The Wavumbuzi Rwanda Pitch Competition

Key Dates:

Sun 21 February: Round 1 Pitch Submission Deadline
Wed 24 February: Top 10 Pitch Teams announced
Sun 28 February: Round 2 Pitch Submission Deadline
Wed 3 March: Top 5 Pitch Teams announced
Wed 10 March: Round 3 Pitch Submission Deadline
Mon 15 March: Pitch Competition winners announced

Pitch Coaching with Wavumbuzi’s Innovation Experts

The Top 10 Pitch Teams will receive written feedback from their designated Wavumbuzi Innovation Expert on how they can refine their next submission in order to be in for a chance to make it to the Top 5. The Top 5 Pitch Teams will join a 30-min coaching online session with their designated Wavumbuzi Innovation Expert to perfect their final pitch video for the Wavumbuzi panel.

How the Pitch Competition fits into the bigger picture

  • The core goal of the Wavumbuzi is to change the way you think.
  • The pitch competition is a sub-component of the bigger Wavumbuzi.
  • You will be completing multiple “Business Builder Challenges” within Week 5. These challenges are part of a tried and tested step-by-step approach to building a successful business while avoiding the most common pitfalls faced by young entrepreneurs.

Advice for competitors

To maximize your chances of getting through to the top 5, we have the following recommendations: 

  1. Practice, practice, practice! Great speakers make it look easy. Usually, that’s because they’ve practised their talk 20 times. 
  2. Get some help from a seasoned entrepreneur in refining your pitch. Ask your parents/teachers if they can help you find a good entrepreneur willing to help. 
  3. In business, it’s all about traction! If you can submit your pitch video having already sold 10,000units of your product, your chances are good. Sometimes you need less than you’d think to get started selling: The Dropbox MVP story. 
  4. We highly recommend using the Lean Iterator 5 Slide Pitch Deck model for crafting and delivering your pitch. That said, you do have license to get creative with how you pitch your business.
    • Note that we do not expect you to cover more than the 5 core slides in your video. 
    • Videos with durations longer than 3 minutes will not be considered.
    • Having made real progress (sales and/or product development) with the business will count heavily in your favour.

The Scoring Rubric

  • This business is addressing a real problem. Lots of people face this problem and will be willing to pay for a solution.
  • The solution proposed is effective, attractive at the proposed price point, and realistic to deliver.
  • The team has made great progress to date. They have already sold a number of “units” and are well set to continue growing.
  • The pitch video is very well made.
  • There is a clear, simple and smart ask for support. (The team asks for more than just money and it is clear that the money that is being asked for is going to be well used by the business).