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During the past few days, the Finalist of PIVOT East from Uganda have been undergoing training, coaching and mentorship from two (2) experts in startups and entrepreneurship with support from Outbox. Outbox is a co organizing partner of PIVOT East 2013. 

Sheila Birgen had a one on one session with the PIVOT East finalists last Friday. With each group that came along, she helped them tweak and better their presentation skills, highlighting their strengths and helping them to work on their weaknesses. Sheila’s comments came from and experience point of view, zeroing down to the things that matter during a pitch presentation and giving the finalists a glimpse into what they would expect while standing before the panel of Judges next week during the finalists pitching conference.

She carries a lot of experience in communication and public relations. She is currently a Communication and Outreach Lead at m:lab East Africa, a consortium of four organizations aiming to be a leader in identifying, nurturing and helping to build sustainable enterprises in the knowledge economy. Sheila is also working to organize PIVOT East 2013 and is currently an author PIVOT East Website blog section.

For the time that she has been with m:lab East Africa, she has worked with with a number of startups and seen them through many pitches. With this experience, she has greatly helped the Ugandan PIVOT East Finalists make their pitches better and stronger.

Bruce Wilson, the founder of The Relay Foundation, also had a one on one session with the finalists yesterday. Bruce has worked as a California a State Senate Researcher and also was a student professor on International Economy for the Berkeley collaborative class on California Politics.

The Relay Foundation is an organization that empowers students of ages 17-25 throughout the San Francisco bay area to start and grow community-empowering, environment and environment-enriching businesses. Bruce has supported many startups through his company.

He has sat on many investor board meeting and has organized a number of pitch sessions for the startups that his company supports. This has given him a lot of insight in the minds of the investors, how they think, what they are interested in and what they expect to hear. Bruce gave the PIVOT East finalists what they need to hear.

Bruce did not just tell the finalists how to make the most out of their 7 minute pitch,, he went down to the things the most pitchers miss out. He taught them presentation skills with an emphasis on what investors look out for.

The input given by Shiela and Bruce has greatly impacted the finalists and given them all they need for the Pitching Conference next tuesday and Wednesday.

Remember, PIVOT East tickets are now available at Outbox. They are going for $100USD each.

- See more at: http://localhost/outbox/blog/ugandan-pivot-east-finalists-undergo-traini...