Safaricom, Kenya’s most respected brand has lived up to her billing by launching BLAZE, a communication and empowerment platform designed by, and for, Kenya’s youth. To maintain relevance with the biggest segment of the population, Safaricom got youth together to create a platform that expresses youth freedom, empowerment and success and they did not disappoint; they delivered BLAZE at an undisclosed tidy sum.

A first of its kind platform in Kenya, East and Central Africa, BLAZE embodies the future of communication and will redefine how corporates relate with youth according to Safaricom chief, Bob Collymore. Safaricom is banking on the youth segment to deliver 25% of their future growth which explains this investment in the youth. This is a major departure from the situation pertaining at the moment where corporates create products and services based on their understanding of the target population and expect fantastic results. More often than not, such campaigns have failed miserably because “Kenyans are a peculiar lot” to quote Michael Joseph, Safaricom’s first CEO.

At the heart of BLAZE is a platform that enhances user experience among the youth. Users will subscribe on the platform which then gives him/her the power to decide how to assign their resources: on voice, data and SMS. The days of one size fits all are gone. If you want to send more data or SMS, then it shall be so. The package is further enhanced with cool 3G and 4G devices and merchandise which represents youth aspirations to be classy, trendy and stylish. One of such devices is the Blaze Flame, which will retail for Kshs.10,000 + a free selfie stick and phone cover, exclusively from Safaricom shops – how cool is that!

The mainstay of this platform, however, is B.Y.O.B – Be Your Own Boss – a brand asset under BLAZE. Subscribers will have access to various programs that will empower them to be their own bosses. B.Y.O.B presents real opportunities for subscribers in entrepreneurship and mentorship in creative industries (music, fashion, photography, graffiti, film), technology, and agriculture. The show stopper will be a TV show dubbed B.Y.O.B which will give youth in any part of Kenya a chance to unleash his/her potential and realize their dream(s).

BLAZE 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 specifically to the youth.

“BLAZE will be unlike anything any mobile service provider has done in this region. We look forward to revealing more in the coming days,” closed Sylvia Mulinge, the Director of Consumer Business Unit at Safaricom.

Blaze Manifesto

BLAZE celebrates the young, those on the road not taken;

Who in spite of the critics, are now our hope.

We celebrate their passion, and its effect on the world around us.

This is BLAZE