Mike Macharia is the founder and CEO of Seven Seas Technologies, a technology company he started in Kenya when he was 26 years old. Over 12 years, the company has grown to operate in 8 African countries providing IT solutions. Macharia believes in nurturing young entrepreneurs in Africa's technology sector and creating an entrepreneurial culture at his company. He encourages risk-taking and learning from mistakes to allow creativity and growth. Macharia's experience shows that success as an entrepreneur requires passion and perseverance through challenges and failures.
Mike Macharia is the founder and CEO of Seven Seas Technologies, a technology company he started in Kenya when he was 26 years old. Over 12 years, the company has grown to operate in 8 African countries providing IT solutions. Macharia believes in nurturing young entrepreneurs in Africa's technology sector and creating an entrepreneurial culture at his company. He encourages risk-taking and learning from mistakes to allow creativity and growth. Macharia's experience shows that success as an entrepreneur requires passion and perseverance through challenges and failures.
Mike Macharia is the founder and CEO of Seven Seas Technologies, a technology company he started in Kenya when he was 26 years old. Over 12 years, the company has grown to operate in 8 African countries providing IT solutions. Macharia believes in nurturing young entrepreneurs in Africa's technology sector and creating an entrepreneurial culture at his company. He encourages risk-taking and learning from mistakes to allow creativity and growth. Macharia's experience shows that success as an entrepreneur requires passion and perseverance through challenges and failures.
www.businessmind.co.ke Kenya Ksh: 300 | Tanzania Tzs: 6500 | Uganda Ugx: 15000 | USD: $5 Nurturing Creative Destructive Entrepreneurs Mike Macharia: Having built Seven Seas Technologies in 12 years, he is now growing other Pan African Techpreneurs as he continues with his journey. Inside: 12,000 trees at Age 12 >Who owns your startup? >Hall of Fame >Eric Omondi >Techie Baker 2 Business Mind | Sep - Oct 2012 Sep - Oct 2012 | Business Mind 3 Cover Story Nurturing creative destructive entrepreneurs Kenya is at the centre of cutting edge technological innovations. And, as an entrepreneur in the dynamic sector, MIKE MACHARIA is always on the go, looking for the next big thing. As he told BUSINESS MIND, his mission is to grow a pool of young entrepreneurs who will drive Africas technology industry. by Oscar Kimani Cover Story | Oct - Nov 2012 M ike Macharia is a hard man to impress. He is impatient and does not sufer fools gladly, if at all. Those who work for him say he has a perma- nent expectation of super performance. He demands a high level of perfection. Working with him can be frustrat- ing, but rewarding. You have to work extra hard to win him over. The life of an entrepreneur, Macharia says, is similar to living in a jungle. You are either a gazelle or a lion. If you are a gazelle, you have to outrun the fastest lion; if you are a lion, you must outrun the fastest gazelle. There are no two ways about it! He says. Business Mind met Macharia for lunch. It is a Saturday afternoon and he looks relaxed. Macharia is the founder and chief executive ofcer of Sev- en Seas Technologies (SST), a company he started when he was 26 years old. When you become an entrepreneur, you should lose your business card, he says as we settle down to talk. It is all about thinking without the box, Macharia asserts. Talking of boxes, the term small and medium en- terprise (SME) really irritates him. Actually, the SME word makes him furious. Why should entrepreneurs put themselves inside the SME box? He states. You hear people saying, I am just a small business. Just an SME ? I think the word SME works against businesses because they never really grow up. Entrepreneurs shouldnt confne themselves. Macharia retorts. here has always been a grey area between the term entrepreneur and small business owner. The two words are often used interchangeably. Austrian economist, Joseph Schumpeter, says there is a signifcant diference in the two terms based on the amount of wealth creation, speed of wealth creation, risk and innovation. According to Schumpeter, the function of the entrepre- neur involves combining various factors in an innovative manner, to generate value to the customer, with the hope that it will generate superior returns that result in the creation of wealth. In comparing the two terms, entrepreneurship often involves substantial innovation beyond what small busi- nesses might exhibit. A small business is simply about gen- erating an income stream that replaces traditional employ- ment, compared to a successful entrepreneur venture that creates substantial wealth. Macharia has one thing that has contributed to his success; passion. Looking back, Macharia appreciates SSTs humble begin- nings. In 12 years, the company has grown steadily and now boasts projects in eight