By Charles Mwangi,
Every able adult should be able to earn a living! To have the life you desire, to take care of your loved ones, one should find a way of making money in a legal way.
But it is very sad that we have a lot of jobless youths! Some of them have been looking for jobs for years, and they are educated. To solve the problem, one of the best routes is entrepreneurship. Youths need to be trained on how they can make a living out of entrepreneurship, business, freelancing and other ways, which they just need to learn the right skills.
Ben Weissenstein, CEO of Grand Slam Garage Sales says “everything started as nothing”. This implies to the youth may not have anything but ideas. They should work to actualise their ideas and something will come out of it.
And Ben also made reference to the famous quote “Rome wasn’t built in a day” which bears almost the same meaning as what he said. As a youth, you are encouraged to work diligently and greatness will come and you should not expect it to happen in a short time.
The youth of our country should also be encouraged not to be afraid in getting themselves involved in different entrepreneurship activities. The youth shouldn’t be scared of what will happen. Peter Drucker who is a writer, professor and management consultant said that “the best way to predict the future is to create it”. This means that the youths shouldn’t be afraid of a future that they don’t know but they should act with precautions so that they can create something that will ensure greatness in their lives.
Some youths after getting into entrepreneurship activities after some failures they quit! Vince Lombardi once said, “winners never quit and quitters never win.” All indications are that in the world of business one has to work very hard to succeed. One should never be an easy quitter.
Africa’s youth should be encouraged and taught on keeping records and managing finances as the major key of being a successful entrepreneur. A young entrepreneur Ndinagwe Mboya says “I learned about keeping records and managing finances. This has helped me because I now see myself as a real businesswoman. I have a vision of where I want my business to go.” This shows that once provided and encouraged on the proper knowledge on will prove to succeed in the business that he or she will enrol into.
The late business guru Dr Reginald Mengi once said: “focus on what you are great at and not what you are weakest at.” This means we should not be afraid of our weaknesses when starting a business but should concentrate on the things that will strengthen the business and ensure a good future.
If you have a great business idea don’t hesitate to make it good. The co-founder of Walt Disney once said “the way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing”
All the youth that have certain ideas on various businesses should put them into action rather than just talking about them so that they can make a change in their lives.
But also Catherine Cook, the co-founder of My Yearbook once said “if you want to do it just do it. If you don’t, you are going to regret it.”
All the youth that have good ideas on any business to start should just put it into action and conduct it.
Overall every youth in Africa need to have the knowledge that they should not only depend on being employed but also on self-employment through various entrepreneurship activities.
*Charles Mwangi is a student at St. Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT), Mwanza Taking Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Marketing (BAPRM). Email cmmwangi85@gmail.com.
