What is ailing young entrepreneurs?

What is ailing young entrepreneurs?

An incisive insight doled out by Musyoka Ngui

On September 20 this year we had our first graduation ceremony ever. Earlier in January, the then President H.E. Hon Mwai Kibaki graced the charter ceremony with a very powerful message to the young people. He a successful personality and an economist with strong business acumen coupled with a checkered career spanning half a century at the center of Kenyan political leadership, the message could not have come from a lesser authority or at a more appropriate time.

Kibaki departed from his characteristic comedy and assumed a don’s demeanor complete with a dose of arrogance. He said we should depart from the employer mentality. He advocated for job creation rather than job search. He vouched for entrepreneurship. He recalled with nostalgia his days when having a university degree in the village attracted cultish respect and reverence. Today, he said, a degree is a primary requirement for most jobs. It is the barest minimum that one can have before thinking about employment. He challenged us to further our education to the highest attainable level.

I could see the determination of the president. Despite his advanced age and slow style he commanded control of the situation; launched flagship development projects and secured a firm seat in the hall of fame as far as the Vision 2030 is concerned.

Many moons later, we return to the fully fledged university to learn. Ideas have been churned. Bright ideas. Illuminating. These clarion calls for enterprise and innovation have excited the youth. They realize that they can be independent, productive and sustain themselves. They have incubated projects. Some have failed while others have taken off.  From these instances let’s draw some lessons, challenges and opportunities Which the youth stare at.

Find a work that you enjoy doing. A hobby job.  The cliché is passion. Passion makes one derive pleasure and leisure from their work. They do not serve time or quantity. They serve quality. They do not notice time passing. They wonder how short the day has been. They are immersed in the job and the job flows in their veins. They do not do their job for slavery or to wait for the month to end so that they receive their salaries. Despite all odds the passion drives such a person to wake up every single day, go forward and make a difference.

Commitment is a recipe for entrepreneurship. After starting off there is a lot of honey moon. Everything goes merry. However, as time progresses the stark reality dawns like daybreak that you do not have capital. The tap of cash switches from gushes to drips or no drips at all. What will keep you going after you exhaust your sources of capital? Will you go ahead and send your hard saved reserves for needs that can wait? Will you be the liability that will sink your own business? What happened to the devotion that you set to always remit 5o bob to the savings drawer even when it is the last coin in your pocket? Do not rock your own boat.

We have all been accused of being African timers and rightly so. We are never punctual. We are always delayed with excuses to blame for. We are dishonest and fake. We lack common courtesy to call in advance and apologize that we will be running late and thus free up those we tie up in remote places waiting for us.

Sleep is good. It rejuvenates the body, mind and soul. But there is time to kick the damn blanket in the a** and jump out of the bed and run wildly for our dreams. Whether it is at 4 am or at 8 am, please just be there in time. Keeping others waiting and being perennially a mouth of lame excuses brands you as unreliable, unbankable and untrustworthy. Earn your trust by keeping your time and honoring deadlines.

The first thing that makes us do anything is ambition. The picture in the mind that says it is possible. However, some are overambitious. They set unattainable targets which expose them to frustration. They are impatient to follow the procedure. They want to jump from a greenhorn to an expert. They join an organization as junior staffers with an attitude of a CEO. They start disrespecting their colleagues, despising their juniors and pinching the noses of the sweepers for their inability to know people. They have a bloated ego. They shed off old friends old supportive friends who have propped them up in the thick and thin. Like a snake they develop an outer scale of arrogance, pride and overvalued sense of self worth. Even insurance actuaries cannot quantify them. They become a number divided by zero. They suddenly raise the class ranks and join an elitist club which breathes alien oxygen and disregards humanity.

When one is blessed there is a high tendency of the success getting to their head. They are corrupted. Never lose sight of the humble beginnings that you had. In his song, Niko Poa,  Mejja appreciates his buddies for supporting him and despite meeting his producer and mentor Clemmo, he is in touch with the hustlers at his home- Nyeri. He calls them and promises to buy them a drink. In his own words: “MaObama mtakunywa na jagi.”

The lyrics:

(Mobile phone rings)

Mejja: Hello! Ni nani?

Fan: (At a Simu ya Jamii booth)Bro umesahau sauti yangu kiaje?

Mejja: Pole. Ulinunua simu bana, hata huwezi nipigia nipate number

Fan: Zi. Hii ni simu ya jamii. Hata sina credo itakatika saa hii ( simu ya jamii disconnects. Mejja calls)

Mejja:Hello, ulipata zile pesa nilituma on sato?

Fan: Eeh, wasee huniuliza utakuja lini. Usiwasahau hata ka unakaa jiji. Ukikaa jiji usisahau kijij…

Mejja: Nkikuja nitawanunulia majee…. MaObama mtakunywa na jagi

Fan: Haaaah wazi ndo umeanza kuongea

Mejja: Wasee wa ghetto usisahau kuwaambia. Kama Mungu aliniondolea shida hajawasahau siku yenu bado itafika

Fan: Inshallah, usibadilike sana…

Mejja: Hata ka siku hizi naitwa Okwonko, siwezi sahau nina damu ya umajengo

Fan: Wazi ngotea watu wa Nairobi.

Mejja: Wazi ngotea Majengo ya Nyeri

In highly social careers like journalism we often find strength in team work. Everybody’s effort is key in the final product of the company. We require cooperation and coordination to achieve our goals. We are excellent communicators who bond with the presidents and paupers. Ideally, in any team we have equality. But reality says that all people but some are more equal than others. That is why we have a first among equals. The best of the best who sells the foremost brand that sells the team. The person may possess monopolistic talent that some of us in the bandwagon lack.  They become subject of hate, jealousy and envy. We start what do they have that we do not have? We withdraw our support from the star so that it can fade and we are glad to replace it. Shame on us!

Instead of thanking, encouraging and appreciating such talent we do the unthinkable. Journalism is highly competitive, dynamic and has high stakes. It is about visibility and recognition.  Instead of back-biting a colleague, can’t you find your own competitive edge and further it? You are not a child of a lesser God than them. If God gave her beautiful looks or brilliant brains He must have given you something-unless you have not discovered it yet. You could be the best writer the world has never seen and known the most captivating photojournalist or the keenest designer.

We cannot all be the same. Do not compete with anybody. Rival yourself and when you have done your best, reward yourself for beating yourself.

Be authentic. Originality is the easiest person you can ever be. Do not struggle to ape others. If copy, copy selectively and domesticate the traits to fit your frame. Do not lose your identity. Do not be anyone’s photocopy. Even if you have an identical twin sibling, carve and curve your own niche. Above all, get a life. Live your life. Seize the moment. It is only once.  You will never get a chance to turn back the hands of time.

In any business idea you conceive, let it work for you. If you are already in it, aim for fair profit not VATing zero rated commodities. Stay true to human values and ethics. Good luck!

The writer is a 3^rd year student of Bachelors of Arts Degree in Communication and Media at Chuka University. He blogs at musyokangui.blogspot.com