African countries; Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimba- bwe. However, the journey has been very bumpy, with a lot of twists and turns. Failure is part of life. The challenge is waking up and going on, Macharia muses. While the list of the worlds richest may include entrepre- neurs from Silicon Valley, Macharias story is a testimony that success does not come easy. He was a mathematics 4 Business Mind | Sep - Oct 2012 Sep - Oct 2012 | Business Mind 5 Cover Story | Oct - Nov 2012 Cover Story | Oct - Nov 2012 and physics undergraduate student at Egerton University for a few semesters. He was a teenager who had passed his O-Level exams and the education system seemed to con- fne him. After studying in Nairobi for most of his formative years, coping in the new environment was a challenge so he dropped out in frst year and decided to pursue a career in fnance. Once you understand cashfow and fnance, you can do anything, Macharia says. Bye, bye business school While studying, Macharia got a job as an accountant in an IT company. After a few years, he got bored. He wanted to further his studies in the United States of America. As Macharia prepared to travel, he met the chief fnancial ofcer of Rwanda Airlines, who requested him to help them set up an airline operation in Rwanda. That was in 1999. Macharia prepared a proposal, it was accepted. And that marked the beginning of his entrepreneurship journey. But at the time, he did not realise that the Rwanda project marked a new begin- ning for him. For him, the plan to go to the USA was still on. The Rwanda deal saw him set up a company Seven Seas Consultants (later Seven Seas Technologies) with a friend he had known in his previous workplace. Shortly after the airline assignment, he learnt that the military in Rwanda was having challenges in dispatching salaries. They urgently needed a solution that would make it easier for their soldiers to get their wages, from any part of the country, without requiring them to go to a central location. Macharia jumped at the opportunity. Once again, lady luck was on his side, and his proposal was accepted. He found a partner (CISCO) and they embarked on the project. Initially, it was supposed to take a few weeks. But they faced many challenges that had not been anticipated. And the project took longer than had been planned. He even had to go to India to get an engineer to assist them. The project lasted seven gruelling months. By then, his school admission deadline had lapsed. Tough lessons in business Macharia says the nature of the business he is in, means he always has to be on his toes. Our level of execution is very fast. We take risks and deal with it later, he says. Getting into business while he was in his early twenties provided him a great head start. Every day was a struggle so I had to be innovative. I leveraged on my relationships and ran the business using money from suppliers. He recalls. As a start-up, Macharia had no specifc job description. The people who can multitask are the ones who become entrepreneurs. He observes. One major lesson he has learnt as an entrepreneur is not to get attached to money. When you lose a major client, you cant give up because there will al- ways be one person who will give you an opportunity. I once lost a major client and I was very depressed ,but I realised the client had put me in a comfort zone and I could not think. He says. Losing his main client saw Macharia start to search for fresh cheese in other Afri- can countries. From that point we were able to think beyond borders, and we are growing into Pan-African business, with the latest growth spiralling into West Africa, with prospects and potential clients in Nigeria and Ghana. He observes. Not one to be put down easily, Macharia once approached a prominent businessman to invest in SST. He prepared a proposal that explained his simple business model he had customers, suppliers and was using bank credit to f- nance purchases. He wanted to shift from moving boxes to providing solutions. This led Macharia to an angel investor, followed by further investment through private placement from a leading private equity fund. Currently, Seven Seas technologies is going through a fund raising exercise that has generated interest from multiple investor groups in- cluding equity funds, global multinationals and fnancial institutions. Another lesson Macharia has learnt is the importance of creating an entrepreneurial culture at SST. This is some- thing that he is very passionate about. SSTs vision is to become an African company that defnes service excel- lence in technology-driven business solutions. We have created an environment where people are able to exploit their full potential. We encourage a 360-degree way of thinking so that people dont think in a particular way. We do this by sharing knowledge, throwing people in the deep end and allowing them to learn while on the job. He says. Macharia says an entrepreneur should allow em- ployees to make mistakes to