Lessons For All The Recent Graduates in Kenya- Who's Smarter Now?
Francis Kariuki is the simple chief of
the dusty Lanet Umoja location in Nakuru County. His name may not ring a bell
to many Kenyans. The fact that he is now one of the most sought after civil
servants by the international press, due to his innovative use of information
technology, may surprise many. The 47-year-old chief has moved from addressing
small village barazas to addressing the international press that has been
making a beeline to his office. He has talked to CNN, Associated Press,Huffington post, BBC, Daily Telegraph , Mashable e-Africa and yesterday he was on Capital
Talk with Jeff Koinange yesterday, all this is thanks to the
tech-savvy chief’s innovative use of Twitter to fight crime. Twitter is being
used as a crime-fighting tool by a tech-savvy village chief he has used
the micro-blogging site for everything from tracking down missing sheep to
stopping home invasions. His Twitter account is so popular that, he says, even
the thieves in his village follow him. The chief uses Twitter to help solve
problems and maintain order in his Kenyan village, showing another example of
how social media has evolved beyond wired metropolises to reach even the most
previously unconnected corners of the globe. Kariuki has used Twitter to
organize a rescue operation after a man fell into a latrine pit. Chief Francis
Kariuki tweets to defeat thugs and thieves, locate missing children and farm
animals, and organize village logistical matters, he once mobilized residents
to track down a lost nursery school pupil, who was found at Nakuru Central
Police Station, 15km away. On many occasions, he has been called upon to attend
to women giving birth in the middle of the night through Twitter. Although the
residents do not have smart phones, he advised them on how to set up their
normal mobile phones to receive his tweets as text messages. “From a chicken to
a human being, everyone now feels safe in Lanet Umoja because if anything
happens, it only takes minutes before the entire population is in the picture
as the chief keeps us updated. But just what lessons can we the recent
graduates and all the young people in Kenya learn from this brilliant chief on
innovation & business?
1. It’s in the simple
things
Having cleared campus last month
I had the opportunity of listening to students better known as comrades on
their plans after campus. Some of the smart guys really think big, with great
ideas that will never be implemented (Kenyans are good talkers) while others
lack the customer focus or generally the business angle. My point here is that
we have graduates who think that starting another social network, application,
software or a gadget is what innovation is all about. To some extent that’s the
notion and perception however innovation isn’t just only about that. Chief
Francis Kariuki didn’t spend years coding that SMS service he uses, he just
leveraged on two platforms (Twitter & Safaricom). Is that rocket science?
NO! was he taught that in college? NO! From doing that he has now become
a local hero, a globally recognized figure, he’s now training his colleagues on
using the same. We need to think about ideas and concepts that change our
communities, country, Africa before thinking of ideas that storm the global
market. Do not focus on the complicated issues, think 'within'. Evans Wadongo
came up with solar lamps to solve the problems in his village, through that
he's now well known globally. When a few of us endlessly tweet about everything
all day Chief Kariuki approach to Twitter is strictly business, he understands
personal branding on the social networks etc yet our business leaders do not
understand the basics of engaging on social media!
2. Be Passionate
Chief Kariuki was a head teacher for 21
years, a job he would have kept till his retirement but he left to pursue his
passion. He wanted to serve more people thus he felt that serving in the
provincial administration would quench his thirst to lead. It wasn’t for money
for him as he said on the bench, that wasn’t the motivation as he pursued his
quest to become the chief of Lanet Umoja. Currently a large number of graduates
want to run businesses only for the profit motive. Well I agree that we all
have to make money, that’s why businesses exist however it is passion that
drives you past the challenges that you’ll face on the way. After you've made
your first 10M you no longer wake up every cold morning to go the office just
because you're making money! It's not! Mr Kariuki definitely makes more
money nowadays, he gets more allowances, he could be paid to train his
colleagues and when he makes presentations in conferences he definitely gets a
"Thank You"cheque from the organizers. Being as smart as Mr Kariuki
doesn’t call for having an Ivy League education, James Mwangi has done it with
Equity Bank so the world is watching you!
3. It
doesn’t cost so much money
Mr Kariuki sends his tweets as messages
to over 21000 people instantly using 1 bob; and that’s ridiculously cheap! Why
then should the young people argue out that they need to work for 10 years to
save money to start a business? Why should someone, a commerce graduate tweet
arguing out that money is all they need to make more money? Another bigger
group fail to go business citing lack of capital as the largest impediment to
their dreams. In as much as funding is a huge problem there’s always money
chasing great business ideas. Start, build something then seek help, do not sit
there waiting for someone to do it all for you! The business also has to be
scalable-with a huge potential for growth. If you come up with an economically
viable business people will invest in your idea!
4.
Befriend the Press.
Mr
Kariuki definitely understands the power of PR, he’s been addressing the
international press having talked to CNN, Associated Press, BBC, Daily
Telegraph , e-Africa and Capital Talk with Jeff Koinange
among others.
There’s
nothing as powerful as someone writing or saying great stuff about you, it
changes the way the world thinks about you as a business or personally. It may
not be that easy to get media placement on leading dailies, but if you’ve got a
great product, story or unique idea the media will hunt you down to cover you.
Ensure you’ve got something newsworthy. Getting the attention of international
press and leading blogs isn't that easy, getting them to 'chase' after you for
a feature is something every PR agency would want for the brands they handle.
For Chief Kariuki it came effortlessly, by doing something for his community now
every media house, blogger and writer wants to do a story on him! (Ooh I also
did one on him) Do not be surprised if Mr Kariuki wins coveted global awards,
gets invitations to international conferences, becomes a global ambassador to
some UN or global organization or even gets an honorary degree from various
local and international universities. Why? He’s smarter than most US!
5.Ethics
, Values & Morals
Mr Kariuki isn’t just another
government official, he doesn’t talk about beating corruption and later pick
bribes to serve the community. What amazes me about this tweeting chief is his
values, ethics and his high moral standards. Whenever there are "Kazi
Kwa Vijana" jobs he invites all the youths who are interested, then
writes a YES or NO on papers and should you be lucky to pick a YES you’re hired
on the spot. That’s very transparent, time saving and very efficient; you can’t
interview or select 1500 people for 25 menial jobs! Back to you now, to make it
life and leave a legacy you got to have high moral standards. We cannot fight
corruption yet we are the same people who pay bribes to access services. The
young people have been blamed for the recent fraud cases in local banks. It seems
we (the youths) have an insatiable urge to make money quickly, we all want to
make it in the shortest time possible. Rather than work hard, in legitimate
businesses we sell drugs to make cash fast, we get into crime to make ends
meet. We’ve seen the recent cases of corporate governance issues at CMC and a
number of other companies, all this points to lack of morals and being
unethical. The sad thing about this is you’ll never be peaceful, the drug
barons are billionaires but they have to be on the look out always and they’ve
been blamed for the recent Ngong plane crash. To what extent can they go to
silence people who have information on who they are? Why make billions and yet
remain on the run, no peace or spend your life in jail. You can read more here about how great personal brands lose
trust.
If you've got anything to add on to the
above (comments, compliments and lessons) kindly follow @Chiefkariuki
& @KenyanMarketer .
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