Kuungana Technology

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)

Pitchers and company logos

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.

must-have topics in a pitch deck

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:

judges photos

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

Caroline Kamya, the winner

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 Decker, the first runner up

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 Seandel, Second runner up

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:

Partners logos

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.

Today, we feature one of Zidicircle’s entrepreneurs, Caitlin Seandel, the proprietor and CEO of Kuungana Technology.

We asked Caitlin a series of questions, whose answers we hope you, our Zidicircle community, will find enlightening, insightful, inspiring and motivating.

Q: What is the name of your business?

Kuungana Technology.

Q: What does your venture do?

We help micro-businesses operating in the informal sector in East Africa grow while uniting a fragmented financial sector. We do this through our value-added and scalable technology.

Q: What is the history of your business?

It starts with my background. I have work experience in teaching English abroad in Phnom Penh, tech sales experience for a start-up in San Francisco, and worked as a program manager for a CBO microlender in rural Eastern Uganda. It was there that the idea for Kuungana took hold.

Q: How did the idea for Kuungana Technology come about?

Kuungana is Swahili for unity, which is exactly what we do; unite business owners with their business’s earning potential and through doing this we will be able to unite a fragmented financial sector.

Q: What would be your 3 key pieces of advice from your journey to fellow entrepreneurs?

1) Don’t doubt your vision.

2) When speaking with potential partners/investors/customers and they question you, don’t take it personally. Understand that this is a perfect time to learn. If there are misunderstandings in what you are trying to accomplish chances are you are not presenting your vision and process clearly.

3) Joy, fun + self-care are important. There are great times of uncertainty make sure that through everything you are taking care of yourself and finding joy even in the stress.

Q: What triggered you to take part in the Zidicircle Bootcamp?

The mentorship really intrigued me as well as having the opportunity to interact with other entrepreneurs.

Q: What have you learnt so far from the program and how have you applied the lessons learnt? Give examples.

Understanding how to identify early tech adopters and your angel users. This has helped Kuungana really hone in on who our ideal user is helping out with our sales strategy and product development.

Q: What‘s your highest business need at the moment

I am in need of an experienced banking industry professional in Kenya and East Africa. We are also shopping for a good mobile app developer

Q: Would you recommend the program to other entrepreneurs? Why?

If you are feeling stuck or having questions about what your technology should look like/do this is a great program for you!

It will help bring clarity to your companies’ vision and mission as well as what is needed from your service to make that happen!

Q: Do you have any advice for other starting entrepreneurs?

If you are excited about your vision and believe, just keep going. Even if you have to take a break, get back to it.

Q: How can interested parties find you?

Email: caitlinseandel@kuunganatech.com

The August 2021 Pitch Event