allow learning to occur. Create a system with controls. But do not be too rigid. We are in the age of creative destruction, encourage structured change. And make it part of your company DNA, he advises. This approach to business is a deliberate and conscious efort for Macharia, even as he looks at the bigger picture; creating a mass of young entrepre- neurs in the technology sector. His approach is now being used a case study in business schools around the world like Strathmore Business School in Kenya and Lagos Busi- ness School in Nigeria . Working at SST SST has four core values: service excellence, passion for success, innovation leadership and valued partnerships. Most employees, Macharia says, are below 35 years. We have something called BHAG Big Huge Audacious Goal. Dur- ing the on boarding process new employees are given a Post It Note. And asked to write their daring goals and how they align to those of the company. The notes are then hung on a Hopes and dreams wall and serve as a constant reminder. One of Seven Seas Technologies Huge Audacious Goal is to attract the best, unique and extra-ordinary people and provide them an environment to live their dreams and realize extraordinary achievements aligned to their core purpose A manager 6 Business Mind | Sep - Oct 2012 Sep - Oct 2012 | Business Mind 7 Cover Story | Oct - Nov 2012 Cover Story | Oct - Nov 2012 who joined SST after college says upon employment he bought into the vision of what the company would be. We were a small team of engineers. And we started tak- ing on challenging projects with top customers. We were brave. Some partners from India helped us draw up a road- map, a career plan for the next fve years. What we would specialise in, what certifcations we would need, etc. Those of us who stayed have realised our career aspirations, the Manager observes. Macharia has integrated excellence, innovation, synergy and passion into the corporate culture. SST employees care deeply about winning in the market- place and they continuously strive to achieve and provide excellent service. Teams communicate, develop solutions together and respect one another. Proactivity is encouraged so as to anticipate client demands and provide timely solutions. This also prompts the employees to explore other talents they may not have discov- ered before joining SST. This team spirit ensures that our customers become our best advocates through the sheer experience of our friendships, engage- ment with, and transformation of their businesses, which is another Huge Audacious Goal at SST. When employees leave SST, they go into diverse felds, with some going completely out of the technology sector, Macharia says. With the growing demand for talent in the technology sector, SST has created a knowledge sharing culture, for people to learn from each other. Everyone must have an understanding of how the world works. Travelling is important because it provides an understanding of diferent business environments and supports our regional expansion. We ensure that our team knows what they are good at, on a personal level and what we can achieve as an organisation Macharia states. Macha- ria says as an entrepreneur, you can only lead a team that is inspired. Always remind your team that anything they want to accomplish is possible, they just have to believe. As a leader you must be very clear where you want to take the company. And share this vision with a passion. If you want to grow as an entrepreneur, you must never en- tertain mediocrity and procrastination. Quality and timely delivery becomes the best proof of your ability. Do not allow people to package themselves as what they are not, he says. Allow them to learn and grow to who they want to be. This way you will get rid of destructive ofce politics. Seven Seas Technologies growth strategy is rapid, never within comfort zones. When everyone is thinking about Kenya and East Africa, we are focused on uncharted mar- kets in the Central and West Africa. Macharia observes. SST identifes the gaps and provides solutions. People do not buy technology; they buy solutions, better services, efciency and maximised productivity. Macharia says. Next generation of entrepreneurs Macharia is optimizing the current knowledge 4 Life ( K4Life) program run by SST that bridges the skills gap between university training programs and industry needs, by providing free technical trainings on weekends to University students. Springing from this initiative is the birth of a talent accelera- tor in Nairobi. This will help identify the learning gap and ofer hands-on experience. He says students will be allowed to work on projects as consultants. This is our way of helping them set up their enterprises, operate independently while learning from us. Macharia states Whether the trainees in the Knowledge 4 Life programme work for us or not, we are happy that we are making a contribution to the industry, Macharia says, adding that he intends to convert the programme into a not-for-proft ini- tiative. 