Isabella

Have a fun with Isabela.

My Encounter with a Sixty Something Sponsor from the West!

Last week Tuesday, there was this conference that was happened in Safari Park Hotel that I went to cover. So after registering at the reception, I decided to drop my business card in the glass bowl on the table! As I made my way to the conference room, there was this muzungu who stopped me, to get my card. After I had given it to him he asked whether I had 10 minutes and since the conference hadn't started, I thought why not?

"You are a Journalist? Would you mind working in Dubai? One of my companies is looking to hire more staff and you appear well placed for the job. " When dealing with corporates, you also become one! So I asked him what his company deals in Blah blah blah because to be sincere, this Dubai bit interested me! So he suggested, why not go to the restaurant by the pool and talk more?

At the pool this nigga placed a parket of cigarettes on the table and asked me whether I smoke. "Cheki mzae, Si uwache maswali ya ujinga?" The ninjas in my head started conversing! What do you drink? "water!" hahaha. Manjaa nlikuwa naskia! Hata wazae kwa tumbo karibu waanze kuongea! "wee, kwani leo hatupati kakitu?" He convinced me to take juice of which I ordered apple juice!

Wacha sasa aanze kuroroa! "I own a multi million dollar business. Even the Nairobi Tavern being constructed in Upper Hill is mine! I want you to join me in the Dubai company! How much do you earn in your current job?" Hapa napo kuna beshte yangu fulani aliniambia nsijiangushange nkiulizwa mambo ya mshaara na prospecting boss! "60,000". Eish! I thought I had raised my bar high enough! "600 dollars? How do you even cope with such an amount here? How do you even buy Clothes and the likes because you strike me as someone who really loves fashion? The job market here is really poor, right? That is the salary I give to my tea boy in Dubai!" Huyu mzae alikuwa ameanza kunikatsia walai! Na sasa nngemuambia my real salary si angeshuta!

"I hold a master of Psychology and I have studied you have a lot of worry in your life! You are struggling a lot and ain't sure about your future! How old are you? You look 22/23? Good for you! I want to be the fortune you badly want! Do you have a passport? You Africans really amuse me! How can someone not have a passport? How much would It cost to get a passport? I will give you 40,000. And how much would you need now for yourself? I will give you 60,000? Uuuwiiii! Thitima! "Lakini  mbona majaribu yamekuwa sehemu ya maisha yangu? Anyway...

" If you come to work in my company, I will give you everything you need! Your gym membership will be paid! You will shop anywhere you want! You will fly the world with me because I am an International businessman and you will be my PA. You will come here to visit your family from time to time and your family will also come to visit you from time to time. Become the fortune your family needs! " At this point, the ninjas in my head assembled for an urgent meeting! Huyu mzae tumfanyie? Kwani anadhani tunaishi kwa mti alafu tunalalanga njaa?" The ninjas settled on holding it for a bit..

" You should see my house in Dubai! You will love it! There is however something about me! I have all these things but I am lonely! I had a Nigerian girlfriend but she couldn't stand my travelling lifestyle and so she left! I am aging and really need someone in my life! I don't know whether that person is Mical. What if I die today? I really need someone to inherit my business. Hehehe... I didn't laugh though and neither did I roll my eyes!

He realised I was in deep thought! "What are you thinking about? You don't need to suffer in life anymore! God has send me to rescue you! Just make up your mind, shake my hand, and we have a deal!" Deal tena? I looked straight into his face and said, "Picture this... I walked to you and asked whether you had 5 minutes and then I told you that I was in urgent need that needed 100 dollars and I would refund it in two days time because my money was stuck somewhere! However genuine I sounded or however little the money I was requesting for was, would you give it to me? He said being a stranger, he wouldn't! I told him that he had answered himself because he was a stranger and I could not trust him just like that. He gave me his card and asked me to contact him in case I changed my mind!

I told him that I needed to get back to the conference because that was my main business there! As we walked back, he asked how long it would take for me to make up my mind and I told him that would be 62 days and also I need God's intervention! He said God had already intervened by sending him to me! He said he was expecting me that evening but I told him I would think about it! A cab was to pick me anyways!.

