What is the Entrepreneurship Challenge?
A great business doesn’t start with a logo or a pitch deck. It starts with noticing something real: a product that doesn’t work for people, a service the community needs, a frustration no one has solved properly – and thinking, I could build a solution for that.
That’s what Koa’s Online Entrepreneurship Challenge is designed for. It’s a free, highly engaging, real-world programme for students aged 9-16, where they are guided through developing, refining, and launching a real business in a practical, applied way – while building future-ready skills throughout.
Most importantly, students get real input from real entrepreneurs – the kind of perspective that can shift how they think about what’s possible.
Why do we run it?
At its core, Koa’s Online Entrepreneurship Challenge is about youth empowerment and future-ready skill-building.
It gives students a practical way to learn entrepreneurship in a meaningful, applied way – not as a vague concept, but as something they can experience. In the process, students practise problem-solving, creativity, resilience, communication, and financial thinking, while learning how to take an idea seriously enough to shape it into a plan and begin bringing it to life.
Additionally, the challenge helps students build a mindset that will serve them well whether or not they become entrepreneurs in the future: they learn that they can notice real problems around them, think critically about what’s missing, and design meaningful solutions.
By involving experienced entrepreneurs and industry experts as judges and guest speakers, we also aim to give students access to credible role models and real insight into what building a business looks like in practice – access that many of them would not otherwise have.
How does it work?
Over five weeks, students take part in a fully virtual, interactive experience that follows a step-by-step journey to build and launch a real business – from spotting a problem to pitching their idea to a panel of industry experts for feedback.
The programme is structured, so students aren’t left guessing what to do next. They build, get feedback, refine, and build again – right up to a final pitch moment that pulls everything together.
Each week, students take part in a 1-hour online session where they receive live group coaching from an experienced entrepreneur, with time in smaller break-out groups to ask questions and get advice from their allocated mentor (who stays with them throughout the challenge). These sessions are designed to review progress, provide insight, and help students refine their business strategy as they prepare for their final presentation.
Alongside the live sessions, students work through a section of online coursework independently each week. This self-paced coursework introduces new ideas and tools to help them build their business, and students typically set aside about 1 hour per week to complete it at a time that fits their schedule.
By the end of the challenge, each student will have created a business pitch presentation, presented it to a panel, received professional feedback and advice, developed a first version of their business idea, and received an entrepreneurship certificate.
Meet the mentors and judges
One of the things that makes this challenge genuinely “real-world” is the people students get to learn from. Throughout the programme, participants receive guidance and input from industry professionals – helping students sharpen their thinking and raise the quality of their work.
Guest Speakers for Coaching Sessions:
- Danei Rall: Co-founder and COO of Fintr, an award-winning EdTech and game-based learning company focused on equipping students with practical financial skills. Danei is passionate about making financial education more accessible, more relatable, and far less intimidating.
- Kylie Jane: Founder of SANRAE, a modern wellness brand rooted in daily rituals for women. With a background in psychology, physiology, and integrative nutrition, Kylie created SANRAE to simplify wellness by combining science-backed ingredients with a more intuitive, balanced approach.
- Milan Rendall: Co-founder and CEO of The Bowling Club, a creative company that helps solve the disconnect between creators, brands, and audiences by building audience-tested, repeatable creative concepts that people genuinely want to see, share, and buy into. Milan is passionate about art and entertainment, with a practical focus on connecting good stories to real people in ways that create lasting value.
Judges for Pitch Day:
- Lars Veul: Co-founder and CEO of Pargo, a leading smart logistics company that has revolutionised e-commerce delivery across Africa. As a judge, Lars brings a deep understanding of scaling tech-driven businesses, navigating emerging markets, and the grit required to turn a logistical challenge into a market-leading enterprise.
- Lauren Anderson: Co-founder and CEO of Koa Academy, a forward-thinking online school reimagining learning for young people in South Africa and beyond. With over a decade of leadership experience in healthcare, Lauren brings expertise in strategic planning, team building, and problem-solving, and is driven by a desire to make a meaningful difference in how young people learn and grow.
