Young people with outstanding innovations and business ideas could walk away $35 000 richer in the Total Zimbabwe’s 2018/2019 Start Upper Challenge.
In a statement to 263Chat, Total Zimbabwe Communications Officer, Anesu Mutasa said the program seeks to capacitate youths who have business and innovative ideas through opening access to funding avenues, business support, marketing communication and skills transfer.
“The spirit behind Start Upper is to capacitate and develop the youths below thirty-five for broader social change. What we are also trying to do is to contribute to the economic development of the various countries in which we are running the challenge to identify we have many young entrepreneurs who we would like to see develop and grow in different sectors,” Mutasa said.
“From the large pool of different innovative ideas, one hundred and two (102) participants emerged winners and Total provided them with financing, coaching and media promotion to operationalize their ideas.”
Mutasa added that to date, at least 11 000 applications covering different facets including education, health and e-commerce were received with 6642 satisfying the stipulated requirements by Total Zimbabwe.
Total Zimbabwe has expanded its corporate social responsibility with latest beneficiaries being 150 children through Lynde Francis Trust (LFT) who attended the 2018 Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA 2018).
This programme running in 34 countries, will go a long way in empowering innovative young people whose ideas fail to see the light of the day due to lack of funding.
