Unleash Your Inner Entrepreneur Part II

ARE YOU IN THE 72%? CHECK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU WRECK YOURSELF

Here’s the funny thing about statistics – 92.7% of people who read statistics believe those statistics are about OTHER PEOPLE, and not themselves.?

Okay, I made that number up.?

But you and I both ‘know’ that a bunch of stats - while interesting – are about ‘other people’ and not ourselves. Or at least, that’s what we’d like to believe. But between you and me, we are people and we are those stats.?

And some of the stats are downright scary.?

Check this out:?

● A study by the University of California found that 72% of entrepreneurs are impacted by mental health conditions.?

● That’s almost 3 out of 4. Do you know 3 other entrepreneurs? Which one of the four of you aren’t impacted in some way by mental health conditions? Do you really want to bet the business that it’s you??

● Over 49% of entrepreneurs struggle with mental health issues.?

● 23% of entrepreneurs have family members with mental health challenges.?

Frankly, I think those numbers are low.?

Let’s look at another study…?

● 13% of startups fail due to the founders losing focus. Focus. It’s such a simple thing. We take it for granted. We’re starting a new business, so of COURSE we’re going to be focused on it.

“Hey, that couldn’t happen to me.”?

Uh-huh.?

● 9% of businesses fail because the founder loses his or her passion ● Another 8% fail due to emotional burnout?

● This means that 30% of startups fail due to just these three emotional and psychological struggles of their founders.?

There are many more mental pitfalls that await the budding entrepreneur beyond these three.?

And if you ask me those numbers are much lower than I expect to see in future studies.??

Despite the overwhelming evidence showing that entrepreneurs struggle with their personal development, there is one practice that can and will help entrepreneurs.?

But most are afraid to try it.??

But the "I don't need help, I can do it on my own" culture prevents people from doing it.?

I’m talking about…?

Self-development and coaching.?

Below is a case study from one of our mentee in our IMARA IMPACT MENTORSHIP program to illustrate this point.

IMARA IMPACT MENTORSHIP

Our mentees in IMARA IMPACT MENTORSHIP are young? African women driven by a purpose greater than themselves to solve social issues in their communities through the forces of business? social Impact Business

Today the 54 countries of Africa have great potential, but this question must be asked: "Can it change soon enough to meet the needs of its people?"?

African women have always been active in agriculture, trade, and other economic pursuits, but a majority of them are in the informal labor force.?

African women are guardians of their children's welfare and have explicit responsibility to provide for them materially.

They are the household managers, providing food, nutrition, water, health, education, and family planning to an extent greater than elsewhere in the developing world.?

This places heavy burdens on them, despite developments such as improved agriculture technology, availability of contraception, and changes in women's socioeconomic status, which one might think would have made their lives easier.

In fact, it would be fair to say that their workload has increased with the changing economic and social situation in Africa.

Women economic capabilities, and in particular their ability to manage family welfare, are being threatened. 'Modernization' has shifted the balance of advantage against women. The legal framework and the modern social sector and producer services developed by the independent African countries have not served women well.

As women social entrepreneurs we are contributing? to bring that change. We understand? that? the role business can play in contributing to society while still making money.

How Benjamine Ayangwire is leveraging coaching and personal development as a Social entrepreneur and a Business Student at Uganda Martyrs University

Benjamine? Ayangwire from the Democratic Republic of Congo is a financial wizard ready to launch her impactful project into the world ???

To the question :

“Uganda has been under lockdown for more than 20 months. During? this time many things have happened to many people that have been either a blessing or a? challenge. In light of the lockdown, discuss the skills that you have personally acquired? during this time and demonstrate how you got those skills.”?

She shared:

At the beginning of the first lockdown, a bit like everyone else, I guess, it was a time of rest? where I took the opportunity to watch movies and series that I had not yet watched and also? to read some books. However, both of these hobbies became boring to me as time went by.??

