Feels fine to be up again and running. Today I addressed the Youth Entrepreneurship Expo. Below is the address: I am delighted to have this unique opportunity. My delight is deepened by the knowledge that we are gathered here to nurture ourselves into a spirit of industry. Entrepreneurship is a quest to create new fronts, to wade through paths, which most of the time are unchartered, to suggest newness and create opportunities for others. I have had a chance to speak with my peers, established entrepreneurs, prospective ones; at some point, I was also immersed in that illusion that Entrepreneurship means regulating myself, lack of a fussy boss to answer to, creating a million dollars in my account and related niceties. Indeed, Entrepreneurship means all of that, but it equally means the highest level of responsibility. Knowing that you have to weigh your decisions and get them right. And that whereas you will not be right all the time, and that whereas you will miss the mark once in a while, you cannot indulge in the luxury of irresponsibility or missing every time. I believe those who have chosen this path, and waded through it may confirm that perhaps it will mean a little more hours, a little more time, a little more concentration and a little more sacrifice and much more discipline. That perhaps an enterprising spirit means you may have to forego profits to see your enterprise grow. That you may have to even pump your own savings to salvage an idea that is dear to you. That it may take a year or two and not a week or a month before you see returns; but that what defines a real entrepreneur is the choice to be persistent, and persistently so, sometimes even in the face of failure. But also, the boldness to admit once in a while that an idea may not be working and therefore kill it or restructuring what was your genius creation. It requires a balance of taking risks, building but also knowing that what was once genius gets outdated, and so renewal and rethinking and re-strategizing will always be your call. Thomas J Watson, started his journey as a Butcher, but ended up building IBM which is among the most celebrated brands in the world of ICT. Perhaps an example in modern day life, Richard Branson, started off at 16 with a magazine, today, with Virgin galactic, which is a sub group of Virgin Atlantic he has diversified that original idea and is now pioneering Space Tourism. One thing that stands out though in Branson’s story, is that even with the space tourism, he still publishes. Yes, it may not be a magazine called student, but his passion to tell a story has motivated his struggles. In a way, choosing to diversify, or take a different path in a quest of building an enterprise may feel like failing, but a true entrepreneur knows that the founding passion lives forever; That of creating newness. This enterprising spirit, folks, is what we need in our leadership. A heart and philosophy at the centre of our leadership which focuses on opening newer frontiers, empowering our people and putting to use the resources we are endowed with as a nation. I have, for the past four years, listened with guarded caution a narrative that is quickly becoming a spirit in our nation; a narrative that devolution means more money to the counties. That finally, the national cake can be eaten by all equally. It’s a narrative that I firmly believe in as a person, but that must be tampered with knowledge that it’s not just about eating, it has also to be about creating. So our counties should not become places of consuming national wealth, they must know that an obligation to broaden our wealth base was equally devolved. That’s why you young people in this room, are the right people for the leadership of our country and counties; and the spirit we are nurturing here is the right spirit for our nation. However, even as we choose to believe in our own brilliance, and understand that we owe it to ourselves to develop ourselves and our societies; we should never forget that empires must be created around people and for people. No matter how out of the world your innovation and idea is, you must always get the right people to work with. It’s a given fact; we can only be that good. We will never be able to know the entire math, figure all the intricacies, and prospect all the risks by ourselves. A second eye is always better. And indeed, successful leaders in the world are also the best people managers. They know how to put a smile on their employees faces. Actually, they know that no matter how good you are, rarely will your results reflect your own brilliance, and it’s always a reflection of your team. Always you have to invest in mentorship. Hold the hands of those you believe can help you. This can be burdensome, but it makes two people who believe in a dream, and that is way better that one person. So sincerely value people, invest in them, share your time and create a team. As I sign off, our country has many beautiful things. Lovely people who smile at each other, industrious by all standards, gifted in diverse ways. But we have a rotten politics. And that politics has deceptively created ridges amongst us. That we can be in one church or mosque, listen to the same sermon, pray to one God, recite one national anthem but kill each other when names of politicians are introduced. My worst fear is that we, who are young, and perhaps know each other more as twitter followers or instalovers than cousins, who have access to information and should question more are being inducted into the same old, sick culture of intolerance. We must choose to say no. We must choose a Thirdway, we must choose to belong; Where all our children will not just share twitter space, but also the opportunities for growth and empowerment equally. We must define ourselves by our shared challenges and dreams and not indignation for each other. We must decide to say, that the story of our generation, will be the story of one nation under one God. Thank you, God bless you and God bless Kenya. Lone Felix
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:39:09 +0000