During tea break, I saw him walk in another lady and I figured he was on a mission to gather beautiful African girls! He called me on Thursday afternoon to say that he would be leaving on Friday evening and he wanted to see me that evening at Safari Park Hotel! Mimi hiyo jioni nlijiendea zangu cocktail Intercontinental hotel nkamuacha akaukie huko na hizo multi million dollar businesses zake!

Mtu kwanza anicofirmie kama kuna Nairobi Tevarn inajengwa Upper Hill alafu akuje tustrategize juu bado nko na business card ya huyu mzae! Sipendangi ujinga mimi!

Mastermind Alliance Powers Optiven’s Purpose.

By Mical Imbukwa

Superficially, goal setting looks easy and fast motion requires lone walk. However the masters know that goal setting is “as easy as Climbing snow-capped rocky mountains.” And no worthwhile journey will be accomplished without team input.

Are you stuck in the circle of draggers that weigh you down enough to prevent you from moving forward? Are you stuck with a goal that you have tried to implement for years without success?  Wondering on how to succeed in life?

The story of George Wachiuri, CEO Optiven Group, as he takes us through the power of mastermind alliance and goal setting, will get you unstuck.

“You cannot achieve your vision if you are all over! Goal setting helps us to focus on one area and coordinate. You cannot for instance move to taxi business today because you heard that is where money is. When you focus on one particular goal, you are able to achieve it within the estimated period of time. For instance at Optiven, we have a goal to create 15,000 jobs by the year 2035, and that is what we are focusing on,” Wachiuri kicks off.

He notes that goal setting helps us consolidate our resources. This enables one to see the particular resources they need to achieve a particular goal. Even as an organization expands, it has to focus on its goal. Goal setting is therefore very important for any organization or individual that wants to move forward because it provides the spot around which to rally employees.

Wachiuri remembers those years when he failed 15 times in startups for he didn’t have a particular goal he was chasing. “There was no clear goal. I was younger and my goal was to be in business, but that is not how a goal should be. The goal should be solving a problem within the society. So I think when I focused and decided that the goal of Optiven is to settle Kenyans and to make sure that every Kenyan has got a home, new energy came in!” he notes

What is being implemented now, according to the real estate mogul, is a strategy laid down in 2008 when a vision had been crystalised as “to be pacesetters in social economic transformation.”

Through giving back to society, the Wachiuri is also answering to a commitment he made to God at Uhuru Park when the whole world seemed to be against him. He promised God that if He gave him money, he will give back to society and he will never skip a tithe. True to this commitment, God has always been his pillar and greatest consultant. He credits God for his success.

“The mastermind principle is also what is making us succeed as Optiven. The principle states that you cannot achieve much alone for you need to consolidate your knowledge; efforts and you also need to create the spirit of harmony and ensure that the environment and the culture is good!” he points out

Optiven succeeds because it is able to focus on its vision, and to see this bear fruit; it hires the right people and has created a culture for them. At Optiven, the CEO is not the boss! The bosses are the customer, values and targets. If all the three bosses are happy, one gets a promotion.

“Don’t come to Optiven to please George for he is nothing but a servant! I am also subject to the three bosses. That is why you find we are careful on customer service and target and it is no wonder last year 2015, we won the Company of The Year Award (COYA) for best and overall company in Kenya.”

Optiven is also proud of the following awards; Best and Overall Company in Top 100 Mid-sized Companies in Kenya 2014/2015. Best Property Developer, 2014/2015. Still in 2015, Optiven got the award for Best & Overall Company in Customer Orientation & Marketing, COYA Awards. To add on this, the CEO of Optiven Group, Mr. George Wachiuri was awarded as the Best & Most innovative entrepreneur in the USA Mashujaa Awards 2015, under the category of Business and Entrepreneurship.

