About Us
SHIFT Enterprise Academy is designed to teach soft skills, business skills, and leadership best practices. SHIFT is an acronym which stands for Save your money, Help your family, Imagine your goals, Follow directions, Think accurately. These pillars are known as #TheSHIFTApproach. The SHIFT Approach is a way of living, and a strategy for “getting from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.”
At SHIFT Enterprise Academy, we believe in empowering ambitious minds to reach their full potential by introducing them to #TheSHIFTApproach.
Our mission is to help professionals in East Africa escape the cycle of underemployment by equipping them with the knowledge, tools, and resources to succeed as entrepreneurs.
Our vision is to create an ecosystem of high-performing startup founders throughout East Africa who are positioned to scale their businesses and transform their local communities.
SHIFT Enterprise Academy Founder, Ethan Brisby, Creator of the #TheSHIFTApproach uses lessons embedded within the ‘SHIFT’ pillars to inspire and train other young adults. The 2021-2022 theme was “Launching into E-Commerce.” The pillars were used to demonstrate how an ambitious mind can start or expand an existing business by leveraging the internet. More importantly, #TheSHIFTApproach is about developing and maintaining the mindset of a champion.
In 2023, SHIFT is hosting two virtual cohorts of "Launching into E-Commerce." The program is delivered via Zoom, and accepts 15 Enterprisers. During its winter 2022 “Launching into E-Commerce” cohort SHIFT accepted Enterprisers from four different African countries. The cohort began in January and ended in March with an idea's pitch competition where the top four Enterprisers pitch their business startup. Each winner of the pitch competition wins the equivalent of $500 to begin the process of bringing their idea to market.