right after completing my first degree I
landed my dream job it was a job working
at an international organization in the
u.s. to reduce poverty in developing
countries this was a childhood dream of
mine a dream that I had conjured up for
myself as a young girl growing up on a
suburban farm you see my parents they
were side hustle farmers at home
we had several dairy cows which produce
milk every day for sale so this fresh
warm straight out the other milk was
available for sale and our neighbors and
it was well renowned in our neighborhood
and our neighbors used to come in every
day after school to come in buy a hit of
milk now majority of our neighbors they
were diplomats and expatriates and as it
came down our driveway I watched them in
regal in their red plate cars
resplendent in their suit and ties I
watched keenly and I wondered who are
these people what do they do for a
living why most of them white honestly I
never really asked and nobody ever
really told me but somewhere along the
way I heard the words UNDP or IMF or
reducing poverty and somewhere along the
way still I decided that reducing
poverty was a Korea worth pursuing I
mean making money while reducing poverty
sounds like a good good to me right so
like I said I realized my dream I got my
degree and sometimes when I think back
to that young girl I wonder how did I
hold on to that dream for so long who
told me that I could be a white
expatriate truly I can’t recall but many
were not as lucky as as me many suffered
a different fate
they had dreams but now they find
themselves stuck in careers and jobs
that they hate many of my colleagues
many of my former schoolmates are now in
the in the process of repurposing their
careers to reshift their focus
growing up my parents used to have
visitors at home all the time now my
parents were part of that cohort of
Kenyans that took over the reins of
Kenya in the early days of independence
right so there were McAra educated
starry-eyed professionals ready to
propel Kenya into glory but for all
their accomplishments and for everything
that they represented we were never the
we were never the beneficiaries of their
mentorship we never got to sit with them
we never got to hear the stories of
their successes and their challenges why
because a minute we stepped into the
room you were immediately dispatched go
and play outside go and do your homework
so we felt that we were not mentored and
were not guided enough now why did they
dismiss us well I’m not quite sure but I
think if I had to guess I would say they
didn’t want us to see the real them they
didn’t want us to see them dancing or
bugging down or maybe they were
gossiping about someone or maybe they
were not passing we all know what they
used to get up and up to in the 60s and
70s right so I never really got to find
out sadly I still wanted to do what they
used to do but one thing I did get from
them one thing that we all got from our
parents was they used to walk ten
kilometres to school every day barefoot
and ten kilometres back and they all
managed to be number one in their school
right
right so why do I tell you these stories
today I tell you these stories for one
reason we are not doing enough to mentor
I children youth into the reality of the
world today fun-packed 1.1 billion
people in this world are between the
ages of 0 and 18 that’s 30 percent of
the world’s population the largest youth
population ever and in the world’s least
developed 48 least developed countries
children and adolescents make up
majority of the population this is
according to the US Census Bureau report
of 2017
we must advise mentor guide these young
ones to eventually take up from where we
are going to leave off we can’t leave it
to the academics alone we have to tell
them our real-life stories our
experiences that they can feel
well-placed and familiar and empowered
to go through their failures and make
their successes in the way that we did
people with the tools and the skills to
make a difference in our lives are
coming through our doors every day yet
we block them from our children and we
deny them the opportunity to ask
questions and to challenge us about our
contributions whether they be economic
political or even social it’s imperative
that we engage so that we can tell the
younger generation why we are where we
are where we are and and what they can
do to craft a better future for
themselves with their ideas with their
moxie and even yes their naivete so let
me tell you one last story so when I got
my hot job I quickly learned that nobody
was interested in my ideas nobody was
interested in my moxie and mine I
was something like a rabid disease that
we needed to get rid of so what I
learned was that top management ideas
for reducing poverty actually came from
top management and the rest of us well
we just had to fall at mine do as we
were told another fun fact a Gallup
study in 2017 in the u.s. showed that in
in about for about a hundred million of
their full-time workers fifty one
percent that’s over half did not feel
any connection to their jobs in the same
research it showed that all that
Millennials want is to feel like they
are making a difference and to feel like
they are supported in doing what they do
best pay him as a secondary
consideration so in the audience today
how many of you have worked for at least
three years by show of hands so majority
of you so you know the narrative then
that young people come into the
organization then they want to start
running things right they need to be cut
down to size they need to be put in
their place right well that’s what
happened to me I had so many ideas that
were ignored that I just stopped giving
them I just shut up and I did a lot of I
was told no matter what I thought but
somehow that little girl that little
farm girl was still in me and I took an
opportunity there was a project that
nobody wanted to lead and I took the
opportunity and I decided to lead this
project I took that bull by the horns
because you know there’s not going to be
