Inspiring an Entrepreneurial Africa
- Details
- Category: Television
- Published on Saturday, 07 January 2012 10:16
- Written by Moses Serugo
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Ugandan TV viewers can now partake of a show that doesn’t decimate their sets into idiot boxes notorious for spewing out cheap telenovelas and a dust cloud of news bulletins; you know the ones that thrive on an orgy of death and the bizarre.
Inspire Africa aims to tap into the entrepreneurial potential of East Africa by pitting 24 contestants in a winner-take-it-all battle to clinching $50,000 as start up capital for a business venture. Hopefully the show will be less of a narrative on its creator Nelson Tugume. The bulk of episode one that made its debut on Wednesday January 4, 2012 chronicled his journey from hapless commuter taxi driver to a car-importing pseudo tycoon.
Over the course of 13 weeks, the two-dozen contestants drawn from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda will jump through hoops by way of challenges in their quest for entrepreneurial gold. The sieving to whittle down the hopefuls to just 24 included brain-teasing tasks that included design marketing strategies for say a sponsor that include an airline, a news media organisation, a shopping chain, a telecom company and a bank with regional presence, forex trading, vending fruits and making a road trip with just a quarter of the bus fare.
High production values promise to be the show’s major draw if it is to be compared with it’s older but now defunct sibling Apprentice Africa. Inspire Africa boasts imaginative photography showing picturesque sights of East Africa, crisp editing, a captivating soundtrack and easy-on-the-ear narration.
This is one show that has the potential to yield more by way of East African integration than the political talk shoppers in Arusha. Africa’s young population said to be half of the continent’s billion-strong demographic is being touted as its next biggest resource worthy of investing. Inspire Africa also promises to yield tangible results in the wake of the much-touted UGX44bn budgetary allocation. The money was meant to alleviate youth unemployment in the 2011/2012 financial year, but has now become a farce that may culminate into a nude protest march. Thankfully Inspire Africa will be free of such drama that would warrant an R18SNL tag in the top right hand corner of your screen. The show airs Wednesays on NTV at 8pm.
MOSES SERUGO ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )