"i am the boss!

"I am the boss, i have had the privilege of employing youth without experience and adults with.
Those who gave me the most hassle are the unexperienced and i spent time pacifying them to work than making money but i also got another side; i remembered myself young again but that dosnt bring money witch wears one out at some point.

I dont believe one shouldn't give students a chance but the question is; is my business a playground? Do i owe the world to turn my dream into someones battle field of insecurities and become road kill? Yes youth has huge potential but it needs to be cultivated and thats why they send you to university  and if you spent time playing around, why shouldnt i as the business person give you time to playout your energy on the streets to appreciate opportunity when it is given.

I have worked with youth extensively, i started myown company at the age of 18 in practice  because i couldnt find a job for one simple reason NEPA. I was an IT diploma holder at the time and because there wasn't light the prospective employer saw no need of my knowledge and instead of mopin around i threw it away and made the first company i worked for my  university. My first salary was 5000 naira in 1999. I knew nothing and i was greatful for the opportunity. My boss tookup to give me more knowledge that is what today continues to guide me. I never took any mistake for granted. I grew my company alongside working. I gave the best to my employer because that meant i am learning to be an employer. My personal dream worked parallel to my career plan.

I was serious, my parents were proud to see i cut off from them financially at 22 completely. I made my lifes decisions not hoping that anyone would support me. I lived from 18 to 22 on 100naira a day, somedays i will go to a friends house to eat because i didnt have enough. I carried my cross and when i met the employer i knew the sacrifice he makes every time he paid me and i did deliver. I am proud because this experience alowed me to manage and be creative towards my business.

I see parents mentor their kids to think that the employer is responsible for them. Parents shouldnt pass on to the employer their responsibility.
I am 35 this november and i own a company that makes over 19000hits per month. After reading this you will be promted to find out who i am, am i wrong? and so is every individual who projects themselves without fear or bias.

As a guy would you marry a girl that dosnt know how to cook?
As a girl would you feel safe with a guy who dosnt know how to earn money? Why should an employer employ someone who has no respect for his own survival and hope he would support the survival of his business?
How you treat your career is how you will treat the employer.
This is why the youth dont get jobs and not only because they are not there."

First entrepreneurial experience as a kid.

I had been doing business since I was 9 with my dad while in Russia, he and I would package jewellery and he would take it to Nigeria! While my bro played football. That was
a way he kept me and him busy out of the streets from "bad" influence and connected to him. He would always give me my share of the partnership. He would send me on tasks to the Asian market which gave me negotiation skills and he will teach me how to face people head on, so generally he was busy with his kids.

My dad had a special skill in coaching his kids to understand what survival is. My first experience was when he thought me the art of negotiating. He put me through 3 exercises without me even realising it at start. He gave me a list of groceries to purchase and an exact amount that could buy them,  with words "bring me back my change”. At the time we were living in Uzbekistan in the City of Tashkent where I was born, a former USSR state. The nature of life in Uzbekistan was all about trade, and most times you have to bargain for goods. The natives of the Asian state love to bargain and love a good bargainer because it’s the way they connect mentally. Communication may be daunting for the average person who wants to get things off the shelf but in the Asian and African environment bargaining shows your level of intelligence. Here is a 13year old going round the market and trying hard to convince the traders that she needs what she was told to bring back home and she cant pay what the asking price was. I was so brutally honest that some of the traders proceeded to teach me the art of negotiating. Eventually I came home with 1cent left out of 10cents given. I did succeed; my dad let me have the change. I was happy so I always looked forward to the next trip to the market.

On my second trip my dad said I should go to a different market and again with the instruction to bring back his change. I happily said to myself "this time I will make more savings and I did". On bringing the savings, and proudly showing him thinking he will pat me on the back, he took it all, and left with no comments. I was in shock and feeling stupid that I kept nothing for myself. I told myself next time I will give him only what he asked for.

On my third trip coming back and this time making more savings, because I didn’t buy one item on the list, I saved 3 cents, I studied the menu of the dish he asked me to buy ingredients for and said well today we wouldn’t cook with this spice. I learnt to be naughty, which is actually a skill to good creativity in entrepreneurship. When I came home he laughed because he saw the naughty grin on my face when I gave him just one cent. Later when I was 21 we discussed this experience which allowed me to be more courageous about achieving goals

its very important for kids to have experiences of such.

I was 18 years of age when I came to Nigeria with an equivalent of HND level in IT. I couldn't find a job at the time not just because I didn't have a BS.c, but IT was also unheard of in the state i lived in Nigeria at the time. Most employers had no need for computers because the infrastructure "power" was as we still know it! Africa hasnt harnessed the physiological level of development let alone IT, this was in 98.

Coming in as a kid and my parents being away for 15 years meant they had lost all connection to Nigeria and their friends were scattered all over the world and country, so there was no real avenue to say you have who to connect to.

While in search I put my skills and talent into work which allowed me to make connections. I embroider with hand, silk on silk, a hobby I took up while at school during home economics classes while in Russia, this gave me a few sales and thought me some business skills I enjoyed in connecting with people.

While I started planning on StartUpSity while searching for a job to sustain it I developed concepts for sale and would give those who were interested research and findings and make some money! I did work for 3 organisations such as Peugeot Nigeria dealership, Strabag Construction Company during the Benin bypass project and OpenLink Software Nigeria a well known company in the US when they came to open a branch in Nigeria. In this combination of works I picked up the skills in PM, Sales, and Enhanced my IT skills which aided my drive to be independent as well as  I rebelled against tactless management tactics we employ within the work process, often having to deal with sexual harassment and office politics. all this happening before the age of 22 and of course youthful exuberance, but today I believe I did make the right principled judgement even if I should have been softer about it. But all those principles and mistakes allowed me to be a much better employer. Patient to the mistakes young people make and respecting their values and aspirations. After this events I had my first child at 23 and due to his condition couldn't join the work force and this made me reopen the business files I left aside. Apart from the fact that the Nigerian business environment is Trade based and I am not a transactional type of person, I prefer services and complexities of management which many run away from, so I am in demand.

So my reasons are a combination of events happening in my life and the environment I lived in and people who were in my life!

I dropped out of school!

"i dropped out of school because i was bored with mediocrity, the world was going forward while the teachers got stuck in the past. If your kid isn't doing well in school then the stimulation is low for him/her, if they are not exhibiting excitement and growth at home thats a rain check on the curriculum. I have seen a lot of parents blaming their children for none performance from the score and feedback from the school, meanwhile the teacher has stopped performing miracles in class, while the ministries in charge of the curriculum have clearly forgotten or programmed a dull or manipulative system for breeding workers rather than leaders, well thats what schools of then were and a majority haven't evolved to the demands of today.

Reading the textbook is for home purpose if not for the teachers themselves. Teachers should learn to act what they want the kids to memorise. This isn't about putting teachers down it is about understanding the mind of a child and what can be done, if teachers get defensive or those in charge of the curriculum get offended they should ask why low budgets are allocated to sustain the educational industry. Reading and writing doesn't just stop by cramming alphabets or its pronunciations but how words affects their censes and what  sensibilities they acquire by going through historical "recorded truths" or scientific "facts" presented. Education works both ways, in simple terms put" this is what i present tell me what do you think about my theory or experiences, this way a dialogue develops and communication skills are enhanced.' if a teacher is presenting an information the response should also be as important as the information itself. if i don't care what is a pupils opinion i am likely to be ignored in return hence all effort goes to nill.

Lerners regardless of age; Their senses are like magnifying glass, they see through everything and if they don't find the waw in an information they are likely to get bored. Minds should be stimulated not manipulated, talking does nothing, it is same effect as a screaming mother in a home trying to get order after some time the kids become deaf.

Imagine what if each kid was given a task to redecorate their classrooms into what they have found in the books or while exploring the world around them, wouldn't they read and remember rather than cram? Wouldn't they develop design skills, wouldn't they know what project management is, wouldn't they after dream of how next year they could do better, wouldn't they be able to accept criticism better if they invited other classes to come and evaluate their piece of art as well as their efforts having physical evidence rather than a score they can't hold? and parents obviously being able to see what their kids put on a wall?.

is it this tables where they sit bored to death, breeding depression from start or focused kids who see evidence of their contribution everyday"?

Unemployment status!

Universities were established based on criteria required for the support of the industrial age. All round propaganda that without a certificate you are nothing has engraved a hole in the minds of parents of that era. It was a way to give people security about the institutions and demand discipline towards where they received orientation. If it doesn't sound to people authoritatively they will not take it seriously. The industrial age needed workers and they created an institution that prepared them for it.

The same government that needed workers in industries is the same government today saying kids should go and open their own businesses because they cant handle the responsibilities required in reducing unemployment anymore, clearly they themselves have issues with where it starts from and how to proceed. Life is so complicated and diverse that hell has broken loose. To survive you have to be smart but to sustain your life and livelihood you shouldnt forget that you are still in a community  of people who still think in the old ways who believe you must follow the rules of engagement in any given environment regardless of the situation you maybe facing, whats even more complicated is that their environment isn't same as before but they refuse to see it, a multicultural economy demands multifaceted approach in management. When foreigners are called to invest they should also be willing to shift their mindset from nuclear to global views and methods.

The governments that change the systems of management should prepare a platform for transition before making the shift but government is made of people and sometimes they are cruel "oblivious of anyone around but themselves" hence they limit their own opportunities for growth and expansion. They are not gods so in the interim before they get their act together people need to be proactive about their lives. As a kid i saw how professionals once held to respect were now scrambling to survive. They didnt prepare for when things changed and no one informed them. People are habitual creatures and that also means they find it hard to adjust however adjusting to a different climate can leave you destitute for some time and some dont mentally and physically survive it. Survival of the fittest still rules regardless of systems. Institutions are still trying to keep the authority but the mistake is they are disconnected from the business world due to trust and miscommunication, sometimes its deliberate while most times they don't notice that other emerging industries have left them behind while they were deliberating what their losses might be. The then students are now employers and they have developed a resentment toward the institutions for not preparing or warning them about change.

There is a difference betweent the developed and undeveloped world. Certification abroad isnt the only reason someone gets employed, but the governments are still forcing on the business world the old rules of employing graduates to keep their illusions going but is it working? Certification is just like a letter of recommendation from an institution that says he was here "the school went through the person" how about the person going through the school to find out if they are able to give him or her what it takes to get a job? If the employer dosnt evaluate the persons skill level and identify talents properly as well as train him to understand his unique business position before he says please be my guest he will have hell in managing the effects of his own incompetence as well as that of the new employee.

If today i didn't provide training and orientation to kids and i didn't make sure they were properly assessed for knowledge they received from me before i let them out to the market my certification is only a letter of recommendation that would question my authority. If my method of training did help them get the job and the employer is happy with his/her performance then the news spreads and i become an authority. I have to keep that authority by constantly evolving to meet industry and economic standards for growth. Universities have a lot of work to do in reviving their status back.

Would i be wrong to state the above?

Inspiring kids to learn!

History - his story of actions - the stories of man, your yesterday cant be erased, but can be forgotten.
it is no longer a definition of you, your acts of today make tomorrow. so stop being afraid of your mistakes so long as you have learnt from it. Who ever wants to use it on you, draw the line on the sand and say 'he who hath no sin let cast the first stone' for sure acts of men of the past shaped the world we see today. How much of it do we truly possess in facts to trace and find the loopholes to avert future disasters? The guilty isn't he who hath made the mistake but he who acted with deliberate intent. Ignorance isn't an excuse for the innocent but is a pardon to the humble.

Geography - the beauty of our landscape, they shape our cultures, religions, superstitions and laws.

Physics - the world of actions, the art of influence, time ever eluding man. For he is distracted by ignorance of his strengths. If men were gods space will not be enough. Space "life" is energy, time "action" is a force.

Biology- the diary of the past, the cause of evolution in mind and mater. Carnal nature of our Genesis, forecaster of the future if left untouched. It would have remained the same, peaceful, coexistence, probably boring if man didnt exist.

Chemistry- the study of reactions, the lab of all experiments done on the mind and matter. Regardless of if you do or don't you have acted upon a change. Don't leave yourself behind to the fear of the past and future, your lab is today.

Now guys tell me if a teacher or a lecturer can sing about their subjects like this wouldn't kids want to know more?