30 per cent of the benefciaries will be women, 30 per cent from needy families, 20 per cent from polytech- nics and 20 per cent people who dropped out of school. When his time on earth is up, Macharia says his eulogy should read that he made an impact on the lives of his family and friends, the world, profession and his continent ; Africa. Let it be said that I impacted all those aspects of my life by adding meaning, being engaged, forming lasting re- lationships, creating positive emotion and achieving what he set to do. He concludes. Macharia often participates in media talks and addresses gatherings about technol- ogy, entrepreneurship and change, which are subjects close to his heart. He is a member of the Young Presi- dents Organization, Kenya chapter and Young Global Technology Council under the World Economic Forum (WEF). Last February, Macha- ria was requested to cham- pion the Global Shapers Nairobi hub under WEF. Global Shapers involves bringing together youth between 21 and 29 years who want to change their country. The Nairobi Shapers hubs vision is to be a catalyst of change. And help create a positive outlook and mental- ity in the residents. He is married to Connie with whom he has a son named Leo. He enjoys travelling , having covered 45 countries and is a big fan of fne architecture 8 Business Mind | Sep - Oct 2012 Sep - Oct 2012 | Business Mind 9 Cover Story | Oct - Nov 2012 Cover Story | Oct - Nov 2012 Handy Lessons from SST Peter Muya Managing Partner PTI Consulting For most of his career, Peter Muya has been working in the demand side of IT. He has worked for consumers of IT such as telecoms, banking and insurance institutions in diferent capacities ranging from user support, software devel- opment, system administration, project management, solution architect among others. At some point he asked himself, Whats next? Do I want to grow? The options for growing his career in the demand side of IT were limited due to the hierarchical nature of career pro- gression which limited growth to time and availability of vertical opportunities. But, even more important, I did not ft in the vertical setup, he says. Muya considers himself a hands-on person. He is in his element when working with teams. Working in Seven Seas Technology (SST) exposed him to the supply side of IT. He was initially hired to provide pre-sales support to sales functions of the unit of business applications. However as time wore on, he took a much more sales oriented role. Though he had had prior experience in business, this could not count on this occasion because it had been on smaller Ernest Wambari: Co-owner Space Radio & TechMinds Technologies Paula Musuva: Lecturer, United States International University Paula has always been purpose-driven. At 35, she is already writing her PhD thesis. Paula worked at Seven Seas Technologies, rising to the lev- el of team leader. Then she went to Deloitte before going to academia. She is currently teaching information security and forensics at the United States International University. I love working with young people, moulding and shaping their future she says. She learnt about SST from friends in college. The fact that SST hired unique people with talent heightened her interest in the company. I love order. And the clear structures at SST made it easy for me to learn on the job, and grow. She says. Working in Seven Seas Technologies taught Paula excellence in every- thing; especially small things. Mike is charismatic, con- nected and knowledgeable. He was keen on guiding us. According to Paula, the deep end of the pool is the best place to learn how to swim. She recalls the big projects she The Internet opened up my world, says Ernest Wambari. After high school, Wambari worked at the IT helpdesk at a leading University, where he discovered his passion for computers. He later joined JKUAT for an electrical was involved in, especially in the banking and telecom- munication sectors. She worked in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia. The exposure taught her a lot. She later went to the United Kingdom for her masters degree after which she returned to SST as team leader. A position she held for two years. She left SST for Deloitte, where the purpose question hit her. Paulas motivation was the next genera- tion. She had to teach them what she learnt at SST and elsewhere around the world. This would give her fulflment in life. After a years sabbatical which she gave to ministry at Mavuno church, she is now fully engaged in building the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. Impacting the next generation isnt just an occupation, its divine, says the don, who plans to establish a pan-African mentor- ship network. email: [email protected] engineering degree course, but soon dropped out of the course. By this time he had begun pursuing his Cisco career certifcations at the same University. After a few months of working as an apprentice for an IT Consultant, Wambari returned to his frst