Wachiuri links the achievements to the culture of performance that has been harnessed at Optiven where he states that nobody is supervised. The targets do the supervision. “If you want to come to work at 9o’clock and leave at three; that’s your own problem. As long as at the end of the month you hit your targets, no one will ask you anything!” he notes

Every organization has particular traits they look for in the people they hire to aid in realization of set goals.  For Optiven, the number one trait is attitude, then passion and finally skills, of which skills can be trained but attitude and passion is inborn.

“Optiven is a very warm organization where there are no bosses but servants. We therefore look for people with the right attitude; for with it they can be trained and mentored,” he says

As they say, success follows success. In his mastermind alliance, Wachiuri has successful people who keep inspiring him on the path to greatness.With great pride and admiration, he lists them as Kingston Ogango, Head of Media & Communications at Christ is The Answer Ministries (CITAM), Rev Bishop Philip Gatutu, his wife, Mary Wachuka, who is also Managing Director at Optiven group, Hon. Okello, owner of Sahel publishers and also publisher of his books, Dr Lettin’g Kebiwott, Vice Chancellor MUWA and Mr. Mwenda, HR manager for CIC.

This handful of people is the group Wachiuri calls on in moments of defeat and strategic positioning alike. Their inputs come in various shades, but are invaluable.

The mastermind alliance, in Wachiuri’s view, should have a great impact on an individual or an organization. A good mastermind alliance aids one unpack ideas. Whenever he has challenges, they are able to encourage him. The people in Wachiuri’s close knit circle are good Optiven ambassadors. They also contribute towards the success of Optiven. They are great supporters.

It is true that a team can help one go far but some members of the team can drag success. Wachiuri, therefore, categorizes people into three; those who will trust you, encourage you, inspire you and lift you up. This category of people, are very good to have around because when you have an idea, they will help you unload it.

There are those called the weights. For these ones, you spend time with them, you feel so heavy because they offer no motivation. The best thing to do with these ones, he says, is to remove them from your inner circle and take them to the third or fourth circle.

Finally, there are the draggers; these ones always drag you. You tell them an idea, they pull you down. They will tell you that others have tried what you are attempting and failed and so you have no reason trying. For these ones he says, you have to put them off your inner circle.

“I have thrown people out of my life severally. In fact, there are people when they call me for coffee, I don’t go because by the time I am done with them, I am so exhausted from the negative talk. I tell people jokingly that, you have no need having people in your phonebook that can’t even loan you 5,000 shillings!” he quips

He says that there are people he meets whenever needs energy. Dr James Mwangi of Equity bank is one of them.From him, he tries to know how he copes with such a broad-based bank. The spirit of Vimal Shah, of giving back to the corporate/society, inspires him. In fact he says he is the man who made him participate in KEPSA, in the governor’s round table and Kenya Property Developers Association (KPDA). He has taught him on how to negotiate with the government on corporate issues.

“From Manu Chandaria, I get the spirit of giving back to society. You go to Nairobi hospital; you find he has donated a whole wing. You go to the University of Nairobi, he has donated. The power of giving makes him look so young yet he is an old man. He is a man who inspires me a lot, especially on philanthropy.”

Challenges in the mastermind alliance, he says, come in fostering culture and harmony in an organization. When the culture is right implementing of goals becomes easy. “This is one great challenge we used to face at Optiven but when that warm culture was harnessed, the performance culture, the value based culture and the culture of honesty, everything started moving in the right direction. Honesty runs Optiven and we therefore have no room for dishonest people,” he notes

His advice to young ambitious youth with regards to the mastermind principle and goal setting is that;

“All the time, don’t plan to work alone. Get your two, three friends and start a course. Always be patient. Don’t go into betting because you want to acquire quick wealth. Success is a step by step journey just like climbing a ladder. Optiven is now 18 years old. We have been here for so long and when people see George Wachiuri shine, let them know it has been a journey of 18 years.”

He also adds that, young people should avoid comparing themselves to others. If they have to compare, let it be to build them and not to feel jealous of other people’s prosperity. “Forget about competition! Compete with yourself. God has given each and every one of us abilities that we just need the right resources to explore. If it is education, upgrade it. If it is inspiration read inspirational books such as the ones done by me.”

