What are you waiting for? Start now!

If you are in the university and are waiting to complete your studies before you apply for that job you long for, or are waiting to graduate before you actively pursue your interest, this feature is for you.

We spoke to six young people who will challenge you to act now and begin to build your profile.

Learning on the job, they have found, begins opening doors for you early enough, as well as exposing you to the intrigues of the field that you are most interested in.

You will find that the little efforts are what eventually build that satisfying career that you look forward to.

In a nutshell, the most important ingredients you need are a solid passion in a cause and enough inner push that will prompt you to sacrifice your spare time while in school to begin crafting the future you envision.

FAITH MUTHEU, 22

(B. COM STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI)

FUZUSMART MENTORING PROGRAMME

At 19 years, Faith already had the dream of setting up her foundation – Fuzusmart, which would provide mentorship for high school students. But she was a bit worried about whether people would take her seriously because she was still a teenager.

“It took me about a year to get comfortable with the mentroship idea, and when I turned 20, I set up my foundation,” she says.

Fuzusmart focusses on mentorship for young people, especially those still in high school. Faith is also a volunteer with Life Transformers, a student organisation at the University of Nairobi, and Mentor me Dear, a programme by YMCA.

“While in high school, my late grandmother would often tell me, ‘Fuzu smart (perform well) in your exams – I thought it would be the perfect name for my initiative,” she explains.

Later, when she joined the University of Nairobi, she took part in several mentorship programmes run by various organisations such as the Africa Awake Company, Life Transformers at the UoN, and the Ujana initiative. Her experience here is what motivated her to begin her own mentorship platform - her exposure made her realise the centrality of mentorship in young people’s lives, while at the same time highlighted the reality that mentorship opportunities were scarce, especially for high school students.

 “I did not have all the mentorship that I needed growing up, so that was also a motivating factor for me to set up fuzusmart.com, the aim to give other young people the opportunities that I had not had,” she says.

 “I started doing this in 2015 – I would approach schools and ask for opportunities to speak to the students as a mentor. It wasn’t easy getting started because I had nothing concrete to show, not even a website where people could read more about my initiative,” she says.

Her intiative took off when she went online, first creating a Facebook page (fuzusmart.com) as well as a blog—these enabled her to grow her networks and find even more connections.

“So far, I have been privileged to give talks in schools in the heart of Nairobi, Machakos and Makueni Counties. I look forward to reaching out to more schools,” she says.

Faith encourages her peers to network widely and to begin planning for their future early because that is the only way to survive in this century: “Look for high impact connections on social media, attend relevant events and get connected to people in your field and slowly, your network will begin to grow.”

IVANNA WAWERU, 21

BA, COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY, TANGAZA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE (NEWLY CROWNED MISS CULTURE)

WEZA DADA FOUNDATION

An unplanned pregnancy forced Ivanna out of her comfort zone.

“A month after I turned 18, I found out I was pregnant. I had to face a disbelieving, angry mother and what looked like a scary future. I had not even sat for my IGCSE exams,” she says.

This experience prompted Ivanna to grow up fast.

“I realised my mistake, such as looking for love at the wrong places, keeping the wrong company, and the failure to really deal with the wounds and hurts that I had bottled up, such as not growing up with a father and not realising that my search for approval in the wrong places originated here,” she says.

It occurred to her then that there could be many other young people who were trapped in wrong choices, choices they did not clearly connect to feelings such as those of neglect.

“In August 2015 when my son was nine months old, I decided to initiate a support group made up of young mothers, the idea, to come together and share, encourage and support one another. I began with a Facebook page and a WhatsApp group. Later, I saw the need for us to meet physically. Five meet ups later and refined goals ahead, I am proud to say I have reached over 200 young mothers, who I have met face-to-face, and many more online.

I have testimonies of girls finally accepting their situation and realising that life goes on after pregnancy at a tender age; I have testimonies of girls that have decided to keep their babies rather than abort them; I have testimonies of girls taking charge of their self-awareness and avoiding unplanned for pregnancies. It is so encouraging.”

SAM MWINGA, 24

SECOND YEAR, BURUBURU INSTITUTE OF FINE ART, PENCIL ARTIST

Sam captures portraits in pencil. He also practices figure drawing during his free time to better his pencil art skills.

“I have passion in pencil art, and long before I went to school to learn fine art, I was already drawing and posting some of my work online - that is how I built my clientele base,” he says.

He did not wait to go to school before putting his talent to use, “I just did what I knew, and slowly, I started to build a clientele, though it took me two years to actually start getting regular clients.”

To succeed in a career such as Sam’s, one needs continuous practice and an understanding of how the field operates, hence why he decided that rather than wait until the end of his course, he put his skills into practice. The greatest challenge for him, especially at the beginning, was getting the right mentors to point him to the right direction.

“Navigating the art world is not easy, especially when you are new in it; without money and with no knowledge of what to expect along the way,” he says.

He is therefore thankful for the early head start because it has given him enough time to work around the challenges of the career and understand the other possibilities within the craft.

“Starting out my craft early for instance gave me enough time to learn about the alternative materials that I could use in my art as well as other avenues I could channel my drawing towards, such as tattooing and illustration,” he says. Sam is interning as an illustrator at Mentor Publishers, in Nairobi. He is also a self-taught tattoo artist.

“Illustration promises a bit more stability while allowing me to follow my true passion in drawing,” he says.

 He mostly uses social media to market his work, but does not hesitate to approach strangers and showing them his pieces.

AUSTINE OKORE, 22

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI: BSC. GEOLOGY

SINGER/SONGWRITER, HALISI BAND and FASHION MODEL

Austine is a lover of science who is totally intrigued by the huge possibilities that the discipline presents, but his greatest fascination is with the depth of the arts.

