Comments on: Kazi ya Mkono

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 09:51:47 +0000

Kenyan University labs are mostly set up for brochure pictures. So alot of the attitude you get is the defence mechanism of 5 year engineering under grad who doesn’t want you to know he has no idea where the ground wire goes

By: Josiah Mugambi

Josiah Mugambi — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 10:49:34 +0000

Just remembered this quote today:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” ~ Thomas A. Edison

By: Jacob Amwayi

Jacob Amwayi — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:45:04 +0000

Great stuff, good advice in good time. Thanks

By: hash

hash — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 06:33:52 +0000

Steve, that’s true. While I was speaking more generally, across all industries, I’d agree that there seems to be a greater penchant for non-hungry people in small/medium non-profits than in small/medium for-profits.

By: The way to success: KYM

The way to success: KYM — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 22:25:57 +0000

[…] Erik’s blog, its important. Also read about Kenya’s over-educated and unemployable youth and wherenver […]

By: Steve Song

Steve Song — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 12:08:07 +0000

Great article Erik. I think this highlights an issue for social enterprises too and the difficulty of marrying an non-profit view of the world with a start-up view of the world. The biggest challenge in making the transition from non-profit to start-up is recognising whether that hunger exists. Not impossible but under-acknowledged as an issue.

By: jke

jke — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 00:01:14 +0000

I’d love to blame it on a Kenya that is growing too fast atm, where everyone wants to eat cake, but sadly this mindset also exists here in Germany. It probably also is a global thing, which is even spured by digital media that suggests that everything can be done like writing emails or sms. The language alone (the one used in digital communication) could be a hint to how work is done these days.

Also, in an environment that measures its workload by the amount of unanswered emails in an inbox, what really is “getting things done” and what is delegating responsibilities to others?

By: Kamau Wanyoike

Kamau Wanyoike — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 21:32:46 +0000

Hey Erik, like Huston above, I couldn’t have said it better. This is certainly a big problem with the young graduates being churned out by the Unies today. Nobody wants the hard work part yet they still want the same lifestyle of those who get their hands dirty, especially in tech. The talk back to you, know-it-alls, and sometime downright lazy. Two years after we started our company, its been a challenge getting reliable guys who will do the grind when required to. Out of a staff of 15 we have seen six walk away when the going got tough. We now work with a professional recruiter to help pick the right hungry staff.

By: Huston Malande

Huston Malande — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 17:24:58 +0000

Erik, I couldn’t have put it across better. It’s a sad situation.

I’ve often contemplated this pervasive mindset among young people today, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s one of the side effects of our growing tech startup culture.

Just a decade ago, everyone knew that in order to make it in life, you had to work really hard and sweat your way to the top of the corporate ladder. Nowadays, people my age think “If Brian Acton can get $19 billion for building Whatsapp, I’ll do that too and make it big!” And thus they look down upon those who wear themselves out at their professions. A first year university student can be openly rude to Bob Collymore at an open dialogue event because he/she thinks they’re only an idea away from getting to where Bob is.

Well… everyone will grow old… I just hope it won’t take a lifetime for most of these guys to realise the inescapable consequences of their frivolous and delusional mindsets.