There couldn’t have been a more exciting time to be a young person than it is now. It’s no brainer that there’s virtually no limit to the perks that come with being young. From making numerous mistakes and getting a chance to learn from them to getting a chance to decide what do to with one’s life. The usual narrative of growing up, being enrolled in a school, studying for a better part of one’s life, marrying…blah blah blah is changing. As much as the youth want to do all these things, they do not want to be boxed into a certain way of doing them. What they really want, more than anything, is freedom, empowerment and success.
The Kenyan youth, aged between 10 and 26, have something to smile about. This morning, at Michael Joseph Centre, Mobile service provider Safaricom launched Blaze, a communication and empowerment platform. This platform has been in the making for one year and it promises to positively transform young people’s lives. Designed by, and for, Kenya’s youth, the platform will offer the young people a wide range of products, services and benefits tailored to cater for their everyday needs.
Blaze gives you the chance to create your own tarriff. You will be able to create your own plan, and you will be able to decide how much you want to spend on voice, data and sms. For example if you buy credit for a hundred bob you can decide on a simple slider, by swiping left or right how much of your money should go into data, voice or sms.
Blaze (which is a sub-brand of Safaricom) is a great platform to empower the youth, to celebrate their unconventional journeys to success and give them freedom in how they want to communicate.
How it works
To be eligible, you must be aged between 10 and 26 years. All you need to do is dial *555# and follow the prompts. You can also do it online by visiting the BLAZE website- blaze.co.ke
Benefits
Apart from benefiting from the most innovative communication products and services, the subscribers stand to reap the following benefits.
Discounted 3G and 4G phones
Subscribers will have access to branded 3G and 4G enabled devices at discounted prices. One of these devices is the Blaze Flame which will retail for Kshs.10,000 + a free selfie stick and phone cover, exclusively from Safaricom shops.
Mentorship
Under BLAZE, there is a brand asset- Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) which will conduct a series of empowerment summits and boot camps across the country. They will get a chance to tell their stories and interact with mentors drawn from the fields of art (music, fashion, photography, graffiti, film), technology, agriculture and entrepreneurship. This will help them get fired up to chase their passions.
BLAZE TV Show
During these summits, the young people will get a chance to audition for BLAZE TV, also called Be Your Own Boss.
Funding
Whatever part of the country you go to, you will find many young people lamenting how hard it is to get into employment or how lack of capital has made it hard for business ideas to materialize. BLAZE TV Show will offer a select few the chance to compete for funding that will enable them build their careers.
There’s more to come. More elements of the platform such as music app will be rolled out over the coming months. The subscribers will also have access to innovative new M-PESA based services that will encourage the youth to take control of their finances as well as Blaze Bonga, which is a loyalty programme with rewards that appeal to the young generation.
For children under 18, parents can go with their child’s birth certificate to a Safaricom Customer Care shop and although the sim card will be registered under the adult, the child will be able to use the blaze service. The Blaze Platform will not have a separate section for under 18s so it is up to the parents to check what the child is doing with the internet.