He encourages the young ones to form chamas, form limited companies and to join Saccos. They have to work together until the time they feel they are stable enough to stand on their own.

And to owners of companies out there, he urges them not to be bosses but the partner to the people working for them. They have to work with them and show them the vision. “That is what we do at Optiven. We don’t say Optiven belongs to Wachiuri, we say it belongs to all of us. We don’t call them staff; we call them partners because we are here to work together. Every morning we say, “Who is Optiven” and the staff shouts, “I am Optiven!

He adds; “At Optiven, we are one team, one goal. We believe we can make the cake big and invite people to cut it by creating more jobs. When you are out there, don’t give up. Persist for when one door closes, another one opens. Create a commitment with God for He is able to show us His favor when He is within us and whatever we shall touch will prosper.”

His parting shot;

“In Kenya today, we have opportunities that we can’t be able to exploit because Kenya is expanding, revenue and expenditure is growing, thanks to the huge market. The infrastructure is developing; the democratic space is now bigger. We have opportunities, so let’s open our eyes and grab them so that we can offer solutions to the society. As you offer the solutions, money is a byproduct and so let us not focus on making money. Rather, let’s focus on offering solutions to our society and then money will follow.”

HIV/AIDS NOW A TEENAGE AFFAIR?

Today as I was going through my facebook feed, I came across something which made every hair on my body stand aloof! The saliva in my mouth dried up! Apparently, there is a man who is on a mission to infect unsuspecting ladies with HIV/AIDS! His main target is married women, so that they can pass the now "not dreadful disease" to their husbands! He is on a revenge mission, because he unknowingly was also infected, so he claims!

Why does this scare me a lot? Today I attended the launch of the Global AIDS Progress Update Report 2016 and though the findings are not bad, one particular thing scares me! The AIDS prevalence among the youth aged between 15-24 years is high at 51%! Girls hold a bigger percentage as compared to boys! The young generation is at risk! The rate at which girls and boys are engaging in sex is alarming!

Growing up, our parents and Sunday school teachers made us understand that sex was a thing for the adults. Adults to mean, the married or those old enough to date, and not just dating, but dating for marriage! These days, even fifteen year olds are referred to as adults because they are engaging in stuff those older than them by 10 years haven't experienced yet!

Okay! Our parents and Sunday school teachers educated us! Some took them seriously and some didn't but bottom line is, they played their part! As they say, behavior is linked to upbringing from childhood. Question now is: are the current generation parents and teachers sleeping on their job? Or have the boys and girls become so smart for them? It is the internet generation and girls and boys have access to it, but what of those in the remote areas who cannot even afford the cheapest earphones yet they are in this bracket of being infected?

When Aids reached Africa, songs were composed that when listened to, they scared the hell out of people and they somehow focussed on living responsibly. Despite the fact that musicians have neglected the Aids subject, the youngsters seem to have become ignorant. These days, girls fear pregnancy more than Aids! They would rather indulge without protection and take pills to prevent pregnancy. They are not scared of infections. In fact some start family planning as young as 17! I thought family planning was meant for the married women? Why are kids rushing things?

Now here is the scarier bit! Schools have closed and those that haven't closed will close soon! The holiday will be long! Two months and counting! Girls and boys will be roaming the village and cities! The explorers and gullible one will be lured into lifetime traps! Some which will shorten their lives and some which will lead them into the family way at a tender age! Sad!

So, what about this AIDS subject was revived again? What about it was made a matter, of National disaster? What about parents  talked about this issue to the young ones every day? What about teachers stressed on this subject? What about social media forums diveated from politics and the likes and made this AIDS issue a matter of national concern? What about musicians composed the modern day songs with the aids subject enscribed inside? What about the young ones watched those very scary  videos that were showed to us when the aids state was so bad?  What about Writers, wrote, wrote, and wrote about this subject? What about? 

