 applicants and these semi-finalists will go forward to the second phase of the competition which will require them to draft a full six page business plan to be further judged by a panel of experts to select the twenty finalists.
“We are absolutely proud of the sixty semi-finalists. These individuals are the epitome of the Zambian spirit – a spirit of enterprise, inventiveness, and innovation. It’s not going to get any easier from this point on, however. This second phase will involve a lot of, hard work, time and commitment if applicants are to progress to the third phase and eventually become a winner,” explained Nyamuka Zambia Manager Shalin Jethi.
The work involves events and workshops that participants will be required to attend in order to produce a more detailed original six-page business plan with support and guidance from Nyamuka Zambia. The business planning process will also involve entrepreneurs conducting their own market research on their business idea to ensure it is viable, feasible and bankable.
The Barclays-sponsored Nyamuka Zambia is one of four components under the Private Enterprise Programme – Zambia (PEPZ), funded by the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID).
The application date ran from March 10 and closed on April 29, 2016. Nyamuka Zambia supported entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a series of workshops and clinics in Lusaka and the Copperbelt that helped them develop stronger business proposals.
This year’s competition has registered over 2,000 expressions of interest from entrepreneurial hopefuls who cut across various economic sectors.