Is there someone in your life who you look up to and who helped guide you through your first steps in your career? Do you want to become that person for someone else and make a difference in their life? Today we introduce you to Mohammed Maawy, one of Hatua’s valued mentors; here is an inspiring interview on how he has lifted up a one of Hatua’s student to professional success.
Who is Ahmed Maawy?
Ahmed Maawy is a Social Entrepreneur, Product Manager and Technology Solutions Developer. Ahmed founded SwahiliBox, which gave rise to MakersHub, a project that is being done in collaboration with Hatua Likoni. Ahmed has also worked with Al Jazeera Media Network and AJ+ more recently, and has been an active contributor to innovative initiatives that have disrupted the technology space in Kenya and globally.
Ahmed Maawy
How did you become a Hatua Mentor?
I had a very good relationship with the founder of Hatua Likoni, Gabrielle Fondiller, and had been oriented to what Hatua Likoni does. Gabrielle called me over for a coffee meet and introduced me to Dennis Onkangi, a brilliant student who had a passion for technology. I personally admired the resilience and passion that Dennis had, considering the very limited resources he had at his disposal. For me this was a key ingredient in a successful community member for SwahiliBox, so I paired him with initiatives that would grow his professional portfolio and exposure.
Did you have a mentor when you were a student? If yes, how did it work for you? If no, did you have to struggle reaching your career goals?
I think one of the things that made me take an effort to setup facilities like SwahiliBox and MakersHub in Mombasa is due to the frustrations I had faced myself, not having access to genuine mentors who could guide me through my journey. In some ways my mindset and Dennis’ mindset and attitude are very much alike. This made building a successful portfolio an uphill battle, with many trials and errors along the way but eventually leading to success. When I look back at where I started and where I am at the moment, I am happy. For me being successful doesn’t stop at that, it goes on and on, it means you always need to have the zeal to become a better version of yourself through lifting others.
How has it been mentoring Dennis?
As mentioned earlier, Dennis has had the key ingredients in his passion and attitude already sorted. Mentors don’t make people, they guide people. Dennis has made himself what he has become. Of course its people like Dennis who carry the flag for the case as to why SwahiliBox thrives, it is always a give and take. And as much as mentors exist, the mentees carry the baton themselves. And I must admit Dennis has exceeded my expectations. Dennis incubates his projects with 2 of the established incubation centers in the country. I think it talks loads about the personality that Dennis is when you consider he is a University student and has 2 businesses already in incubation centers.
What motivates you to continue mentoring young people?
Partly selfish and mostly for satisfaction. I have had a passion to make Mombasa the eco-system I can invest in, and success stories like Dennis’ build the case as to why Mombasa deserves an investment from business and other professional partners. It is also partly the fact that when I see people benefit from a result of the works I have put in place, I feel a sense of accomplishment and pride myself. Eco-systems that thrive are not owned by pots of individual but mainly because of collaboration between individuals. I had written a blog post about why the future of disruptive communication is collaborative.
Despite your busy schedule, how do you find time for mentoring?
With people like Dennis it is honestly not much effort. You only spare 15 to 30 minutes each 2 weeks and let them go. Mentees do most of the work themselves, your role is just to give them direction and frameworks. To be honest that was the whole point of having SwahiliBox. With SwahiliBox, I just had to attach Dennis to initiatives that were already there, give him direction on what he can do and the rest is just up to him. This means that I just had to attach him to work that I had already done and save myself a great deal of effort. He works with what has already been an established system.
What is your vision for your mentee?
My vision is for him to enable himself. I look forward to working with brilliant people like Dennis in the future, and folks like Dennis fit the bill. I look forward to collaborating with folks who have the right mindset and attitude to drive things forward and disrupt eco-systems further.
What are the things you are doing to help him get to that vision?
As earlier stated, SwahiliBox is the project that I put in place, not only for Dennis, but for many other folks. And I would like to give special thanks to folks who have been there to support our journey, like Indigo Trust, Hivos, DOEN, as well as the French Embassy in Kenya and Somalia – who have given Swahili Box a huge support for project SwahiliBox and MakersHub Likoni, who are also collaborating with Hatua on a coding project. I see a lot more potential in MakersHub working with Hatua for greater future possibilities, especially for folks like Dennis and even other folks who will be like him. I think the future is yet to come.
From your experience, what can you advise other mentees?
Where a lot of young people fail is in selflessness, resilience, passion, and discipline. I think a negative experience I have had with a lot of youth is they are yet to understand that these 4 things matter a lot, not only for themselves, but to the society in general. In Africa for example, we are demanded to work hard to achieve and be selfless to give more than what we expect to get back. Africa shall never attain development if its own people are not ready to volunteer for causes that will create the society that is ideal for them. Individuals in thriving societies are socially conscious and put an effort to develop their societies expecting the societies to give them back equal to what they give to it. As earlier stated, the 4 attributes work out for our own good, not just for the society’s good.
Also, never do anything if you don’t have a passion for it. Even if your passion is in cleaning the streets, there are ways you can make this a professional and well paying initiative, if only you have the patience, resilience and discipline. Rome was not built in a day.
How would you encourage other experts to join as mentors for Hatua students
That is the same reason why I cannot be available to each Hatua student. Some students will want to be lawyers, and some will want to be professional chefs and cooks (no kidding, we need to invest in areas that students have a passion in, not what we think they ought to do), some will want to be pilots, some will want to be mechanics, some want to be teachers and a countless number of professions.
Society works when lawyers back the cooks who feed the people – and these cooks get to have their plane tickets to go cook in conferences because the mechanics fix the aircrafts that the pilots use to fly them to those conferences. Every profession counts!
We can’t be choosy about what students need to be passionate about. If you have a passion in cooking and you have a good hand at it, mentor a Hatua student passionate about cooking. Same applies to lawyers, pilots, mechanics and many others.
Are you an expert in your field and willing to mentor a Hatua Student! Volunteer by Signing up on this link: https://goo.gl/7Y14cK