Pakasa Youth Awards down to 20 finalists

The Panel of the Pakasa Youth Awards have narrowed the number of entries into the competition down to the final two per region.

The countrywide competition divided Uganda into 10 regions. The regions are; South West ( Ankole, Kigezi);  West (Bunyoro, Toro, Rwezururu);  Central (Buganda);  East (Busoga);         Mid-East ( Busia, Tororo, Butaleja, Pallisa, Budaka, Kapchorwa and Bugisu); North East (Teso, Karamoja); West Nile;  Northern (Acholi); Mid-northern (Lango) and Kampala (Greater Kampala - Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso).

Each of the regions is supposed to produce a winner to constitute the 10 overall winners out of the 125 entries that were scrutinised by the judges.

The 10 lucky winners will be flown an all-expenses paid trip to South Korea in May 2016, thanks to the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Uganda and Korea International Cooperation Agency.  While in Korea, they will tour multinational conglomerate technology companies.

They will also share about sh100m bequeathed by the Ruparelia Foundation and Centum Investment CEO, James Mworia.

Effective tomorrow, the team will head out to the field to visit the two finalists per region to determine the final winners per region who will be announced at a gala dinner on May 6 in Kampala.

Since October 1, members of the public nominated deserving youth entrepreneurs between the ages of 15 to 35 through email and SMS for the competition. By the time the competition came to a close late last month, over 600 nominations of youth who are managing their own small business enterprises had been received from all over the country.

Among the entries, 125 young entrepreneurs who were found eligible to compete for the prize were profiled every Friday in Pakasa and the New Vision sister papers; Bukedde, Orumuri, Rupiny and Etop. The profiles also featured on all Vision Group's electronic platforms - televisions, radios and websites, during the competition.

The competition, organised by Vision Group seeks to encourage, promote and recognise successful young Ugandan entrepreneurs.