Wishful Thinking Time Is Over, Become The Next Great Entrepreneur

There is so much time to execute the great ideas yet most sulk in complaints of lack of this or that, they end up procrastinating.

Have you not heard the phrase; ‘Kama si Sasa, ni Sasa Hivi! Loosely translated as ‘If not now, It is right now!’

Find any group of young people and ask them what their future goals are. Most of them will tell you very nice dreams including and not limited to academic goals, things they want to do for their parents, how they want to be the next prominent business men in Kenya.

They talk about how they will invest in agribusiness, real estate, the transport sector, mobile banking, and logistic services when they get cash in this case the starting capital. They have endless ideas of how to have cash flowing from their multiple streams of income.

If you turn to the same people and ask them the tangible steps they are taking to achieve their dreams, they scratch their heads look into your eyes and say “Sina lakini nikipata kazi mambo itakuwa sawa“.

The alleged ‘lack of money’ has been used as the reason for not investing or becoming entrepreneurs by most young people. Money has been the excuse why most ideas are not being executed.

The youth ought to come out of their complaining zones or the so called wish zone. For instance, if you want to invest in poultry in future, start by owning one chick. This chick goes for around Ksh.200.

The educated youth have forgotten the phrase “A journey of thousand miles begins with single step“. Most of them will complain that they have no access to the uwezo fund or the youth fund put aside by the government but ironically they have not even applied.

They will spend Ksh.2000 to Ksh 3000 on a night out. This money alone is enough to register a group and apply for funds. The Kenyan young people it is time we woke up from the wishing bed. It is time we use the little we have to bring more as we await the so-called better jobs.

It is what you do with what you have that makes you prosperous and successful. Let us stop dreaming! Let us stop using money as an excuse for not starting! Let us use the little we have and make more out of it.

If you want to do rabbit farming, start with a single one. If you want to own a green house, start farming on the little space you have. If you wish to invest in matatu business, start saving now. A motorbike might not be so far away. If you would love to be a tenderpreneur register a company now. If you want to be a politician start talking to people now. Want to be a motivational speaker start by motivating yourself and those around you. If you want to own a boutique in future, start by selling ‘mitumbas’.

No dream is too big to accomplish! Nothing is impossible! Waiting, complaining, day dreaming, and praying alone will not help. We must do something. We must step out of our comfort zones. We must dream big, start small, start now and with what we have. Let us be passionate about the future and most importantly lay our foundations today.

What happens if we do not start now? We start giving up on our dreams; we get into employment and realize the salary is not even enough to start an investment. Years on, a family brings more responsibilities .Energy and ideas start draining away and our entrepreneurship ideas are buried.

Nothing hurts most like a buried dream. We are at our best to make it; it only needs a little aggressiveness, a little sacrifice, a little more passion and the go-getter spirit. I would keep on writing but the bottom line is “our time is now”

We have all the resources at hand. Our sharp brains, readily available internet, energy, ideas, technology. Starting small is advantageous because you learn from all mistakes and this will build you to handle bigger investments.

Most youth want to follow the easy route; to own smartphones costing Ksh.15,000 and yet complain there is no capital to start up our businesses. We save our pocket monies so that we can go hiking, swimming, clubbing, dates and yet complain we do not have capital. Most of us are living lives beyond our means and keep dreaming that one day they will become investors. Which investors squander the little they have and keep complaining, how ironical!

Ksh.50 spent on airtime daily in a week sums up to Ksh.350. This money is enough to buy a month old chick at Ksh.250 and 2kgs of feed enough to feed the chick for 2 months. Have we spared some time with the likes of George Wachiuri when we say we want to be successful persons in real estates?

On Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms and apart from getting information we sometimes use these platforms to for the wrong reasons. Why don’t we monetize our social media platforms by say, advertising some products? This is the new way of getting customers. Somebody once said that you either earn from the internet or the internet earns from you.

Why do we find it easier to contribute money to throw a party yet such a challenge to contribute even a lesser amount to invest? Don’t we want to become great millionaires in future? I have not reached where I intend to, but you will agree with me that this is not the right way to go. We the youth of Kenya ought to change our thinking if we have to create wealth for ourselves and future generations.

Let us embrace innovation and get aggressive. We must start somewhere and must utilize what we have. Let us stop wishing and start acting, we must wake up and stop living in dreams lest we die in them.

We must allow ourselves to get dirty, sacrifice somethings and change our mentality. Lastly most importantly if we remain focused, with time we shall achieve our dreams. If we all do these, we will have all the time for all the fun we ever wished for.

It is too early to give up!