Drink Castle, win one million dollars
Brewers of the very popular African beers Castle and Black Label, SAB Miller last week launched KickStart Namibia, an entrepreneurship competition that will have participants submitting their ideas for a piece of the N$1 million shared prize.
SAB Miller said it believes that 18 to 35 year olds have the right attributes that warrant investing in them whereas other industries possibly see them as risk. The Ambassadors for the SAB Miller Kickstart competition are fashion designer Leah Misika, ophthalmologist Dr Helena Ndume, businessman Dr Leake Hangala, architect Imannuel Mulung, Mieke Droomer and Rachel Misika.
Sanjay Korteweg from Core Public Relations said that similar programmes from the South African brewing company that itself has shown entrepreneurial drive by setting up a brewing plant in Okahandja, have proven to be successful in different markets around the world.
”The youth are ready to take up the challenge of becoming entrepreneurs and that this successes is coupled with challenges that are natural and typical of start-up businesses. Despite this SAB Miller believes in backing and investing in small businesses as they are integral to our economies.” Korteweg said pointing out that the Kickstart competition is not a venture capitalist fund as SAB Miller will not want to see return on investment in the form of profit sharing.
Korteweg explained that the competition would rather focus on the return on investment by aiding the training and development of many of the participants who may not be at the stage of being a Small to Medium Enterprise yet.
SABMiller believes that it is part of the community in a real and tangible way and all aspiring 19 to 35 year olds are encouraged to apply as the brand believes these are the people oozing with ideas and energy for life.
“As a result we believe that they have the right attributes that warrant investing in them. Whereas other industries possibly see them as risk, we think they offer the best investment of our money because they are not afraid to try new things. Even if some of these business concepts may face challenges and potentially fail for whatever reason we believe it was an investment worth making.” Korteweg said.
The Kickstart competition invites encouraging ideas at any stage to be submitted for developing into a real business plan that is viable.
