Make inspiration an acquaintance

Being inspired is one the best feelings in life; it gives you the strength you need to keep moving forward. You can be inspired by someone’s deeds, character, life story and others, but, what if you could make this inspiration’s acquaintance? Last week during the Global Entrepreneurship Week organised by SEN, I got the opportunity to meet people with outstanding achievements at the Open House. The event was swarmed with top entrepreneurs and public figures from in and outside the country. As a creative teenager, it was simply an opportunity I couldn’t afford to lose. I managed to talk most of the people around, getting different views and pimping up my own creativity with more knowledgeable ideas. I also met and mingled with the truly inspiring Clarisse Iribagiza of Hehe Limited.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Oprah Winfrey has been an ispiration to many young people around the world. Net photo.

Being inspired is one the best feelings in life; it gives you the strength you need to keep moving forward. You can be inspired by someone’s deeds, character, life story and others, but, what if you could make this inspiration’s acquaintance? Last week during the Global Entrepreneurship Week organised by SEN, I got the opportunity to meet people with outstanding achievements at the Open House. The event was swarmed with top entrepreneurs and public figures from in and outside the country. As a creative teenager, it was simply an opportunity I couldn’t afford to lose. I managed to talk most of the people around, getting different views and pimping up my own creativity with more knowledgeable ideas. I also met and mingled with the truly inspiring Clarisse Iribagiza of Hehe Limited. During our unbelievably hour long conversation (I was betting more on 10 minutes at the most), she shared with me her Hehe Limited experience. I cannot explain enough how happy it makes me to see more Rwandans (especially women) taking control and telling us (youngsters) that it can be done! I liked the fact that she believes in team work because we all know that teamwork builds dreams. The lovely Clarisse insisted that team work is vital as dreams sometimes need help from other people. It is hard to achieve success on your own. According to Ms Iribagiza, learning never ends - a wise person learns something each day. True inspiration comes from within and nobody will ever believe in you if you do not believe in yourself. Above everything, have some spirit; we are all stars in our own fields.She not only inspired, motivated and encouraged me to be creative, set goals and be determined to achieve them all but she also made me realise that it was the best conversation I ever had. Most teenagers think that people who have achieved a lot are hard to talk too but believe me, those are the people whose words carry the biggest message, no matter how hard you think it is to talk to them. We learn from experience which means we must learn from those with tangible achievements because they are the ones who have managed to take a step ahead in their desired careers.We are young and have a lot to learn in life. We learn in class, but there are things we learn outside the classroom, things we take for granted and things we think are too grownup. Ending our conversation, Clarissa told me that loving what you do is the greatest motivation to success, not only for business but anything you want to pursue. I believe that team work, commitment, socialising, hard work and positive thinking will lead us to our desired development. I sincerely hope you find the inspiration and motivation you are seeking. Make every day an inspirational one. Remember, the most important ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.