Reminiscing my previous experiences and visualizing my future puts me in a fix right now. I once read that thinking about the past leads to depression and about the future makes us anxious or worried. That we can find peace by using the time at hand effectively, by living in the moment. This line of thought was attributed to Lao Tzu.
The truth is that it is difficult to live in the moment. No matter how hard we try, one thought or the other gets us drifting into one or two of the aforementioned perturbing mental states. I have then realized that appreciation and gratitude helps us live in the moment.
In some minutes away from this very moment the hands of time will add one year to my present age. This one is quite significant because I will be turning 26 on the 26th. I decided to express my thoughts by writing to my future self, learning from and chiding ‘myself’ for my wrongs. I will then revert to living in the moment by appreciating everything and everyone that have shaped me.
I am not sure there is a particular way to feel when scaling the mid-twenties into the late twenties domain. I however look both at myself and ‘responsible’ people that are younger with a feeling of ‘discontent’. I feel like I should have accomplished more at this present age. More in the sense that there is always the burning desire to make impact, ‘to change the world and make it a better place’. I haven’t lived up to that. I am certain there are so many people that feel the same way. It is obvious that not everyone lives up to such expectations. I am not reiterating it to console myself but to restrategise. Learning from my failures and refining my approach. I won’t pass blames for any reason. I rather take responsibility for my actions and inaction's than to pass blames.
I believe there are more dots to connect. The future is ladened with hopes of greater accomplishments and impact. These are however overrated thoughts. The future I hope for will not materialize if I don’t work towards it. Therefore I have to set more SMART goals that will be an anchor to the future. I have to be more humane because its the lives I touch that matters the most. I have always held the ubuntu philosophy to a high esteem. ‘I am because we are’, this creates a chain effect that binds our actions to each other. It holds that a ripple effect can be easily created by the decisions and impending actions we take. I would have to be more accountable and responsible for the choices that will chart the next course of my life and those I come in contact with.
Having gone back and forth, I now choose to settle for the bird at hand. As an aspiring serial entrepreneur, I am grateful for the people and opportunities that have shaped me so far. As a Nigerian and Igbo, a child is not trained by only his parents. The entire close, extended family and even ‘village people’ plays a role in shaping a child to be responsible or irresponsible. I am grateful for the lessons and morals passed across. I have taken those ones I deem fit for me and discarded the -ve ones. My immense gratitude goes to my immediate family for their oodles of love, affection and support.
Over the past one year, my life has been greatly impacted by the decision to walk the entrepreneurial path. I believe it’s a year that will go a long way to shape the future for me. I spent the last 365 days of my life understanding the startup ecosystem. This opportunity was made possible by Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology, MEST. An enabling environment occupied by budding entrepreneurs of African descent. All with the hopes of using technology to change the face of the African continent. To create the ‘wakanda’ we all envision. Its been an amazing journey. Learning from the Ivorians, South Africans, Ghanaians, Kenyans, Zimbabwean, and fellow Nigerians have been quite impactful. It was a complete immersion into the startup ecosystem.
Going forward, I am at the phase of starting a fin-tech company with colleagues from the MEST program. We will be responsible for helping financial institutions digitize their processes. We currently have a product for fulfilling KYC requirements and ensure seamless on-boarding. This product makes use of computer vision and machine learning to recognize and match users face to their IDs. The possibilities are endless and we will explore them extensively.
To wrap it up, I am the Minimum Viable Version of myself. I am not yet there, nevertheless I am not where I use to be. Always developing myself, measuring the outcomes and learning of ways to be better.