- Abena Opeibea Anie-Budu: Venture Partner at MEST Africa, an organisation that provides entrepreneurship training and early-stage investment to ventures across Africa. Since joining MEST Africa in 2020, Abena has supported the formation and growth of over 10 startups across West, East, and Francophone Africa, giving her a well-rounded perspective on building and scaling startups across the continent.
What are the prizes?
Students don’t just walk away with a pitch – top projects are also recognised with prizes that can help take their business idea further. Prizes are awarded across Junior and Senior categories, with awards for both Winners and Runners Up. Depending on the category, prizes include:
- Cash prizes
- One-on-one mentorship sessions with experienced entrepreneurs
- Practical business support, such as guidance in areas like finance
- Brand-building support, like help with logo and identity design
We’re grateful to our sponsors for backing young entrepreneurs in a tangible way – offering prizes and support that help students take their business ideas further.
What last year’s finalists show us
One of the clearest things last year’s finalists showed is that when students are guided through building something real and held to real expectations, their growth becomes visible.
For Nia Kinuthi, winner of the 2025 challenge with her sustainable brand Nani Knits, one of the biggest outcomes of the challenge was learning how to present with confidence and respond well to critique – skills that matter far beyond entrepreneurship. She says, “I think my pitching has significantly improved. One thing I’ve learned about investors is that they look for preparation that is confident and well thought out; skills that Koa helped me develop.”
That confidence didn’t stay inside the challenge. Nia shares that she was recently selected to represent Kenya in debate, and says it happened partly because she put herself forward using the same skill: “Without overthinking it, I walked up to the leader of the event and asked if I could pitch myself to him. Koa taught me so much, not only about company branding, but about personal branding too.”
Nia also explains what made the experience feel genuinely real-world: “Pitching the business to investors and listening to their criticism made it feel real. The feedback carried weight, and the expectations were higher than a typical school project.”
For Sere Kiteto, who took second place with her natural skincare brand Solani, the challenge built something parents actually care about: practical confidence – especially in communication and financial thinking. Before the challenge, she says, “I struggled with confidently explaining my ideas.” After going through the process of pitching and refining, that shifted into real capability: “Now I can pitch clearly, structure a business plan, calculate costs, and defend my pricing.”
What also stands out is that her learning didn’t stay theoretical – it turned into how she thinks and makes decisions. Sere names financial thinking as the most useful skill she gained: “I now understand pricing, profit margins, budgeting, and cost analysis – and I actively use these skills in running Solani.”
And because the challenge involved real expectations, she describes exactly why it felt different to a normal project: “It felt real because the stakes were real. We had to think about actual customers, actual costs, and actual competition. Judges asked hard questions. There was accountability.”
For sisters Anna and Cleopatra Achiambo, who took third place for Snacks by Sissies, the challenge didn’t just teach business skills – it shifted how they see what young people are capable of doing. Instead of thinking entrepreneurship is something you “grow into”, they came away understanding that kids can build real ideas too, as long as they’re willing to commit and learn. Cleo puts it clearly: “I do not think that I would have thought to start a business if I didn’t sign up for Koa’s Entrepreneurship Challenge. I thought business was more of a grown-ups’ thing and not really something kids did. Now I know what goes into starting and running a business, and that with commitment and determination, kids can do it too.”
What’s especially meaningful is how that mindset translated into real growth. The challenge strengthened communication, budgeting, and leadership in a way that carried beyond the programme itself – including learning to pitch beyond the comfort zone of friends and family. Anna reflects on a shift many students need: “I discovered my leadership skills during the challenge because there were tasks in the business that I had to be responsible for. Now I am able to lead the new members of our business by explaining to them and sharing the skills I learnt during the challenge.”
Across all the top three finalist stories, the pattern is the same: students didn’t just learn about entrepreneurship. They learned how to communicate clearly, think practically, respond to feedback, and back themselves with confidence. That’s exactly what we hope every participant takes away from the challenge.
Ready to sign up?
Koa’s free online Entrepreneurship Challenge is for students aged 9-16 who are ready to build something real – and discover what they’re capable of along the way. If you’d like to sign your child up for Koa Academy’s Online Entrepreneurship Challenge, you can read more and register here.
Sign-ups close on 10 May.