another chance for me right so I was
lucky I put my all in I took the bull by
the horns and the project became a
success such a huge success of my boss
called me into the office and he was
like Gary man this job you’ve done such
a great job so I
sited in fact it’s so good that now
we’re gonna take this project and we’re
gonna give it to someone else with
senior in their title I was like what I
couldn’t believe it
I was crushed all my hard work being
delivered on the silver platter
to senior so-and-so so that’s his been
the penny drop for me eventually I left
the organization because because
apparently I was too ambitious and I
needed to wait my turn I was not willing
to to toe the line on that one so I left
the organization I started my own
consulting firm expertise global
consulting and I implemented some of my
ideas and you know what the very
organization that I left they were
clamoring to find my ideas I mean I just
left you guys and you guys now want to
find my ideas I mean what’s going on
right I felt like I was going somewhere
and even I had a conference that I
rolled out I developed and rolled out
and the Vice President of the Republic
came to give the keynote speech now I
say this because if you know how
difficult it is to get the vice
presidents to agree to give a keynote
speech and then actually come and give
that keynote speech that was an
accomplishment guys believe me so after
that the business grew and it developed
I have projects now outside the country
that I’m going and some are they the
pipeline so me and I forgot to tell you
what my title was in my company I gave
myself the title senior founding
managing director principal most
glorious senior person of all because
apparently that’s what it took to run a
company right to have ideas so now
before I close I want to leave you with
three I want
make sure I leave you with three ideas
number one young people have dreams that
can actually turn into reality nurture
them ask them about their ideas prod
them tell them about your own ideas take
their feedback seriously ask them how
their ideas impact the world today
this also has added added advantage that
you to help you to think outside the box
on your own ideas and how they are also
thinking to find an opportunity to tell
a young person what you do how you do it
and why it’s important now I’m a public
finance professional yeah I see your
glazed eyes glazing over already
everybody is completely oblivious to
what I do most people are in fact
outside of my professional circles most
people don’t understand what I do but
yet public finance is the cornerstone of
almost all governments anywhere in Kenya
we talk about the euro bond that’s
public finance most government scandals
unfortunately public finance the cost of
free primary and secondary education is
public finance the cost of the SDR is
public finance reading of the national
budget Thank You public finance so many
people have misconceptions about
particular careers in the world so
everybody thinks that lawyers are like
Ally McBeal criminal lawyers solving
cases hot off the tracks
well actually sometimes lawyers are
pushing paper trying to get you your
title deed or try to get you to write
your will and things like that a very
important work but not always ally
mcbeal right some people think that
doctors are spending copious amounts of
time in operating rooms
saving lives you know like I don’t know
what movie they are that they have seen
like Grey’s Anatomy and like that but
most that many doctors are physicians
and never rarely or never step into
operating rooms but are doing good work
saving lives every day what we need to
do is sit with these kids and really
speak to them this business of how is
cool hey you’ve got so da
please we need to sit and tell them what
we do linked what we do it what’s
happening in the world today tell them
at how it affects them and grounded in
reality this way young people will start
to get an idea of what they can do with
their careers going forward or let’s be
honest what they don’t want to do with
their careers and three young
professionals have ideas worth investing
in put your money where their mouth is
when I think of some of the change
makers in the world today what strikes
me is how young they were when they had
the ideas and followed through Malala
yousufzai who’s a Pakistani education
activist she started her blog when she
was 11 years old that’s age of Rania who
was here just now she had such a large
effect that when she turned 17 she won
the Nobel Peace Prize there’s Tom Boyer
famous Kenya at the laid Kenya
politician he had such a huge impact he
was a labor labor union leader in his
20s and he became the Minister of Labour
when he was 31 think about that in the
context of Kenya Steve Jobs the founder
of Apple founded it when he was 21 these
are people who have ideas they had moxie
and even then ivt gave them the edge
invest in them now in closing what am i
doing to put my money where my mouth is
well I had expertise global consulting
we are passionate about public finance
akkyun and we are passionate so we what
we do is we meet young people once a
month and we talk about current affairs
and the role that public finance has to
play in it I have a secret weapon we’re
starting early so we have I have my 16
year old niece she’s informed too we
have a web series on YouTube called a
hashtag asking for a friend
that’s how she says it where we talk
about everything from what is economics
to what happened to knock you mad and
how does a boycot work to what is cancer
and how we using our tax feelings to
address these issues she and her friends
bring new ideas to the table and ask
questions about the status quo and make
us ask ourselves well why do we do it
that way she and her friends they have
the same zeal as a little farm girl
whose parents used to sell milk once did
I’m giving them all the chances and
opportunities in the world now and I
hope that when they joined the work
force that you will too thank you
[Applause]