employer, where he worked as a Network Administrator. It is during this time that he frst heard about Seven Seas Technologies (SST). One Saturday, I went out to the SST ofces, he says. I had a sit down with Mike, told him my story and we quickly struck up a rapport. A few months later, I took up the post of Network Engineer at SST. It was really refreshing not to be judged for having dropped out of UniversityWam- bari recalls. Working under Mike was an eye-opening experience. Being around him has the inevitable efect of broadening ones World view.Wambari says. It was during his time at SST that Wambari wrote his very frst career de- velopment plan. He learnt how to transmute his passions into business ideas. I still have a copy of my frst career development plan fled away somewhere. He says. During his time at SST, Wambari ran projects in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia. He also travelled to South Africa for industry conferences sponsored by SST. Travel- ling defnitely played a huge role in further expanding my world view.While in South Africa he developed a passion for House music (a sub-genre of Electronic Dance Music) This would later form the foundation for his work in the media industry years to come. Wambari later teamed up with like-minded individuals to start Space Media Ltd,a company which runs a digital radio station, provides con- tent, manages artistes and develops the electronic dance music culture in East Africa. Some of our current projects are the Caf Mocha radio show currently airing Saturday afternoons on HBR 103.5FM(Kenya) and the bestselling iTunes podcast Deeper Sounds Of Nairobi. We also have signed a number of Artists who are making signifcant strides of their own in the industry. He added. The future of broadcasting is digital, he says. With the digital age comes the opportunity for artists to directly interact with their fans. Wambari also runs an IT consulting and Training company that partners with SST on various projects. www.spaceradio.fm & www.techminds.co.ke P h o t o g r a p h y
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K i r u t h i 10 Business Mind | Sep - Oct 2012 Sep - Oct 2012 | Business Mind 11 scale and one that was unrelated to supply side of IT. At SST he had to learn the ropes of how to work with targets and be accountable for his time to his colleagues in eforts made to meet those targets. One of the vital lessons Muya learnt at Seven Seas Technologies is the art of selling value rather than product. In the IT industry, too much focus is placed on the technology. Software in itself is abstract and hence convincing a customer to invest millions of dollars on a software requires a diferent strategy altogether, he says. From SST, Muya joined one of the big four consulting frms taking on a slightly diferent role. This was a combination of sales, implementation, project management, billing and collection and resource management. The depth of his technical knowledge gained at SST, enabled him to easily plug in his new role. No sooner had he settled down than the department was reorganised thereby presenting him with an opportunity to grow a sub line of service called enterprise applications. Muyas job was to provide leadership to this unit. His frst assignment was to develop a business plan. Given the frms existing relationship with a variety of custom- ers in multiple industries, he leveraged on those existing relationships to develop his account plans. This required collaboration with colleagues who had deep relationships with those customers. In his entire working career, Muya says he has discovered that innovation is a key diferentiator in the marketplace for any organisation to survive the changing rules of busi- ness. However, our own education system generally boxes us in to think in a particular dimension, which is later on carried to the professional life and which takes time to unlearn. In reference to his experience at the university, For instance, why is there a need for referencing in each and every work project presented? He enquires. What if its your own innovation or one that arose from a discus- sion with a friend? Muya has teamed up with three other individuals to set up Pearl Touch International. He says he has learnt that in business its the relationships created with your customer, your staf, your vendors, your partners, your regulators and your competition that matter. Web: www.pearltouchint.com Richard Isaboke, CEO Shonitel Richard Isaboke believes that entrepreneurial brilliance is innate. In his case, it makes sense. I grew up watching my parents in some kind of business. And defnitely I wanted to replicate the same at some point in my life, he says. It also has to do with interacting with the right people and institutions. He met Mike Macharia of Seven Seas Tech- nologies in industry circles. Isaboke worked at ComTec, one of the pioneer systems integration companies in Kenya, for over 10 years and at SR Telecom, a Canadian telecommuni- cation frm. When