Bamyan Media

Bamyan Media is a social enterprise that uses television shows and other digital media to target social issues and provide resources to promote entrepreneurship.
History
In 2008, Anna Elliot created and co-produced a Reality TV series about Afghan entrepreneurs called Dream & Achieve (Fikr Wa Talosh in Farsi). The series was inspired by the reality TV shows Dragons' Den, and Afghan Star, a TV music contest in Afghanistan. Through the experiences of the contestants, the program illustrated the challenges of creating a small business in Afghanistan. The first season of Dream & Achieve reached an estimated seven million viewers in Afghanistan, and was produced and broadcast on prime-time by the Tolo TV television network.
After she graduated from Hampshire College in 2010, Elliot founded Bamyan Media to create edutainment (educational entertainment) TV programs that highlight pressing social problems through dramatic personal stories. Another important part of the concept was to combine each of the TV programs with resources that could empower their viewers, using digital platforms, social media, and local grass-roots events.
Bamyan Media has since produced The Project (El Mashroua in Arabic) in Egypt, a reality TV competition modeled after The Apprentice, that followed the life of 14 young social entrepreneurs with the aim of teaching Egyptians how to start and run a successful business. The series was watched by 4 million viewers, and the El Mashroua digital platform has 1 million followers, and is currently the largest online community of entrepreneurs in the Middle East.
In 2015 Bamyan Media and Banijay International distributed an adaptation of The Project under the new English title Game-Changers. In France, the series is currently in pre-production under the working title START-UP, and will focus on entrepreneurial opportunities for disenfranchised youth.
Bamyan Media is also developing formats to address under-age marriage, the health and empowerment of teenage-girls, refugees, and climate mitigation.
Elliot has received fellowships from Rainer Arnhold and Echoing Green, two organizations that support early-stage social entrepreneurs.
Television programs
Dream & Achieve (Fikr Wa Talosh in Farsi)
Elliot co-produced the first season of Dream & Achieve in Afghanistan in 2008. The show was modeled after the reality TV shows Dragons' Den and Afghan Star but substituted social entrepreneurs and small business owners as its contestants and built episodes around business challenges. It was sponsored by USAID, along with Afghanistan’s National Bank and University and its major telecommunications provider, Roshan.
Each week, contestants pitched their ideas to a panel of expert judges, while in parallel, they worked on their projects with the help of mentors. The entrepreneurs were filmed throughout and voted off by judges and viewers’ text-message voting. The goal was to entertain viewers but also to give them concrete business lessons that they could then apply in their own communities, and encourage the creation and development of small businesses.
The winner was Faizulhaq Mosqakani, a father of nine who received a $20,000 prize for his plastics recycling plant in Kandahar. Second place was Maryam Al Ahmadi, who won a $10,000 cash grant for her business employing widows and refugees to make jams and pickles in Herat. Other notable contestants include Haji Ata, an ex-warlord who had disarmed to start a dairy farm and Sohaila Vahidi, a female university student majoring in economics, and growing cotton for organic textiles as an alternative to opium. She won a scholarship from the Goldman Sachs program 10,000 Women for her plan.
A second season of Dream & Achieve was produced and broadcast by Tolo TV in 2009, but a third season was cancelled due to mounting security issues that prohibited travel around the country. Bamyan Media set up a digital platform for viewers to access educational videos, mentoring services, and online courses. Viewing parties and networking fairs were organized throughout the country and promoted through the website and social networks. The goal was to inspire young Egyptian entrepreneurs to in turn boost the economy and create more jobs.
Contestants
The contestants and the projects included a Bedouin man from Arish who set up an olive press, an Alexandrian who has an e-learning platform, a young man who sold t-shirts on the street and wanted to start his own clothing factory, a fashion designer who plans weddings, and a social entrepreneur who set up a handicraft cooperative for people with disabilities in Aswan. In second place was Omneya-el-Ady who set up a recycling plant in Faiyoum with her prize of $30,000. In third place, Mostafa El Nahawy launched Inca, a company that makes Egyptian cotton prints and textiles.
All contestants voted off the show were told "You will realize your dream, just not with us," and were given seed money to jump-start their own business.
Judges
The judges included Fatma Ghaly, Managing Director of Azza Fahmy, Wael Fakrany, CEO of Google MENA Region, and Hany Sonbati, Managing Director of Sawari Ventures. Additional judges were Hala Hattab, a business professor at the British University in Egypt (BUE) and Hisham El-Gamal, founder of Quest, a development and consultancy business.
Impact
Bamyan Media, MIT’s Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and the ILO measured the impact of El Mashroua with a randomized controlled trial. They are evaluating the impact of the television program. online support activities, and networking events targeted at youth on attitudes towards business creation, business practices, business skills, and employment status of young viewers. The findings will be announced in late 2016.<ref name="povertyactionlab.org"/>
Game-Changers
In 2015 Bamyan Media partnered with Banijay International to distribute an adaptation of The Project under the new English title Game-Changers. In France, the series is currently in pre-production under the working title Le Start-Up, and will focus on entrepreneurial opportunities for disenfranchised youth.<ref name="bamyan.org"/>

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