They say experience is the best teacher. I have been doing business for close to 7 years and looking back at the not smooth journey, I am grateful for it has made me who I am today. However, taking to consideration today’s youth; facing unemployment, most of them seem not to be on the right path. Most seem to be doing mismatch, something wrong.

First; the basic, an entrepreneur is a person who operates any enterprise, business. In today’s world, many youth term themselves as entrepreneurs because they ‘think’ they are hustlers. From my perspective, not every hustler is an entrepreneur. However, very entrepreneur is a hustler. The lessons learnt and skills acquired during the hustle are what make one a good…great entrepreneur.

When I was around 10 years old, doing my bike rides over school holidays, I came across a spot that sold ICE (Frozen juice parked in papers sold at 50 cents or Kshs 1.) I would buy in bulk for consumption as I rode my bike in the estate. My friends would ask me to give them but I was too selfish, I suppose. One of them suggested I sell to them. That is when the ‘ukikuyu’ in me came to life. I would cycle for 5 minutes, buy cycle back and sell at the same price I purchased. Since I was the only one who was distributing I would do price shifts as I wanted. This minute I would sell at Ksh 1, the other at Ksh 2 even Ksh 3. I didn’t dominate the market for long since one person decided to follow me and see when I get the ice. They later used their big sister to make instead of buying. This was an eye opener though I was too young to put the puzzle together.

In high school, one a weekday I went to the shopping centre to buy some random things. I met someone who had just opened shop and wanted to someone to spread word out about his movies. Being a student, our deal was he sells me movies at Kshs 30 and in return I tell people to go buy movies at Ksh. 100 from him. By virtue of being a day scholar, I would find myself talking about a new movie I recently watched and people kept telling me to bring them the movie the next day. During a literature lesson it occurred; ‘I have a computer at home, I am good with MS word, can’t I make a library registration form?’ That evening I worked on the form, printed one copy and made 20 photocopies. I went to school the next day and told people of this amazing library which has ALL the latest movies and one could borrow for Ksh 20 bob only after registering for Ksh. 100. I also had simple terms; you cannot borrow more than two movies at a time and a fine of Ksh 10 will be charged for every day exceeded after date of return. I would also tell them that it was not safe to bring the movies to school because of random inspections and that if anyone wanted a movie they would tell me the a day in advance.

Business was good since I had over 300 registered members and it was very profitable since I only copied a movie on demand, for only Kshs 30. All was well till the day schools were closed; November 13 (my birthday). All movies on stock were booked. During a chemistry practical exam I left the movies in class and when I got out of the exam, all the movies were gone. It was heartbroken. I sat down did my math on how much I put in and how much I got back; the figure was impressive. I was in a position to replace as much as 20 times my initial stock. Later that day I recovered my movies and after form 4 the business died. I was no longer in contact with the market and had not planned on sustaining the business after high school. All I cared about was profit for the day. Since that day I vowed never to work on eating for a day, buteating for a month, not going for Ksh. 1,000 now, but for Ksh 2 for the rest of my clients life.

These are just two examples I believe played a huge role in shaping me as an entrepreneur. I currently run over 9 successful businesses and an NGO and I stay in the game because the world showed me the importance of Strategy, the importance of cost cutting to maximize profit while maintaining quality. I also got to know myself, my strong and weak points and learnt to appreciate critics and other aspiring and established entrepreneurs.

I don’t see anything I have that the youth in Kenya don’t, just a different mindset on how to tackle things and maybe a more realistic vision with a clear defined path towards it. The youth should learn to be patient. Nothing comes without hard work just like farming; you just don’t plant today and reap tomorrow and for a farmer to rip tomorrow he must do a few thing as the plant grows before harvest, not only to maximize returns but also prepare for the next season. Capital (money) should never be a limiting factor. Money was invented to facilitate exchange of goods and services not to limit ideas. Have that mentality; that things can be done without involving money. All you needed is a good idea and a great strategy. For instance, with social media, I believe marketing costs should be put to other use. The youth should also take time to research and not rush to copy paste business ideas and models just because they worked for others. Most important, be you, yourself. A good entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily have to possess the characteristics taught in high school