landed my dream job it was a job working
at an international organization in the
u.s. to reduce poverty in developing
countries this was a childhood dream of
mine a dream that I had conjured up for
myself as a young girl growing up on a
suburban farm you see my parents they
were side hustle farmers at home
we had several dairy cows which produce
milk every day for sale so this fresh
warm straight out the other milk was
available for sale and our neighbors and
it was well renowned in our neighborhood
and our neighbors used to come in every
day after school to come in buy a hit of
milk now majority of our neighbors they
were diplomats and expatriates and as it
came down our driveway I watched them in
regal in their red plate cars
resplendent in their suit and ties I
watched keenly and I wondered who are
these people what do they do for a
living why most of them white honestly I
never really asked and nobody ever
really told me but somewhere along the
way I heard the words UNDP or IMF or
reducing poverty and somewhere along the
way still I decided that reducing
poverty was a Korea worth pursuing I
mean making money while reducing poverty
sounds like a good good to me right so
like I said I realized my dream I got my
degree and sometimes when I think back
to that young girl I wonder how did I
hold on to that dream for so long who
told me that I could be a white
expatriate truly I can’t recall but many
were not as lucky as as me many suffered
a different fate
they had dreams but now they find
themselves stuck in careers and jobs
that they hate many of my colleagues
many of my former schoolmates are now in
the in the process of repurposing their
careers to reshift their focus
growing up my parents used to have
visitors at home all the time now my
parents were part of that cohort of
Kenyans that took over the reins of
Kenya in the early days of independence
right so there were McAra educated
starry-eyed professionals ready to
propel Kenya into glory but for all
their accomplishments and for everything
that they represented we were never the
we were never the beneficiaries of their
mentorship we never got to sit with them
we never got to hear the stories of
their successes and their challenges why
because a minute we stepped into the
room you were immediately dispatched go
and play outside go and do your homework
so we felt that we were not mentored and
were not guided enough now why did they
dismiss us well I’m not quite sure but I
think if I had to guess I would say they
didn’t want us to see the real them they
didn’t want us to see them dancing or
bugging down or maybe they were
gossiping about someone or maybe they
were not passing we all know what they
used to get up and up to in the 60s and
70s right so I never really got to find
out sadly I still wanted to do what they
used to do but one thing I did get from
them one thing that we all got from our
parents was they used to walk ten
kilometres to school every day barefoot
and ten kilometres back and they all
managed to be number one in their school
right
right so why do I tell you these stories
today I tell you these stories for one
reason we are not doing enough to mentor
I children youth into the reality of the
world today fun-packed 1.1 billion
people in this world are between the
ages of 0 and 18 that’s 30 percent of
the world’s population the largest youth
population ever and in the world’s least
developed 48 least developed countries
children and adolescents make up
majority of the population this is
according to the US Census Bureau report
of 2017
we must advise mentor guide these young
ones to eventually take up from where we
are going to leave off we can’t leave it
to the academics alone we have to tell
them our real-life stories our
experiences that they can feel
well-placed and familiar and empowered
to go through their failures and make
their successes in the way that we did
people with the tools and the skills to
make a difference in our lives are
coming through our doors every day yet
we block them from our children and we
deny them the opportunity to ask
questions and to challenge us about our
contributions whether they be economic
political or even social it’s imperative
that we engage so that we can tell the
younger generation why we are where we
are where we are and and what they can
do to craft a better future for
themselves with their ideas with their
moxie and even yes their naivete so let
me tell you one last story so when I got
my hot job I quickly learned that nobody
was interested in my ideas nobody was
interested in my moxie and mine I
was something like a rabid disease that
we needed to get rid of so what I
learned was that top management ideas
for reducing poverty actually came from
top management and the rest of us well
we just had to fall at mine do as we
were told another fun fact a Gallup
study in 2017 in the u.s. showed that in
in about for about a hundred million of
their full-time workers fifty one
percent that’s over half did not feel
any connection to their jobs in the same
research it showed that all that
Millennials want is to feel like they
are making a difference and to feel like
they are supported in doing what they do
best pay him as a secondary
consideration so in the audience today
how many of you have worked for at least
three years by show of hands so majority
of you so you know the narrative then
that young people come into the
organization then they want to start
running things right they need to be cut
down to size they need to be put in
their place right well that’s what
happened to me I had so many ideas that
were ignored that I just stopped giving
them I just shut up and I did a lot of I
was told no matter what I thought but
somehow that little girl that little
farm girl was still in me and I took an
opportunity there was a project that
nobody wanted to lead and I took the
opportunity and I decided to lead this
project I took that bull by the horns
because you know there’s not going to be
another chance for me right so I was
