A number of Ugandan business journalists were able to make some quick cash at the official launch of the second season of NBL’s Be A Millionaire (BAM) that took place on Tuesday 26th 2022 at the NBL head office in Luzira. BAM is an annual entrepreneurship campaign initiated by Nile Breweries limited, Uganda’s leading beer maker, to support and make a different in the lives of young entrepreneurs by offering them technical and financial support. This season’s competition is being run in partnership with Capital Radio and Enterprise Uganda under the theme, ‘’Last Man Standing”.
To give an actual feel of how the first phase of the competition will be, journalists competed for some money by answering a set of questions. Each question passed earned the competitor Shs 30,000. About fifteen journalists from UBC TV, NBS, Kampala Sun, New Vision, Capital One Radio, Chimp reports among other media houses were able to participate and earn themselves some money. Speaking at the launch, Onapito Ekomoloit, the NBL Legal and Corporate Affairs Director congratulated the winners and urged all young entrepreneurs across Uganda between the ages of 18 to 35 to apply for this opportunity so that they can also win themselves some money to move their businesses forward.
“In line with the sustainability agenda, we committed to helping entrepreneurs keep on their feet in the current volatile economic environment. As you are all aware, it takes more than just finances to run a business successfully, so NBL has partnered with Enterprise Uganda to offer relevant training and mentoring to all the participants. “I urge all qualifying Ugandans not to miss this amazing opportunity, please send in your proposals so that you can be one of the lucky winners,” he said. This time, the competition returns with a couple of twists in a game show format while maintaining the core objective of supporting businesses with financial injection and knowledge transfer. Shs100M is earmarked as prize money, with participants from regional competitions and the Grand Finale winning from this bounty.
The regional competitions will be broadcasted live on partner media stations, Capital FM every Saturday at 3 pm and live on NBS at the finale. “Enterprise Uganda believes in resources beyond money, and that’s the person. We come in with the right mindset training, and then the power of entrepreneurship is stimulated,” said Charles Ocici, Executive Director, Enterprise Uganda. Ocici cautioned, “We want every person that is going to participate in it to experience this, to become a millionaire. But there is no way you can become a millionaire until you tick these two boxes; selling a solution that meets a customer’s expectations. Secondly, you should know you are not the only one going to provide that solution and must be ready to compete with people of all kinds of capabilities.”
The competition is for only entrepreneurs aged 18-35years; one must submit a well-written business proposal, as per the guidelines below, and upload it on the Nile Breweries Limited (NBL) website. And the business must already have its products or services on the market. Some of the benchmarks the entries will be examined include; the problem a particular business seeks to solve in the community and a SWOT analysis looking at the knowledge of the environment the entrepreneur aims to operate in. Enterprise Uganda will facilitate the selection of the winners and also mentor them so that they take off.