Have you failed before? This is for you.

We all have failed in one thing or another whether privately or publicly. However, failing publicly is something no one prepares you for. When you fail you feel like the whole world conspired against you. Social media on the other hand has contributed to making failure seem farfetched. To portray the perfect persona, most people will not share about their struggles or failures.

This is particularly true for entrepreneurship. The idea of being self-employed, enabling you to manage your own time comes out as cool and trendy. It is where majority of us crave to be. However, where are deficient on mostly is, entrepreneurs who will open up to the struggles of setting up and running self-owned enterprises. Authenticity is missing.

Authenticity has lost meaning. Our lives have become all about the likes, views, and comments with which one measures fame and popularity. A superficial lifestyle has become a new reality, at least for some millennials and Generation Z. Many now opt to get into entrepreneurship for the wrong reasons. This could be because there’s someone out there travelling around the world, living in nice apartments and making it seem like their entrepreneurship journey is a stroll in the park.

To inspire a generation and people, we have to be authentic. It is critical. We have to be true to who we are first and what we preach. Unfortunately what prevails is the case of preaching water and drinking wine. How do we inspire people to create and do more if we are lying about what it means to be an entrepreneur? Sam Gichuru of Nailab once tweeted, “If you want to know God, be an entrepreneur.”

As a young entrepreneur over the past four years, my story is not one of a bed of roses. It is a story of failure and deciding not to give up but to pick myself up.

I quit my job and ventured into entrepreneurship because I felt like there was more I could offer the world. Being a believer of pursuing your passion and dreams, I stepped out of formal employment after nine months with so much zeal and passion. I was young, energetic and ready to tackle the world of entrepreneurship in a city that is deemed ruthless and fast paced, a huge contrast from hometown, Mombasa.

Little did I know that passion does not equate to profit, and in between passion and profit, there is a journey that I had to undertake. My father had warned me of how tough it is being an entrepreneur but I believed I was ready mentally. I felt like I had the best idea and it would be an instant success. This was not to be the case.

One thing about passion is that it will drive you on, days when quitting becomes the easier option. Passion is what will drive you to step out of your comfort zone because, despite everything, you want to see where this path that you fully believe in leads to.

I had worked in the events industry while in campus as a side hustle. I had no intention of being in it fulltime although I really enjoyed doing events. I wanted to contribute to the narrative of youth empowerment through events. I registered my events company and hit the ground rolling. Back in 2016 when there were barely any women empowerment events happening, I was doing it. My background being Mombasa made me want to see more girls succeed by pursuing their talents, passion, dreams, and living quality lives. One thing about growing up in the coastal town, life is relaxed. Many residents don’t view education as a priority especially for the Girl child. Marriage is deemed as the ultimate goal after high school and pursuing further studies is a waste of money. Why waste money in education if you will be someone’s wife? Seeing some of my peers cut short their education made me eager to encourage more girls to pursue life including education. This reality aroused my interest in empowering the Girl child first.

With no clue but sheer instincts on what needed to be done, I did it. I started my Girl Power Events and we did well for several editions. For someone with hardly a thousand followers on Instagram, I took the chance and believed in myself. I believed in my creativity and knew my work would serve a greater good in society. Every time attendees showed up, I was amazed that they did despite not knowing the founder. To me, it was a sign that I was on the right path.

Being under 25 and hustling to build your firm is fun but tough. On one side your peers are having a good time on the weekends and living life, while on the other side, here you are with limited funds to sustain a social life worth sharing on the webs. It is a lonely path with very little benefits in the beginning.

In my company, I diversified the events we did. They ranged from educative, empowerment to entertainment. All these events had one thing in common; they were youth oriented.

In the third edition of one of my best money-generating events, we registered our lowest turnout. I was always super confident about the event but this particular year something just felt off. I had moments where I felt like it was going to backfire and break me but I chose to soldier on. “What’s the worst that could happen?” is how I consoled myself.

I was so engulfed with the entrepreneurship mindset that if an idea works out, well and good; if it fails, you learn and move on.It was the hardest period of my journey as an entrepreneur. I had friends and family who came through for me, but as an individual, it was a blow. A blow so hard that kept me on the ground months on end until I made a decision to beat this fear of failure.

The beauty with failure is that you can let it put you down or you can decide to learn from it. For me, that was a wake-up call about systems and structures for my business. I always knew a day was going to come when I would have a bad event but I just didn’t know when. I felt like I should have done better to prepare for it. I had access to mentors but never fully utilized them.

It was at this point that I took great steps towards learning deeply about what it means to be in business and how to do it right.

Months later I got accepted into the renowned Young African Leaders Initiative which was going to propel me towards networking and learning form the best globally about business and entrepreneurship. This acceptance gave me a new chance in entrepreneurship too. A new opportunity to still believe in myself and my dreams and the great work I accomplish for the youths to achieve economic empowerment. It restored my hope to dream again because, after two failed attempts applying for YALI, I got in the third time. It was a dream come true.

Why did I choose to be vulnerable and tell this story, yet I know it is very easy for me to cover up and portray a perfect picture on social media? The truth is that I believe in being true and authentic, in order to honestly connect to people. I still have major dreams and aspirations. Yes, I failed but who hasn't?

I share this to encourage a young person whose story has not been told and feels like no one sees them and understands their desire to be an entrepreneur. To a young person with the desire to succeed overnight since the success story has been portrayed as such, I want you to know while you are on the sidelines waiting for your breakthrough, keep creating and keep it going. Delay is part of the journey.

I share this story to remind anyone who has failed in their business, once, twice, or thrice that it is ok. Very few people we have deemed as role models will share the truth about their journey, but know you are not alone.

I have now moved past my failures and taken only the lessons with me. I have had access to so many amazing changemakers from Africa and I believe this is just the beginning. I have taken a step forward to recreate my business and move from just events to creating a home for young entrepreneurs as we soldier on in this journey.

Thanks to technology we have a platform to tell our stories. My story matters and so does yours. No matter who you are and where you are from, you deserve to be heard. Tell your story. We all matter in the grand scale of things. Do not despise your humble beginnings in business. It pays off eventually. Allow yourself to grow, edit, refocus, reset, and restart as many times as you need to. After all, this life is your only story.