Five Kenyan startups to compete for Sinapis Group one million prize

Sinapis Group,a business accelerator program has announced  five Kenyan startups who will battle it out to win Kshs 1,000,000 capital for their businesses in a live pitching event tomorrow ( Saturday) during its 4th annual entrepreneur graduation ceremony and business plan competition.

The five were chosen for their inspirational, viable  business after going through the Sinapis Group’s 4-month program which entails 6 hours each week in a highly interactive and practical class at our partner’s facility, spend 6 hours completing work on an online platform called My Entrepreneurial Journey from Acton School of Business in Austin, Texas USA and spend approximately 8 hours each week completing practical fieldwork assignments called milestones, which are directly related to what they’re learning in class.  

The Annual Business Plan Competition award honors outstanding entrepreneurs from the program. The winner receives $10,000 (Ksh1,000,000) in grant-based seed capital, and proceeds to join Sinapis’ Fast Track Fellows Program (FTFP) together with other outstanding finalists.

“We are very excited to have an opportunity once again to bring together players in the entrepreneurial eco-system, and to watch a fresh crop of entrepreneurs graduate from the Sinapis program, armed with the right tools to run a thriving business” states Silvya Kananu, Kenya Country Manager at Sinapis.

“Though Kenya is the leading economic engine in East Africa, it is facing tremendous challenges in developing a pipeline of entrepreneurs who are well-equipped to develop successful businesses.”

The five include: Brian Gacheru of  Pristine Linen and Laundry, Gideon Kyalo of  Goodrich Schools, Lilian Nyaranga of Elimu Shop and Sintamei Nkaitole of Eriel Group limited that deals  with honey manufacture.

The event will take place at The Panari Hotel, Mombasa Road, and will feature Dr. Pete Odera, renown musician and coach, as the keynote speaker.

Other renown business leaders that will grace the event include Frida Owinga, CEO of Passion Profit, Grace Murugi, founder of cakes.co.ke and the 2016 1 Million winner, Joram Mwinamo, Managing Partner, Wylde International and Pastor Simon Mbevi, Founder Transform Nations and Pastor at Mavuno Church.

Silvya is concerned that, “Kenya is also struggling to produce a crop of ethical leaders of integrity, as evidenced by its low scores in the corruption perception index reports.”

In the 2016 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, Kenya was ranked among the most corrupt countries globally, ranked number 145/176.

Sinapis tackles the challenge of insufficient business knowledge among entrepreneurs by providing practical business training in areas such as Sales and Marketing, Finance, Operations and Human Resource Management, all of which are critical skills every entrepreneur must develop in order to succeed in business.

As a Christian organization, Sinapis confronts the issue of corruption in business by teaching entrepreneurs to practice their faith in their business, and ultimately ensure that they apply Christ’s principles in how they run their business, so that their businesses glorify God.

Current impact results indicate that 76 percent of entrepreneurs who have gone through the program have refused to give or receive a bribe as a result of what they learnt from Sinapis.