Six Years of SHIFT East Africa. Our Next Chapter Begins.

DECISION MAKER BOULEVARD
September 2026 | SHIFT Enterprise Academy

Greetings, SHIFT Community,

These past few months have brought extraordinary growth to SHIFT Enterprise Academy.

We have expanded our team, completed our first Agribusiness Supply Chain Cohort, celebrated our sixth year of service in East Africa and received the Global African Impact Award at the second annual Scholar Media Africa Conference in Nairobi.

We are grateful for each milestone. More importantly, we recognize the responsibility that accompanies this progress.

This moment is about more than becoming larger. It is about becoming more structured, more effective and better prepared to convert opportunity into measurable impact.

Six Years. Six Cohorts. One Growing Community.

SHIFT began serving communities in East Africa in 2021 with a simple but consequential belief: people can improve their lives and enterprises when they are equipped to think accurately, manage resources prudently, establish meaningful goals and follow through.

Six years later, we have delivered six cohorts and welcomed more than 112 community members from eight countries into the SHIFT ecosystem.

Our work continues to be guided by the five pillars of the SHIFT Approach:

Save Your Money. Help Your Family. Imagine Your Goals. Follow Directions. Think Accurately.

These pillars are not simply classroom topics. They represent a worldview, and a practical way of approaching life, leadership, enterprise development and community responsibility.

Our First Agribusiness Cohort

In June, we completed our first Agribusiness Supply Chain Cohort and our sixth SHIFT cohort overall.

Completing the cohort was an important accomplishment. The greater opportunity now lies in maintaining these relationships, supporting promising enterprises and connecting participants with credible pathways toward capital, partnerships and market access.

Recognition in Nairobi

In August, I entered Nairobi as a nominee and left as a Global African Impact Award recipient.

Receiving this recognition at the second annual Scholar Media Africa Conference was humbling. The award belongs not only to me, but also to every participant, team member, partner and supporter who has helped SHIFT continue serving across borders.

Recognition is meaningful, but it must be converted into greater service. We intend to use this growing visibility to open doors for our entrepreneurs, strengthen institutional relationships and expand the reach of the SHIFT Approach.

Building the Team Behind the Mission

Growth requires people, but it also requires structure.

We are adding capacity across program coordination, financial management, funding research, legal readiness, partnership development and participant engagement. We are also implementing clearer work plans, operating systems and accountability measures to ensure that opportunities receive timely attention and commitments lead to documented results.

Our goal is not simply to create more activity. We are building a dexterous team capable of moving ideas from conversation to execution.

That evolution is essential as SHIFT advances from individual cohorts toward institutional training, enterprise services, Train-the-Trainer programs, venture-development pathways and, ultimately, SHIFT Forward Centers.

Partnerships With Purpose

Our growth has also been amplified by new relationships and partnership opportunities across Uganda, Kenya, the United States and the wider African diaspora.

We are advancing conversations related to agribusiness, youth entrepreneurship, refugee livelihoods, legal readiness, workforce development, robotics, institutional training and real estate-supported community development.

Some of these relationships remain in exploration or proposal stages. We are approaching them carefully because meaningful partnerships require more than shared enthusiasm. They require aligned objectives, defined responsibilities, credible budgets and a mutual commitment to execution.

As these opportunities mature, we look forward to sharing more with the SHIFT community.

Registration Is Open for Cohort 7

Our next chapter is already underway.

Registration is now open for SHIFT Enterprise Academy Cohort 7: East Africa.

The program is designed for entrepreneurs, emerging leaders and community builders who are ready to strengthen how they think, make decisions, manage resources and pursue measurable goals.

Registration closes September 25, 2026.
Group training sessions begin September 29, 2026.

REGISTER FOR COHORT 7

If you know an entrepreneur with a credible idea, an existing enterprise or the fortitude to build something meaningful, please share this opportunity directly with them.

Move Forward With SHIFT

There are several ways to participate in this next season.

You can register for Cohort 7, refer an entrepreneur, sponsor a participant, introduce SHIFT to an institutional partner or invite us to deliver a training program within your organization or community.

The future of SHIFT will not be built by one individual. It will be built by a community of people willing to think accurately, act intentionally and follow through.

Thank you for believing in the work. Thank you for growing with us. And thank you for helping us continue to build, create and evolve.

With appreciation,

Ethan J. Brisby
Founder & President
SHIFT Enterprise Academy

[email protected] cc: [email protected] 

Build | Create | Evolve