Failure is ONLY temporary. I met both my Wife and my Life Purpose after failing…

What a result? Did you see it? Did you feel it?

Last Saturday, like millions around the World, I took a particular attention to the heavyweight?boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk and I must admit I was very disappointed by the result as a AJ fan. Surely the result is absolutely well deserved for Usyk but I felt very sorry for Joshua and me. This would sometimes be the case for Champions I support. I get so engaged that it is almost like their failures become mines. As much as their victories would lift me, their defeats would also affect me. Probably because I’m making a transfer and seeing your heroes lose would also make you think about your own failures and that’s what I want to talk to you about today.

Most of the time, we like to showcase our victories and successes, but we are quiet about our failures. We feel ashamed and we retreat. We do not always know how to deal with them and in some cases, they could lead us to serious depressions with at time heavy consequences. Talking about how you failed is not fun but it is necessary. In fact, you can’t properly appreciate victory unless you first fail somewhere. And at times, these failures could have very surprising outcomes. Let me give 3 examples of my life failures.

·????????Failing to enter Ecole Polytechnique in Cameroon

I spent my primary and secondary education in Cameroon and I went through all the classes without any significant problem. In fact, I can even say, I was a particular good student and in one of the best schools of the country, College Libermann (Heartfelt thanks to them). At the end of my curriculum, I passed with high grade the national baccalaureate and took a competitive exam to enter the best engineering school in the country (Ecole Polytechnique du Cameroon) and I failed. I remembered being crushed. Just like Anthony (My namesake) I worked very hard for that. I knew it was a very competitive exam but I was sure of my abilities, but I failed short. It took me sometimes to recover from that and I had to look at some alternatives. I spent a couple of months at the university of Douala and clearly could not see myself there for long. One year later, I had the opportunity to fly to Belgium to apply to?Faculte Polytechnique de Mons and guessed what? Against all odds, as I had less than 2 months to prepare for a very difficult exam, I passed brilliantly and the rest was history.

College Libermann (Can you spot where I am?)

·????????Failing to enter Supelec and, or Supaero in France

While studying in Belgium, again I distinguished myself as a very good student. I was clearly in the top 5% of the promotion and without a shadow of the doubt, the best foreign student. Never shy of taking a challenge, I decided to do something I was told was impossible. I decided to apply for an Erasmus-like exchange programme, which was only open to European students supposedly. Having done thorough research and intense lobbying, I had actually discovered that due to my good grades, I could apply and potentially aim to go to one of the best French Schools at the end of my second year. As you could imagine, I worked very hard to do it. And for anybody who has been a foreign student in a new country, you could imagine what sacrifices it meant. ?To get to Supelec and Supaero (2 of the best engineering schools in France, you needed at least 80% score). I managed to achieve a score of 80.5% the first year, but only 78.5% the second year. I was not eligible for the top 2 I was targeting and was again crushed. To be fair, it was not the worst failure as I was still eligible to go to another school in the programme, a performance never achieved by a foreign student in that school before me. Nevertheless as a competitor, I was disappointed of not having achieved the best. This was my target. This failure led me to go to a slightly less prestigious school, Ecole Centrale de Lille in France and guess what??While I was in there, I met my wife who was student in a business school in the city and the rest is history??.

Dr. Vanessa Awong Eya'a ?? & Tony in Cameroon

·????????Failing to establish a big Renewables department at Altran UK

When I joined Altran UK as an automotive consultant in 2011, I remembered that my mind was already into renewables. I just needed to find the right opportunity to take me there and this position in Altran was for me a good stepping stone. I had agreed with my bosses at the time that they should let me explore Renewables in my spare time and make the case for the company to develop more into this sector. I certainly worked very hard and smart to be irreproachable in my work and over the 7 years I worked there, I made a strong push to convince my managers to let me create an account for them. While I was partially successful at getting them to win a couple of projects, I was not successful at all at fully establishing a Renewable Energy Department for the company. Nevermind all the (clean) energy I put into it; it simply did not work. The company wanted to spend more time in Nuclear. I then decided to leave the company and creating my own, to bring my modest contribution to the challenge of the century. Like one will say, the rest…is history in the making.

Tony and H.E Ameenah Gurib-Fakim

In short: Failure is not forever; it is only temporary.

Every failure has the seeds of your greatest victories.

Every Failure could be a blessing in disguise…

Tony Tiyou?is the founder and CEO of?Renewables in Africa (RiA)?is a Clean Energy Company raising Awareness about Renewable Energy in Africa and across the globe. Interested in our Awareness Program? Click?HERE?to find out more or talk with us on?Clubhouse.