BLAZE by Safaricom has today launched an e-sports tournament in partnership with Pro Series Gaming (PSG) and Standard Group, for youth aged between 18 and 26 who are looking at gaming as a career choice. This I have to say is a boon to the youth given the lack of job opportunities.
The tournament is a new addition to the BLAZE Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) empowerment and mentorship platform and targets both casual and avid gamers across the country. The e-sports tournament will consist of FIFA 19 and Tekken 7 knockouts running on Play Station 4 and will be broken down into 10 grassroots knockouts and 5 regional finals. At least 64 players will enter at each knockout round, which will happen the week of every BLAZE BYOB Summit.
The regional finals will happen at the regional creation camps where champions from the knockouts will battle it out for the regional title and prize money. A total of Ksh. 100,000 is up for grabs in each region with winners taking home Ksh. 50,000 second position Ksh. 30,000 and third position Ksh. 20,000.
In addition to the tournament, the gaming session will have gaming mentors such as Brian Diang’a alias Beast, who will speak on their journey to becoming professional gamers and share knowledge and opportunities in the gaming world. They will also advice aspiring gamers on what they need to do to be part of the eSports movement.
The partnership between BLAZE and Pro Series Gaming will see PSG manage the running of the tournament, while Standard Group comes on board as the tournament’s official media partner.
This initiative is part of the BLAZE Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) youth mentorship initiative that was launched in June 2019 in Kakamega County. It features BYOB Summits in various parts of the country with the latest one being held in Kilifi County.
The Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) intiative features youth mentorship summits and creation camps which are focused on empowering Kenyan youth. This is done by providing valuable information, skills and networking opportunities in a variety of fields including: creative arts, fashion, film and photography, music, agriculture, sales and production and sports. BYOB also include a TV show that pits young entrepreneurs from all over Kenya against each other in a battle to win a grand prize package of Ksh. 5 million. The 5 million constitutes 3 million in start-up capital and the remainder in the form of mentorship, financial advice and business support from Safaricom and various partners. Season 2 of the BLAZE BYOB (Be Your Own Boss) TV show saw Brian Ronoemerge as the winner standing after 10 weeks of intense competition.