Now that I am an old man

I turned 40 in June, and my 6-year-old son asked with great concern if I would be dying soon. That's a kid's sense of time but turning 40 got me all reflective about my journey so far.

Gratitude

First and foremost, I am immensely grateful to have reached this age. It's a privilege not everyone gets, especially when I think about the many friends I grew up with who are no longer here today.

Contentment

Secondly, I have had a very decent and comfortable life. Despite the many challenges I have faced as an individual and collectively with my family, I cannot recall a season of sustained unhappiness. I have been lucky in that regard and have always strived not to depend on any external event or validation to be happy. I often joke that ‘nothing makes me happy’, meaning I am happy first, irrespective of what is happening around me.

My father's influence

Thirdly, I cannot deny my father’s influence on my choice of career. I will one day write the story of how he quit his job as a banker to become a dreamer and how he started his undergraduate studies at the age of 54 and is now completing his PhD in his 70s.

His experiences gave me the belief that I did not need to be employed to make a living, but that I could use my creativity and energy to harness ideas out of thin air and create something of value.

That is who I am today: An entrepreneur who has tried it all, from being a web designer to being a motorcycle mechanic and salesman and now an ICT in Education consultant with a successful product in the market called the CBC App.

The dark side of entrepreneurship - courtesy of older people

Now that I'm an "old man", I want to share an experience I've faced countless times, something I still don’t fully understand.

Why do some older people in positions of influence seem intent on exploiting or even destroying younger entrepreneurs instead of helping them grow?

I recall a time I got some work courtesy of some older gentlemen. After I had delivered the work to the institution (the client), I was paid barely 10% of the value because the older gentlemen had allocated themselves the rest and told me to relax because I was still a young man. In another instance, I was used by an older woman to bid for a job, and she manipulated the payment process, leaving me empty-handed. These events occurred in my mid-20s when I was incredibly naive and couldn’t comprehend why people my parents' age would do this to me.

As I gained wisdom, I avoided such deals, but the abuse evolved. I once got into a joint venture with two older men in great positions of influence, to come up with an idea to be funded by some reputable technology company. My idea and proposal got our entity tens of millions of shillings. So, guess what happened to my internal organs, when I discovered that they would be paying me Ksh. 300,000 instead of the percentage we had agreed to in the joint venture agreement? It was up to me to fight them if I had the muscle or stomach for it.

In another instance, I convinced an international development cooperation body to fund the development of an IT system for an organization led by an influential older man. After three years of hard work, we finally succeeded, only for me to be told that someone else, an older woman this time, who had power over the man, demanded Ksh. 4 million upfront to advance the deal further. When I refused, the older man berated me, claiming I would never get business again as long as he lived because I wouldn’t play ball.

Can we do it differently as older people?

The point I’m making is this: Why do so many people in positions of influence feel the need to destroy the potential of upcoming entrepreneurs? Why can’t they be facilitators instead? If they’re not interested in helping without extortion, why not stay out of the way rather than actively seek to destroy?

It's even more amusing and tragic when, after retirement, some of these same individuals reach out, asking for work or for their children to be employed in the very companies they once tried to destroy.

In other parts of the world, upcoming entrepreneurs receive support from older counterparts, financial institutions, and even governments. Why can’t we do the same for our own in Kenya?

I recently listened to this podcast by Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks. He recounted how Bill Gates Sr. (yes, Bill Gates' dad) literally walked him into an older man's office, who was bullying him out of the deal to buy Starbucks. Gates Sr. got the man to back off, allowing the young Schultz to take over the business, even though he didn’t have much in the way of cash or influence.

This may seem like just another story, but to me, it’s a heartwarming example of how an older person in a position of influence can shield and facilitate a young entrepreneur’s growth. Even in his 70s, Schultz still talks about that incident, which speaks volumes about its significance.

Supporting the next generation

Many Kenyan startups don’t necessarily need angel investors or venture capital from the West - they just need business.

Yet, we've made it so difficult for them that they seek protection and validation from others in distant lands who understand what entrepreneurs truly need.

It saddens me to see Kenyan entrepreneurs first turning to beggars for visibility and validation from distant lands before they can become the entrepreneurs they aspire to be, simply because we refuse to create a conducive environment.

If you're a person in a position of influence, I want to let you know that you're not foolish to help entrepreneurs succeed without extorting or taking advantage of them. On the contrary, you could be part of a great story that you’ll benefit from for many years to come.

Now that I am now an old man myself, I want to be among those who help the upcoming generation and if I can't help, I should stay out of their way. I too could still use some help from people in positions of influence. After all, as I read in the Harvard Business Review, the average age of startup founders is 45, so I’m still very much in the running ??.