Focus On Success

Written by Rachael Kizza

Jim Collins in his book, Good to great, believes that the best way to grow is to FOCUS. Focus on one thing that you are good at and not only good but you’re BEST at. In that you can beat other people at it. Once you discover it, channel all your energies into it and you will experience immense breakthrough.

Focus I believe is setting your eyes on one thing and seeing it through to the end.

Businesses /organisations require undivided attention because they are growing; like a baby, every stage is as important as the initial kicks .Failure to focus on it will lead to bumps and humps along the way.

The great book says, ``out of the abundance of your heart, the mouth speaks.’’ What is your heart full of? It will come out in your talk with people, your thoughts and even your social media activity will reveal your focus.

Starting an organisation and growing it is a huge task, everything relies on you, in simple terms you are the mother of your baby. That is a huge task and has sub responsibilities under it to see it blossom.

What is your focus??

Are you the kind who wants your baby to be grown by others? Or the mother who doesn`t want to carry out the tough job but wants to enjoy the benefits? Whichever you are, shortcuts will only lead to your baby getting stunted and might eventually collapse or die.

Helpers come in but they can`t take care of that baby more than its mother. You have the upper hand.

Keep your focus with a clear head and be ready to put in the hard work always.

Kyusa empowers youth to grow sustainable businesses by helping them channel their energies at what they are passionate about.

How To Grow Interns

Interns are a popular item with in the market place because mainly they offer free labor although with minimum expertise on the job if any at all. They come in handy when you have overwhelming work load and can be a source of enthusiasm because of their high energy levels but do they actually achieve their purpose for being sent out…

According to Wkipedia.org, ``An Internship is a job training for white collar and professional careers.’’ Internship positions can be paid for or unpaid for and usually temporary.

In most universities in Uganda, the students are expected to take on internship in their second year in a bid to get work experience or have a taste of what it would be like to work after graduating from campus. The standard internship lasts for close to three months.

However, do students really get the ``so called work experience? ’Are the work places ready for these interns?’’ These are questions that every company or organization should be in position to answer.

The universities might be churning out thousands of graduates each year who are ill-prepared for the work place but isn’t this the solution the internship experience is meant to provide??

If students are rough on the edges, let the internship experience sharpen them. The whole internship process is geared at equipping students with work place etiquette as well as giving them a practical work experience.

A few tips on how to best prepare to receive interns in your workplace;

v Follow the trends of various universities in order to know when internship happens and prepare accordingly to receive interns .If they are expected each year, then planning for them will not be a hard task.

v Know how many interns the organization needs and break it down to know the departments that need interns.

v Define what the interns are to do while with the organization. Remember, people can`t do everything. This saves time on both ends –for the interns and the host organization.

v Allocate supervisors to the interns; these supervisors monitor the progress of the interns and ensure they are growing for the time they are with the organization. This process is about value –addition for the students as they help out the host organization.

v There should be a skill set the organization is dedicated to equipping the interns with.

This provides another dimension to youth empowerment and cuts the cycle of unemployment giving youth an opportunity to be trained and prepared for the work place.

Work places in all their various capacities need to be concerned with youth empowerment. It`s time they paid attention to the internship process and rigorously add value to the interns they receive each year. At Kyusa, we are keen and committed to empowering as well as equipping the interns that we take on from time to time because we realize the relevance of that phase in the life of a young person aspiring the launch into the labor market.

All stakeholders must join the youth empowerment movement and play their role.

How to Grow Your Business

Tips on how to grow a business

Currently, youth are encouraged to start-up businesses left-right and center and we have seen a number of youth do amazing things. Kyusa too offers a platform for young people to start up passion based businesses.

A few tips on how to grow a business start-up as well as enable it outlive its first birthday;

• ·         The first and most important question to answer is, what problem am I solving? Entrepreneurs are people who solve problems while making money. You experience a double edged sword.

• ·         Are you passionate about what you are doing? Simply put, passion is what gives you your fire. Passion will keep the fire burning amidst any turmoil.

• ·         What is the vision for your business? Vision is the future eye of the business. It answers the where are you going? Where do you see yourself? This requires a lot of thought; you should be able to see the future of this business before you start it.

• ·         What is your motivation for starting the business? Is it to make money only? Money shouldn't be the driving force because businesses take time to grow and yield you the profits you desire.

• ·         Always research about the business you are in (or are planning to go into); it is guaranteed you will learn how to run it better. Don’t give up on this habit.

• ·         Exercise patience all the way. Any growth process requires patience. The ability to remain steadfast onto something amidst stagnation,turmoil,and things not going as we hoped they would.

• ·         Curve out your best interest and concentrate on being a MASTER in that. Don’t be a jack of all trades and a master at none. Find your curve and master it to the dot.

• ·         Set up financial systems that will help you not steal from your business. This involves proper record keeping of every item bought in and for the business. If there workers, how much are they being paid, how much is the business making at the end of each month.

• ·         Get a mentor; Mentors are good in particular area and aligning yourself with one is a great tip. For example, Rachel has a cake business but is always in debt and never has resources to make cake orders. The mentor will help her identify where the problem is in her finances and how to get financially empowered.

• ·         Networking is a strong pillar. Networking is like fishing; you catch all sorts of fish and other things. Then you keep what you need and let go of the rest. These networks open doors for business growth.

