Perseverance is developed not learned

Perseverance is not a skill that can be learned out of a training session or theoretical class but rather a trait developed through real life experiences. When she talks about perseverance, Joan draws from years of resilience, persistence and consistence. Joan is a 19 year old lady currently enrolled in the Kyusa program aspiring to become an entrepreneur.

Joan was raised by a single mother who had to fend for them as a family. She was charged with the responsibility of catering for all their basic needs. One of the major challenges was paying school fees in time. She was constantly on the list of people sent back home for being unable to pay school fees in time. Her friends came to associate her with the ‘fees defaulters list’, something that she soon grew to embrace. This routine affected her academic performance because often times would be forced to miss school for close to a full month while waiting for the mother to raise her school fees before going back to school. This not only affected her but also her siblings.

Even in the midst of these hardships, Joan developed a resolve to never give up or settle for less. She purposed to keep her head up and to keep pressing on. She took the initiative to copy notes from her classmates and to engage in group discussions so as to catch up. Her esteem was slightly affected but her dignity remained unwavering. It is with this same attitude that she now approaches her entrepreneurship career.

Joan believes that perseverance is an outstanding quality that every entrepreneur should possess. In her class presentation on the subject of; ‘Perseverance as a characteristic of an entrepreneur’, she said- “Not everyone can persevere. Perseverance moves hand in hand with inner drive. An entrepreneur is someone who is capable of persevering in all aspects of business and has the potential to initiate and drive others towards a common goal”.

Every entrepreneur will go through trying times as s/he establishes their business. The times can come in form of making losses, bad business decisions, theft, damages, over production among others. Such moments can be molding moments for an entrepreneur but what will keep her/him going is their attitude towards their work. An entrepreneur must have an intrinsic motivation to keep going no matter what happens. Joan says; “drive is simply the possession of the intrinsic energy to accomplish business goals even in the face of adversity. An entrepreneur must be organized and focused in their pursuit of establishing a successful business”.

Joan, unlike many young ladies that are forced to drop out of school has had the opportunity to tap into her innate potential as a launching pad for career development through the Kyusa training program. Many of the young ladies who drop out of school are forced into early marriages and some are taking jobs overseas only to find themselves forced into prostitution, according to Ugandan police.

Kyusa empowers out of school youth in the urban slums to turn their passions in professions by exploring the use of ICT tools, development of employable and entrepreneurship skills. This is done through a twelve weeks program where participants undergo a rigorous training regime that equips them to successfully launch into the labor market. We invite you to be part of this drive to ‘Raise Generations of Change Agents’ by either recommending a young person for the program or becoming a Kyusa hero (financial partner).

For further inquiries and insights please contact us: Kyusa.uganda@gmail.com

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