Then I started creating content on Tik tok with my niece and some friends. Often we neglect? this but shooting videos, getting the right photos to post, it's a whole lot of work. Let's start? with photography, it's not enough to have a camera to be called a photographer otherwise we? would all be, it actually takes more than that. First of all, it is important to have a nice? background so that the picture is neat and easily editable, a good quality of light and other? factors to take into consideration. After shooting, it is necessary to edit the photo, come up? with an attractive caption and finally post on the networks. Then, the creation of the videos,? the process is a little more complex than for the photos. You have to shoot different? sequences and if it's a dance video, you have to redo a sequence until everyone has done the? choreography well and it could take up to 10 takes.?

I'm proud to say that this is a skill I learned by experimenting and watching tutorials on the internet. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be using this skill much in the professional world? except for taking pictures for service missions, since it's necessary to insert some in your field? report. But besides that, it is an additional knowledge that also allows me to recognize the? efforts made by the so called “influencers”.??

Later, one of my sisters, who is also my mentor, suggested that I participate in her personal? development program. At first, I agreed because she is my sister, but I didn't know what I? would learn or what it would do for my life. This program was done online three times a? week at 2:00 pm. I remember well that in the first class, she sent us a book the 15 Invaluable? Laws of Growth by John Maxwell. We were to read one chapter a week, answer questions at? the end of the chapter and send it to her. In addition, each day I was to write words of? gratitude and send them at a specific time that I chose myself. At first glance, this sounds? simple, but it takes a lot of effort and consistency, especially for the words of gratitude.? Today, I'm confident to say that gratitude in life has allowed me to see life from a different? perspective by focusing only on the positive. And also, growing up becomes a choice we?make, it doesn't happen naturally like learning to walk.

We live in a society where we meet? different people, we are confronted to unexpected situations, and we all have a different? experience especially as a woman. It is important to learn to accept our fellow man and? maybe help him without judging him.

In the end, in this course, I learned a lot but I will talk? about the laws that pushed me to make a change in my life. The first one: The law of the? Mirror: You must see value in yourself to add value to yourself. It is impossible for us to? become a better version of ourselves without knowing ourselves. Through our daily actions,? we decide on the person we become, on the direction we take for our life. I'll take a simple? example, we all come to campus, we all learn the same courses, but in the end we don't all? come out of college with the same intellectual background because some are more diligent? than others. And that's up to us, and what we prioritize: parties or studying. It is in this? perspective that I had created a folder in my computer with different projects that I would like? to realize in the future, where I would like to be, who I would like to be.

This is very? important because every day, I live to realize my projects by moving at my own pace. And during the confinement, with the help of my mentor, I started teaching French to? children up to 10 years old. I had no experience so I took a fast-track training course on? Cavilam - Alliance Fran?aise to learn how to deal with the students. I taught three times a week in the evenings in? Uganda but in the afternoon in the US. This is one of my great accomplishments during? Covid.

I started with the basics of the French language: the alphabet, numbers, colors and? days of the week. I started with conjugation once a week with the girls but they really? struggled with French conjugation. We had to repeat that section over and over again. I? wouldn't say that I was the best teacher but at least at the end of the first term, my 4 students? were able to introduce themselves, and ask for news of the people they were talking to.?

Another skill I learned in the personal development course is related to how to lead a healthy? and organized life. This skill helped me a lot when I got my internship in June 2021 and? allowed me to sign a consulting contract in September 2021 with the same organization. I had? to combine online studies and work while not using one as a reason to not do the other well.? This has taken a lot of discipline, effort, and forgetting about myself, my time off on the? weekends to catch up on any classes I may have missed during the week. It was one of the? biggest sacrifices I've made in my life, and I never would have done it if, during the first? lockdown, I hadn't learned to manage my time well.?

During my work, I had to do different trainings that increased my interest in digitalization.? My thirst to learn opened different doors for me that I was able to do a 5 days training in?Dakar (Senegal) with Bluesquare in October all expenses paid by my organization. This new? experience gave me other ideas for the future and projects that I would like to see happen in? my country such as the digitalization of the educational sector.??

Without Covid, I would not have been able to have this experience since we would have been? in the classroom all the time. I think that at the university we should really alternate between? classes and work.?

In conclusion, the crisis has changed the world in every way, but it has also changed the lives? of many of us if we focus only on the positive. I learned a lot during the lockdown than I? would have otherwise, it was a blessing for me.