Are You Ready for a New Year to Do Hard Things?

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” ― Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Most people start out each year with a list of resolutions and a resolve to sweep out the old and usher in the new. But I believe in a somewhat different approach. Over 2 decades ago, I resolved to do the hard thing of transforming Africa by developing millions of young leaders and connecting them to opportunities that enable them to thrive. Each year since then, my simple resolution has been to build on that one goal, whatever it takes.

In 2019, that vision took a new turn when we started The Room. I asked many of you to be part of this extraordinary community of like-minded people, and I am honoured that you trusted the mission enough to join us.

With your support, we have grown into a network of around 5000 incredible ‘doers’ across 80 countries around the world; hosted unforgettable events where we’ve shared ideas and formed meaningful relationships; launched our new member portal in Nairobi; and spearheaded a ground-breaking collaboration with Amazon Web Services (you can watch the full announcement here). It has been a remarkable journey so far and I’m excited to let you in on what this year will hold.?

In 2022, we are:

?Expanding our city experiences: We have already established a buzzing community in Nairobi, and have rolled out city experiences in Addis Ababa and Abidjan. This year, you’ll see us spreading our wings into Lagos, Johannesburg, Accra, Kigali, Kampala, and many other cities across the globe.?

Evolving our business model: Initially, we thought we would sustain The Room by collecting subscriptions from our members. This of course is still possible, but it has the obvious downside of making The Room less accessible to amazing people who might not be able to afford the subscription. So in 2022, we’re going in a different direction. We’re seeing massive demand from employers who want access to the top young talent we’re producing in the African Leadership Group (software engineers, data scientists, cloud computing engineers, financial analysts, executive assistants, cyber security specialists, etc). In light of this, we will seek to sustain The Room from fees that employers will pay to access this talent. If this succeeds, it of course means you will continue to enjoy the benefits of The Room without having to pay a subscription.

Rewarding our members with purpose: In line with our goal to create work opportunities for up to 2 million young people from Africa by 2030, we’re launching our ‘Legacy Points’ system that will reward you for creating opportunities for young talent in The Room. These points will give you access to cool rewards--from Room merchandise to exclusive events and special discussions with inspiring leaders. Think of this as your ‘frequent flier miles’ for leaving a legacy of impact.

Already, we’re well into the first chapter of 2022. How are you galvanizing the opportunity of a new year?

The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of my dearest Pathfinders, always said, “Do your little bit of good where you are because it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” Although he has gone to rest, he will forever be remembered for the innumerable bits of good he did for this world.

There are 353 blank pages of this book left and I intend to fill mine with stories of the hard things I tried to do and the opportunity I tried to create for our next generation of leaders. I invite you to join me in leaving our collective legacy on this world.