UPG Biashara is an initiative that supports entrepreneurs in their journey to turn ideas into businesses. This includes growing and strengthening existing enterprises.

Biashara is a Kiswahili word for “business” and it emphasizes the fact that with this initiative UPG is supporting entrepreneurs and all those looking to create impact through business.

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Eligibility, Important Dates and How to Apply

Anyone who is running a business or dreams of running a business one day. Diversity among UPG Biashara Entrepreneurs UPG Biashara Entrepreneurs include:

• people who have an idea about a business that they would love to build AND people who have NO specific IDEA
• people who have a strong motivation to learn or to learn more about entrepreneurship
• people aged 18 years and over on 1 October 2022
• people from all world regions
• people of different levels of education
• people who are running a business or who have run businesses in the past
• people who believe in UPG’s mission to empower people to make the world a better place through positive action.

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Finally, this diversity means that everyone stands a chance when we make the selection of the final UPG Biashara Entrepreneurs. Please note that your age is a minimum of 18 years on 1 October 2022. This ensures that all participants are considered adults for the duration of the cycle, from application to selection and throughout the entire UPG Biashara experience.

The application deadline is 31 December 2022. Please note that there is small application fee that must be paid for your application to be complete. There is an option to complete your application by saying “I cannot afford it” and to request that UPG pays your fee for you. The application fee is CHF 20 (about USD 20). UPG Champions can APPLY for free – their application fee will be covered by UPG. This is only applicable to those Champions who have made their annual financial contribution for the current year.

As part of UPG’s strong support for entrepreneurs from all backgrounds, those who cannot afford to pay the application fee will have some seats in the class saved for them. To learn more about the fee, continue reading.

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Evaluation Guidance

The evaluation is done by reviewing the following sections of your application:

• Profile / Background: who are you? This helps us to achieve diversity.
• Motivation: we want the most motivated candidates
• Ability: we want those whose ability is compatible with their motivation
• Business Idea: we want those who are running a business or who dream of running a business one day. You do NOT lose any points if you have no business idea. But if you have a Business IDEA OR an actual business that you are running, then you get EXTRA points.

Please note that most financial opportunities will support entrepreneurs with business ideas. Please don’t worry, because of what we are looking for (described above), we will also select some people with “no business idea”, however your chances are stronger if you are running a business or have a business idea.

• Expectations: To ensure that we can build the programme and match the candidates that the programme can support

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As part of this application it is strongly recommended that you submit a short video (maximum 90 seconds) to answer any of the questions from any section above or to tell us more about yourself. Among other things, the video helps us evaluate your communication skills. You may submit that video by including a link to the video in the application now (there is a section in the application for this). Or you may complete the application first and mention that you will do the video later. And then submit a link to your video here: https://upglive.org/sharecontent. For your video to be considered it must be submitted by the deadline.

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Further Information and Before Applying

If you are interested in the UPG Biashara 2023: Call for Entrepreneurs, please visit the Official Website for learning more about this entrepreneurship programme, especially bout the application procedure and important dates. You can learn more about how it works.

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