“I find depth and pride in art –  having my own, being able to build from scratch , working my way up, being an artist and  a creative, which translates to business – doing  what I truly love and which thankfully pays my bills,” he says.

His music and fashion started in 2009 while still in high school; he was in the music department. He would go ahead to train himself in classical music, later, he got additional training from his school choir, which went all the way to the nationals (Kenyan Music Festival). While in the choir, he was taught by his music teacher about the importance of good grooming. His school uniform was his first design, as it was tailor-made for him – that constituted his initial steps into fashion.

Later, when he joined university, he met friends with whom he shared interests, and they came together to form Halisi Band, as well as begin modelling and fashion design professionally.

Austine is not blind to the fact that his chosen career path and the course he is studying at the university are not exactly on the same path, but feels that none of his skills is wasted.

“My degree goes a long way in securing networks that are formal for me, plus having an education brands my work in very formal terms,” he says, adding that that the link between art and science will come through the investments that he intends to make in the field of geology.

“I have chosen to go with my artistic career because it affords me a sense of independence, open-mindedness, and I am able to work with my creative faculties. I however look forward to investing in the geology sector in future,” he says.

Austine is able to make money from music and modelling, which enables him to pay his own rent, buy food,  clothes, and cater for his transport and other day-to-day needs.

“I also invest part of what I earn in funding my music career; I pay for production, branding and reinvest the rest in the business.”

REGINA KIMANI, 23

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI (BSC. QUANTITY SURVEY) VOLUNTEER, AFFORDABLE ART SHOW

For many university students, the greatest worry is whether or not they will get a job after completing their education; if the skills they have acquired over the course of study will translate to the necessary skills that are sort after by employers.

But what if they moved this worry from the end of their university courses to the very beginning? That is the angle that Regina took up when she volunteered for the annual week-long Affordable Art Show three years ago.

“I learnt about the show through posters in malls and the Kenya Museum Society’s website and registered my interest - that is how I got in,” she explains.

Right from the start, Regina enjoyed art, “I changed the arrangement of furniture at home all the time and loved drawing, but since science was marketed as the ‘proper’ subject for a well-performing student such as I was, I ended up studying Quantity Survey,” she says.

The Affordable Art Show, which marked its third edition earlier this month, is a platform where up and coming artists can present their work for peer review and critique, as well as meet and interact with other established artists and learn from them.

“To be part of the show, all one needs to do is show up. If you are an artist and would like to exhibit your work, register before the show to have the arrangements for your exhibition made. The display is part of the programmes that Kenya Museum Society is spearheading for young people,” she says.

Regina has been part of the committee organising the initiative over the past three years.

“The greatest lesson for me as a volunteer here  is that my perspective for detail has improved; working here has also given me the chance to meet many people from whom I have learned a great deal,” she says.

Regina’s role on the committee involves planning, sourcing for funds and sponsorships and developing the day’s programme.

She encourages all artists and others who are curious about the arts in general to continuously check out the activities of the Kenya Museum Society on their various platforms for the opportunities that continuously come up. Regina hopes to pursue a career in art in future, which she sees as intricately tied with survey.

“Volunteering for the show has opened the doors of the art world for me, I have built my confidence and networks upon which I will definitely build my career on in future,” she says.

SHARON ETEMESI, 21

PWANI UNIVERSITY: B.A HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT

TRAINING DIRECTOR: KENYA NATIONAL DEBATES COUNCIL

Sharon is a natural debater; she is currently the training director at the Kenya National Debates Council, but this is not where it all started for her.

“I have been debating from way back – my high school days,” she says.

After high school, she joined KNDC as a volunteer, and has since risen through the ranks to the position that she currently occupies.

“Over time, I started to clearly see the link between actively talking about issues, positive engagement and how this then translates to participation in governance,” she says.

Sharon likes to interrogate ideas and support them with facts, and according to her, if young people tested their arguments in the midst of other people – experienced and knowledgeable debaters, then they stand a better chance of developing themselves into all-rounded individuals who understand issues within their communities and can therefore actively participate in the shaping of their destinies.

“Debates provide a safe space to discuss anything, and you get a chance to discuss that which you really believe in, controversial or not, without any barriers,” she explains why she thinks it is important for young people to sharpen their skills in debate.

At the KNDC, where she has been for the past five years, Sharon has also worked as an organiser, planner and trainer.

KNDC trains university and high school students in the art of structured debates, and Sharon is at the centre of all of this.

“We hold friendly debates twice every month and my job sees me train the students in public speaking, content training for those taking part in the debate, as well as the art of debate tournaments. This also means that I am involved in all the detailed planning of all the debate tournaments,” she says.

The central place of training for KNDC is Kenyatta University, City Campus, but the venues for debates shift all the time depending on content and whether or not a university administration comes on board and agrees to provide a venue within the campus.

“We still have a challenge because university administrations do not fully support debates,” she says.

Sharon sees hospitality as a path that will appease her entrepreneurial part.

“I am quite entrepreneurial, and intend to use my degree in hospitality and tourism to get my foot into the food industry; that is my professional choice,” she says.

Sharon underscores the importance of beginning to push through your passions early enough because through doing this, you get to exercise your muscles, build on the skills that you have and stretch your passions to fruition.

She is interested in pursuing a career in youth, governance and diplomacy, which will put her in a better position to impact the community from her accumulated learning about people relations through her participation in debates.

“Amina Mohammed, (Kenya’s Foreign Affairs CS) inspires me, and I would like to get to her level or articulation and presentation of issues. The reason I am eyeing diplomacy, (international relations) is purely passion,” she says.

Sharon’s greatest pride is her contribution to the improvement of public speaking skills of the students that she has trained.

Well, she, like the other youngsters in this story is not waiting to graduate before she begins following her passion. Are you?