Tigo invests in social entrepreneurs to better the lives of Tanzanian children

Sept. 18, 2012 - PRLog -- Tigo, in partnership with Swedish non-profit organization Reach for Change, launched today the ‘Tigo Reach for Change’ initiative, which focuses on identifying and supporting local social entrepreneurs with solid ideas on improving the lives of Tanzanian children.

“The best way to enhance social change is to provide the right tools to people who are passionate and who have the drive to build a project which is able to sustain itself for the long term,” said Diego Gutierrez, Tigo General Manager. “We believe in sustainability and we believe in giving back to the communities in which we operate. We believe that every child deserves to live a life full of abundance and we will be providing this opportunity for them through this initiative,” he said.

Interested candidates are invited to present their business ideas online by applying through the Tigo Tanzania website or at any Tigo Customer Service Centre. Each application will be reviewed by a panel of experts and the strongest and most promising applicant will be invited to join a three year incubator programme where their ideas will be transformed into sustainable ventures. In addition to this, they will receive salary funding of USD 25,000 a year for up to three years, as well as mentoring and professional advice from senior employees of Tigo.

For the duration of the programme that the social entrepreneur will be receiving Tigo salary, their business idea will be undergoing evaluation and incubation in order to ensure that they attain required standards until their project is fully developed and self-sustainable.

“Taking care and ensuring better living standards for our children is not the responsibility of the Government alone,” said Hon. Sophia Simba, Minister of Community Development, Gender and Children. “We applaud Tigo for this initiative which will not only improve and protect the welfare and livelihood of children and youth in Tanzania, but will involve working with social entrepreneurs who live in the communities with these children and therefore understand the problems facing this group,” she said.

The first three winning entrepreneurs of the initiative will be announced in December of this year. The initiative will be held on an annual basis for three years, with three entrepreneurs being chosen every year.

Reach for Change is a non-profit organization established in Sweden and co-founded by Kinnevik, Tigo group parent company. The search for social entrepreneurs first began in Sweden in 2010, followed by Russia in 2011, before embarking, in that same year, as a pilot project for Africa in Ghana, which has recently reported an improvement in the livelihoods of over 140,000 children.
Tigo has officially began the search for social entrepreneurs across all its African operations with its first launch in Rwanda last month, followed now by Tanzania, then Congo DRC, Senegal and finally Chad in the months to come.
About Tigo
   
Tigo started operations in 1994 as the first cellular network in Tanzania. It now covers 26 regions in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.  Tigo strives to be Tanzania’s most innovative mobile phone operator, offering services ranging from affordable mobile voice communications to high speed Internet access and mobile financial services through Tigo Pesa.

Tigo is part of Millicom International Cellular S.A (MIC) which provides affordable, widely accessible and readily available cellular telephony services to more than 43 million customers in 13 emerging markets in Africa and Latin America.

For further information visit:  www.tigo.co.tz

Issued by: Alice Maro • PR-Tigo • Mobile +255 713 123754