lucky I put my all in I took the bull by
the horns and the project became a
success such a huge success of my boss
called me into the office and he was
like Gary man this job you’ve done such
a great job so I
sited in fact it’s so good that now
we’re gonna take this project and we’re
gonna give it to someone else with
senior in their title I was like what I
couldn’t believe it
I was crushed all my hard work being
delivered on the silver platter
to senior so-and-so so that’s his been
the penny drop for me eventually I left
the organization because because
apparently I was too ambitious and I
needed to wait my turn I was not willing
to to toe the line on that one so I left
the organization I started my own
consulting firm expertise global
consulting and I implemented some of my
ideas and you know what the very
organization that I left they were
clamoring to find my ideas I mean I just
left you guys and you guys now want to
find my ideas I mean what’s going on
right I felt like I was going somewhere
and even I had a conference that I
rolled out I developed and rolled out
and the Vice President of the Republic
came to give the keynote speech now I
say this because if you know how
difficult it is to get the vice
presidents to agree to give a keynote
speech and then actually come and give
that keynote speech that was an
accomplishment guys believe me so after
that the business grew and it developed
I have projects now outside the country
that I’m going and some are they the
pipeline so me and I forgot to tell you
what my title was in my company I gave
myself the title senior founding
managing director principal most
glorious senior person of all because
apparently that’s what it took to run a
company right to have ideas so now
before I close I want to leave you with
three I want
make sure I leave you with three ideas
number one young people have dreams that
can actually turn into reality nurture
them ask them about their ideas prod
them tell them about your own ideas take
their feedback seriously ask them how
their ideas impact the world today
this also has added added advantage that
you to help you to think outside the box
on your own ideas and how they are also
thinking to find an opportunity to tell
a young person what you do how you do it
and why it’s important now I’m a public
finance professional yeah I see your
glazed eyes glazing over already
everybody is completely oblivious to
what I do most people are in fact
outside of my professional circles most
people don’t understand what I do but
yet public finance is the cornerstone of
almost all governments anywhere in Kenya
we talk about the euro bond that’s
public finance most government scandals
unfortunately public finance the cost of
free primary and secondary education is
public finance the cost of the SDR is
public finance reading of the national
budget Thank You public finance so many
people have misconceptions about
particular careers in the world so
everybody thinks that lawyers are like
Ally McBeal criminal lawyers solving
cases hot off the tracks
well actually sometimes lawyers are
pushing paper trying to get you your
title deed or try to get you to write
your will and things like that a very
important work but not always ally
mcbeal right some people think that
doctors are spending copious amounts of
time in operating rooms
saving lives you know like I don’t know
what movie they are that they have seen
like Grey’s Anatomy and like that but
most that many doctors are physicians
and never rarely or never step into
operating rooms but are doing good work
saving lives every day what we need to
do is sit with these kids and really
speak to them this business of how is
cool hey you’ve got so da
please we need to sit and tell them what
we do linked what we do it what’s
happening in the world today tell them
at how it affects them and grounded in
reality this way young people will start
to get an idea of what they can do with
their careers going forward or let’s be
honest what they don’t want to do with
their careers and three young
professionals have ideas worth investing
in put your money where their mouth is
when I think of some of the change
makers in the world today what strikes
me is how young they were when they had
the ideas and followed through Malala
yousufzai who’s a Pakistani education
activist she started her blog when she
was 11 years old that’s age of Rania who
was here just now she had such a large
effect that when she turned 17 she won
the Nobel Peace Prize there’s Tom Boyer
famous Kenya at the laid Kenya
politician he had such a huge impact he
was a labor labor union leader in his
20s and he became the Minister of Labour
when he was 31 think about that in the
context of Kenya Steve Jobs the founder
of Apple founded it when he was 21 these
are people who have ideas they had moxie
and even then ivt gave them the edge
invest in them now in closing what am i
doing to put my money where my mouth is
well I had expertise global consulting
we are passionate about public finance
akkyun and we are passionate so we what
we do is we meet young people once a
month and we talk about current affairs
and the role that public finance has to
play in it I have a secret weapon we’re
starting early so we have I have my 16
year old niece she’s informed too we
have a web series on YouTube called a
hashtag asking for a friend
that’s how she says it where we talk
about everything from what is economics
to what happened to knock you mad and
how does a boycot work to what is cancer
and how we using our tax feelings to
address these issues she and her friends
bring new ideas to the table and ask
questions about the status quo and make
us ask ourselves well why do we do it
that way she and her friends they have
the same zeal as a little farm girl
whose parents used to sell milk once did
I’m giving them all the chances and
opportunities in the world now and I
hope that when they joined the work
force that you will too thank you
[Applause]
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