Mike was working on SST, he defnitely needed support from the leading players in the industry. And I was working some of these companies, Isaboke recalls. Isaboke was later to join SST to set up a new business unit, the Service Provider Division. This unit focused on telecommu- nication companies such as Safaricom, UTL, Essar Telecoms and Telkom Kenya. Isaboke extended his mandate and made it the lead unit in revenue-generation at SST two and a half years later. After that, Isaboke joined a smaller company where he is a shareholder. Setting out on my own was challenging. Fi- nancing and getting recognition from banks as a trustwor- thy frm requires a lot, Isaboke says. They later managed to gain trust from two leading banks. While Isaboke is doing well, recruiting and training staf to a level where they can ofer consulting services to the mar- ket still poses a challenge. We provide consulting services and provide IT infrastructure, he says. Isabokes success as an entrepreneur is grounded in his knowledge and experi- ence in IT. He has also studied sales and marketing and has an MBA. This puts me ahead since product knowledge is fundamental in the IT feld. If you dont understand the products provided by vendors you are most likely to fail, he says. Isaboke says he aims to make Shonitel one of the leading ICT solutions and service providers in Africa. We want to be the place where organisations can come frst to get ICT skills to deliver their high-end solutions. We also want to support the infrastructure being employed in this market. We look at being a key stakeholder in the ICT industry. Isaboke praises the governments eforts to support the ICT industry. I must congratulate the govern- ment for its fbre optic infrastructure. But would like them to review procurement procedures with consideration to start-ups. web: www.shonitel.co.ke SOLOMON THUO, CEO OneLife Consultants Solomon Thuo vividly remembers his interview at Seven Seas Technologies. He was puzzled when the CEO, Mike Macharia, just asked about his life and ambitions, and not skills. SST was fun and helped me with exposure to diferent aspects of ICT business, he says. He was at SST between 2005 and 2011 . And Thuo says he tasted almost everything from security to networking; from unifed communications to data centre.He had begun as an intern. Macharia would sit with the staf individually, reviewing their roadmaps. During such meetings he would request one to try out something diferent. I loved business even before computers,Thuo says. As a team leader he learnt how do sales, pricing, deal with fgures, and other aspects of performance. In Thuos last year, he just did technical sales.And last January he set up OneLife Consultants. Yet his heart was not always in computers. I did not know I had an interest in computers, Thuo says. The education system, he says, is what made him who he is. After missing out on the electrical engineering course he wanted, he settled for computer science. He had to work hard to learn. Later, when he started his own business, he realised he had to work even harder. It is easy when employed in someone elses business, where there are salaries and bonuses. On your own, the fnal decision rests with you,Thuo says. He admits the experience helped him to structure the business properly. Ours is a purely IT services company. We provide skills not infrastructure. It is a business unit model. Simply put, many small busi- nesses in a big one. Thuo believes it is a robust model if efectively run. web: www.onelifeconsult.com Cover Story | Oct - Nov 2012 Cover Story | Oct - Nov 2012 12 Business Mind | Sep - Oct 2012 Sep - Oct 2012 | Business Mind 13 Top Under 20 10,000 Trees at Age 12 Steve Njoroge has planted trees, numbering almost 1000 times his age. He believes that a child asking for a hoe and a place to plant a tree should not be turned away. By Charles Bodo I am a 12-year-old environmentalist trying to make a brighter future for Kenya and the world, says Steven Njoroge confdently. He is a young boy with confdence beyond his years and an easy going demeanour. Steven started planting trees in 2009 as a hobby that soon blos- somed into a campaign. He has planted more than 10,000 trees. That is about a thousand times my age, he says Njoroge started a club, We Care Club. He started by inviting friends over to his parents house to watch documentaries on the environment. They would watch and discuss the contents of the documentary to learn how to implement the lessons on how to conserve their environment. The day of the interview he had just been inside the Ngong Forest Sanctuary for tree plant- ing. It was his frst time and he made up his mind that members birthdays will now be celebrated there. Njoroge believes that tree planting should be part of celebrating occasions like birthdays. The idea came about last year, he said playing with the green band on his wrist. In fact, he wants to extend this to schools, which celebrate anniversaries. The club now boasts more than 