The pitch event happens as the last module (Module 10) of our Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. 

On 31st August 2021, the Zidicircle Entrepreneurship Bootcamp (Spring cohort) got to pitch to our pool of investors and partners for a chance to get funding or commercial networks. This was part of completing the training.

Our entrepreneurs came from an array of sectors, including:

• Digital Media Creatives (IAMNATIV)
• Human Resource Services Digitalization (EssentialPeople)
• Green Economy-Solar powered cooling system (Kibanda Poa)
• Fintech- Small Businesses Financial Management App (Kuungana Technology)
• eCommerce (Bendera)

The Pitch

Every pitcher (entrepreneur) was required to create a pitch deck highlighting important aspects of their business. Here are some of the topics that the pitch decks had.

With a succinct, well-thought-out and engaging pitch deck, the pitchers were able to explain their businesses’ concept and value to potential investors. It took each pitcher a maximum of three minutes to dive in and give a clear picture of their businesses and what they intend to do.

The goal of a pitch is to tell the company’s story in a short, engaging way that will pull in the investor to want to know more about the company, but still give enough information for the investor to make a buy-in decision.  

Clarification and Grading

Once the entrepreneurs make their pitches, the judges take them through a Q&A session to clarify investors’ interest points to make the buy-in decision easier. The judges on the August Pitch Demo day had a host of questions for our entrepreneurs.

These were the August 31 Pitch Demo Day judges:

One crucial point to note though is that it’s a huge misconception that the only reason startups pitch is to get funding. Although this is mainly the case, some entrepreneurs don’t necessarily need funding. Some entrepreneurs may need commercial networks and partnerships instead.

So, if you need market entry and penetration networks or even international distribution channel networks, you can still pitch for a chance to get them.

Once the judges got the clarification they needed, they had enough information to grade the entrepreneurs. On a scale of 1 to 10, the judges graded the entrepreneurs based on the:

• Attractiveness of the business idea
• Clarity when pitching
• Entrepreneur’s presentation skills
• Economic logic of the business
• Ease of implementation and
• Quality of the value proposition

The average grade pointed to the entrepreneur’s skill set. So, the entrepreneur with the highest points got first place and with first place came amazing awards. 

The Winners and Awards

To us, all our entrepreneurs were winners because they put in considerable effort to understand their businesses and they were also willing to share their stories to get the ask they needed.

Here are the awards each pitcher won:

Caroline Kamya, the founder IAMNATIV

After an excellent pitch, Caroline, the founder of IAMNATIV scooped the following prizes:

• Zidicircle Conditional investment of 5000 Euros
• Volition Advisor session in Digital Marketing Strategy, Content, and Advertising.
• An investor readiness program by Fledgerr and then conduct fundraising on Fledgerr’s main platform
• A complete product prototype designed by The Bhub with a value of up to 3K USD, go-to-market tools through The Bhub’s partnership with AWS and Mixpanel, and early user acquisition support, including a data science consultant, 2 years of free AWS hosting credits worth $5k and Mixpanel hosting credits worth $10k.

Olivia Decker, the founder Bendera

Olivia, the founder of Bendera and Kenya Hub took second place after an amazing pitch, leading her to scoop the following awards:

• A potential consideration for investment by Zidicircle
• Free digital marketing for a month by HT Media

Caitlin Seandel, the founder Kuungana Technology

Caitlin, the founder of Kuungana Technology took third place after her wonderful pitch, leading her to get the following awards: 

• A potential consideration for investment by Zidicircle
• A five-day co-working pace pass at Nairobi garage Karen

Aggrey Anduuru, the founder EsentialPeople

Aggrey, the founder of Essential People got:

• A Free 1-month digital marketing by HT Media

Faith Obange, the founder Kibanda Poa

Faith Obange, the founder and CEO of Kibanda Poa scooped:

• A potential consideration for investment

These awards were made possible by the collaboration of our partners:

The Next Pitch Event

The next Zidicircle Entrepreneurship Bootcamp pitch event is set for 27th January 2022, where our Autumn cohort from an array of sectors will pitch to investors. These entrepreneurs come from different sectors, including:

• Ecommerce
• Accounting
• Agriculture

Learn more and join us here.