Red Bull Basement is looking for student innovators (again) to compete on the global stage

Red Bull isn’t all about extreme sports like kitesurfing, video games, and landing planes on the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. Red Bull Basement is an international initiative designed around student entrepreneurs and, once again, South African students have a shot at international business stardom.

In keeping with 2024, contestants get to involve artificial intelligence in their pitch. This happens right out of the gate, with the entry mechanism requiring that potential before they’ll even be considered.

Red Bull Basement-dweller

There are a couple of requirements to enter the South African leg of the Red Bull Basement challenge. For starters, you’ll have to be a South African resident over the age of eighteen. You’ll also need to have some sort of business idea. Finally, you’ll have to be willing to “engage with thought leaders, entrepreneurs and visionaries from around the world”, but that only gets important if you’re selected to head through to the finals in Tokyo in December this year.

Before getting there, qualifying contenders have to venture over to the official entry form and use the supplied AI tool to flesh out a business plan for the idea that will take them to Tokyo, Japan, and possibly enough resources to make that idea a reality. Entries open today and continue for some time, so there’s still plenty of opportunity to get your concept in order.

It’s best to get a move on, however, since the South African finals are set for 26 October this year. The winner of that event will, from 12 November to 1 December, “…unlock resources including the chance to work with mentors and experts [as well as GenAI technology] to detail their business plan and evolve their ideas toward readiness as a business start-up”. After that is the grand final in Japan from 2 to 5 December, where the South African winner will compete against the best from forty countries.

This involves “workshops, a dedicated AI session, and networking with international entrepreneurs, visionaries and business leaders” and contestants don’t even have to win to make it big. Venture capitalists will be at the event and may make offers to teams whose ideas they like the look of, regardless of winning status. Winning the Red Bull Basement event would be first prize, though.