3,000 members from diferent schools. Njoroge recruits new members through his friends and family. His mother has, on several occasions, while discuss- ing his son with her friends, got him new members. His sister, a student at St Georges Girls Secondary School in Nairobi, has got him members in high school. Once some- one joins, I send them on a mission to fnd as many mem- bers as possible in their schools, Njoroge says. He wants to open an ofce where he can sell vouchers for seedlings. This is how he has planned it. First, he will collect contacts of all seedling providers who sell by the roadside next to residential areas. He will keep the contacts in an ofce in the central busi- ness district of Nairobi. He will then create vouchers of dif- ferent values, depending on the seedling a client wants. An extra charge will be put on its price, as a proft margin. And fnally, give clients contacts of a seedling provider near them to collect their seedlings or have them delivered. His plan is to start with Nairobi before moving out to the rest of the Kenya. The roadside tree sellers are the main ambassadors for the environment, Njoroge points out. A stranger interrupts our interview, politely apologising for it. He is impressed and cant wait to tell his son, who is almost the same age, about Njoroge. Njoroge is used to attention and commendation for his work. He recently visited Strathmore University for talk , and environmental conservation was his keen focus. The room was flled with throngs of people amazed by a child,so keen about the environment. You are never too old to conserve the environment. I got that from President Kibaki who, even in old age, tells people to plant trees, he says. Njoroge is a star in his own community. But like any other boy his age, he likes to play, he loves playing basket- ball and travelling. He insists that his family, friends and schoolmates treat him like any other boy. Everywhere he goes, mostly with his parents, Njoroge makes a point to observe and learn how environ- mental conservation is done. Steven has been to India, South Africa, Tanzania, America and Uganda. He was drawn to South Africas balance between development and environmental sustainability. Njoroge was a delegate, representing Kenya at the pre-Rio conference in Indonesia in 2011. He recalls his anticipation of the late Wangari Maathais speech; only to be disappointed on receiving news of her passing. Many people broke down, Njoroge recalls. But we said Just because she is gone does not mean we can- not go on. Njoroge hopes to get support from organisa- tions such as the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) to sponsor the clubs activities. He recently got an invitation from Green Gold, a Non Governmental Organisa- tion, to give a talk on environmental conservation to high school students. Steven is an exception. He also research- es, mostly on the internet and books from the UNEP library. Kenya is behind in environmental matters, he lamented. No one cares enough to see that throwing away a plas- tic paper will spoil the environment. Stevens fear is the low level of awareness and, the reckless attitude that has become a lifestyle. To him, media, especially television, should be used by the government and environmental conservation organisa- tions to sensitise the public I saw how the environment was being destroyed in our county and thought of future generations. I decided that it has to change. It starts with the little things that you do, day by day. What should be done? Steven emphasises on the governments role in monitoring the citizenry. He cites the US where there are laws against littering which carries a sentence. Beyond the penalty, they have cameras in towns that help monitor activities in the streets. He is displeased that those in leadership do not prioritise conservation measures. Those in positions of power make a lot of noise but do not see the big picture here. Njoroge is not afraid to speak his mind. Listening to him, one gets the feeling that he is a born visionary. It is like having a conversation with a young Desmond Tutu, or Al Gore. His dream for the club? Njoroge wants to go global. When I get members from all over the world and fnd a way to communicate with them on what each group is doing in their country, I will be happy, Steven says. In 10 years, he wants to have of- fces all over the world. While most people wade their way through life with no compass, Steven Njoroge already has a philosophy: Trees are life. We all want a good life. Let us therefore take care of trees. Contact: wecareclub.wordpress.org Top Under 20 | Oct - Nov 2012 14 Business Mind | Sep - Oct 2012 We have the deepest fresh coverage of entrepreneurs in the region, targeting the broad spectrum of A, B, C1 economic class comprising of SMEs ,Corporate executives, government ofcials and entrepreneurs. To advertise in the next issue, contact: Oscar Kimani +254 737 891 015 [email protected] Does your brand target entrepreneurs and SMEs? Targeted Reach