These tips were gathered from Youth who have had the privilege of starting up their own businesses and have outlived their first birthday and are growing steadfastly.

Effective Management of Time & Money

“Tell me how you use your time and how you spend your money and I will tell you where and what you will be ten years from now” -Napoleon Hill

Time and money are some of the most valuable resources that you have been blessed with. Therefore, understanding how to use them is very vital in evaluating your progress and identifying what may be holding you back. Your personal attitude towards life determines your attitude towards time and; how you use your time determines how much you want to earn as regards your destiny.

Managing your time is similar to managing your life that is; you need to know what you want to use it for. First of all, you need to learn to prioritize your tasks and always create evidence of accomplishment of a given task; as this serves as a reminder of your efficient use of time. In addition, you should also decide to devote your spare time to the things that you think are important to you other than your job for example family, friends, reading, education and recreation among others.

On the other hand; just like time, money should also be spent with a clear purpose. You therefore need to create a budget for all your expenses and ensure that you stick to it through self-leadership. You also need to allocate a portion of your income to savings, charity and give yourself some reward for doing your job.

Developing and sticking to your budget has many advantages which include; increasing your habit of self-discipline and also helps you learn how to make your money serve your purpose.

Finally, when you have figured out how to improve your use of time, you will be able to allot more of it to managing your money! You need to learn to seize every moment of time as if it were the only one you had.

We therefore encourage you to sign up for the Kyusa program so that you are equipped with more skills on time and money management through the Financial Literacy module in the Kyusa curriculum!

Enrollment for the January 2017 intake is on.

How To Manage Your Sales

Selling and selling properly is a key factor in business!

Every entrepreneur is encouraged to learn how to sell as it is another way of social interaction. Dave Ramsey states, “Selling is nothing more than transference of feelings”. Entrepreneurship involves persuading a team to follow you in achieving a certain goal. Therefore below are some of the steps taken to ensure effective selling;

As an entrepreneur, you need to know your target market to the dot so you are able to qualify your clients. You should also encourage your team to always serve clients’ needs but not pressure them to buy products. This is mainly because clients usually purchase for their own reasons not yours.

In addition to the above, you need to be able to build rapport as this is what creates an opportunity for the buyer to trust you. One writer also emphasizes that people will buy from you only if they trust you, your product and company. Therefore, you need to have attractive packaging of your products, proper eye contact among other things. When rapport is effectively built, then positive referrals within the community begin to flood in which eventually boosts your business.

Furthermore, you also need to be well educated and informed about your products and competitors given the fact that it is very difficult to teach someone how important something is unless you actually know it. You are also able to passionately serve your clients when you know so much about your competitors mainly because you know why you are better.

Finally, always make it a point to sell and serve by describing the benefits of the products mainly because people do not buy products or services but rather what those products or services do! as encouraged by Dave Ramsey.

Let us therefore partner with Kyusa in creating a community of youth who have been fully equipped with entrepreneurship skills that will enable them to effectively sell their products or services thereby earning a living and causing social transformation. Enroll a participant for the January 2017 intake.

HOW TO LAUNCH YOUR BUSINESS

Many people always have the thought that starting business is hard. I say “no” to this thought by sharing a few nuggets on how to launch your business;

First and foremost you need to know the “why”, “how” and “what” of your business; you should be certain about the reason as to why you have selected a particular line of business. This reason should be big and audacious enough to keep you on fire and spread over to your future team and stimulate them. You should also know the strategies you are going to apply and what exact product or service you intend to produce. When all this is clear, the journey to launching your business then starts.

Secondly, you also need to identify the needs of the people in the surrounding areas and see how best to serve them. This can also help you in identifying your niche that is finding out what distinguishes you from other producers. For example, if there are many shoe sellers in an area, you may choose to sell yours with a free pair of stockings in addition.

Always start small and be proud as you launch out because even great oaks were once small acorns as stated by a certain writer. You are advised to start with the available amount of capital and resources. Borrowing to start business is usually discouraged. Hence, sometimes you might need to use the space at home in the early stages of your business till your income increases for example you can start by having a mini bakery at home where you bake the cakes and fry the daddies from .

Finally, when you start, always endeavor to employ workers who buy into the “why” of your business as this will save you from various problems. Therefore; forgetting all the fears, with our passions and dreams right, let us jump onto this train of business.

Kyusa commissions change agents to start up passion driven businesses through the Business Development module which is part of the curriculum. It is for this reason that I encourage you to recommend a person for the January 2017 intake.

Alumni Empowers Four Other Job Creators

The Kyusa program takes a holistic approach in empowering out of school youth to become employable mainly by starting their own businesses. Once alumni start their businesses. Kyusa continues to work with them towards growing and accelerating their business ventures.

Viola, an alumnus from the Kyusa pilot class recently visited the Kyusa offices and shared her milestones since graduating from the pilot class of 2014; “Kyusa empowered me to become financially independent. I ventured into a snack business after the program focusing on the production of crisps, hard corns, wedding cakes, ground nuts and cookies. I have expanded my market reach to three secondary schools in the areas of Nyanama, Kabowa and Bunamwaya. I also supply three shops in my home area with my products.. My income levels have increased, I earn a profit of 75,000/= weekly from sales and I save 29%. In addition, I have conducted training's where I have empowered four ladies to also start their own snack businesses. Finally, I plan to expand my business in the next quarter by purchasing an oven and also renting out a mini confectionery.”