The young ones have to know that these days thanks to ARVS, the infected ones are healthier than those free of the virus. It is therefore not  like in the past when the infected ones were identified by ematiated bodies,  thining hair, a persistent cough, and boils on the body. They therefore have to be careful. If they can't abstain, let them stick to protection! 

We need this young generation alive and strong because they are the future. So, let's be responsible for them. Let's protect them from traps of those on a revenge mission! Let's Stop using phrases like,"wametushinda!" Let's not wait for the world to teach them a lesson! My nephew is turning 15 and we are  leaving nothing unturned to ensure he leads a responsible life. Though difficult, let's keep trying!

PEOPLE ARE BASICALLY LAZY

A lady with a nice body is happy, but a guy, fiancée or husband to the lady with the nice body is happier! This statement in all aspects is debatable!

We all love being in shape but we are not ready to work towards maintaining our body shapes! How many times have we admired those shapely ladies on the cover pages of magazines? Do we pause to ask ourselves how women who have given birth to five kids still manage to stay in shape?

Just like one sets a goal and starts drawing a plan of how they will achieve their goal within a specified period of time, is the same thing with achieving a certain body shape! You got to estimate the period within which you wish to achieve the desired shape, come up with a work out Calendar and start working out immediately! Make it a routine and don't allow laziness to creep in! Remember, no sweat, no pain, no gain!

From today, quit using those excuses of I am okay this way when in reality you are not! Quit using those excuses of whoever will love me should love me as I am or my boyfriend or husband hasn't complained! Don't wait for him to complain! Make yourself look good! Don't just admire those girls on the magazine cover pages! You can be the lady on the cover page!

Big up to all mamas out there who still manage to stay in! I have used the term mamas because baby fat is the most used excuse for people to be shapeless and unfit! Oh how I love the mamas on Kilimani mums! Burn that excess fat and escape unnecessary diseases! Stop being lazy!

More innocent deaths happening

https://youtu.be/dc50Kx7CIAI

SUCCESS AWAITS! GO FOR IT!

Lessons from My four hours Centonomy Class

1. All of us are gifted in different ways: so let's identity the gifts and develop them. You might be seated on a goldmine!

2. If you have to complete a journey, start it! You won't see that dream come true until you start working towards its success.

3. If you feel it's time to forget everything and focus on your goal, do it no matter what. One thing is for sure: distractions will always present themselves packaged very nicely that you are tempted not to resist. It could be promotion at your work place, or that authoritative voice from your family telling you not to it, don't give in to the pressure! Do what you have to do!

4. Procrastination is the worst form of distraction. If you have to do it, do it! Forget the buts. You won't have the same energy you have now, tomorrow! Now is the time!

5. Have your goals well written down and identity a period within which you want them accomplished! By writing them down, it will serve as a constant reminder that you have things to accomplish within a certain period of time, and you will therefore only focus on those.
#NOTE : Don't just write them, pin them where you will see them everyday!

6. Everybody complains of unemployment rates being high, but only a few focus on creating employment. If you have a business idea, in mind, implement it! Don't wait for perfect conditions for they will not come until you start working on your idea. Use what you have in your hands, and you will be surprised at how everything will work out!
7. Failure is not meant to discourage you, but to build you! No matter how many times you fail, don't call yourself a failure! Use your failure as strength. All great people failed countless times but they didn't give up! They soldiered on because they knew their destiny was that of greatness!

8.  If you buy what you don't need, you will end up selling what you need! Before you buy anything think, do you really need that thing? Are you buying it because someone else bought it? Are you buying it because it is trending? Really? Why do that to yourself? A clever person will buy assets and not flossets!

9. You can't have a better phone than your boss! This simply means that, you don't have to spent more than you earn! Stay within your means! Budget wisely and get into the habit of saving! Savings are powerful!

10. Once you identify your goal, surround yourself with gangs that will push you towards achieving your goal! You don't need liabilities in your life! All successful people have friends who are as successful as they are! Those with whom they walked the difficult journey of success together! Have a mastermind alliance!

Lastly, "Be good and do good"! Remember your God always!