Building a Career as a Youth

My journey started way back in school at primary and secondary level whereby taking different leadership roles and after finishing school all that I desired for to pursue further education and build a career of choice was faced with a lot of uncertainty.

To summarize the long story, I found myself mostly volunteering, coaching and training kids in soccer and as a peer educator in Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) and later became an ICT trainer and training coordinator in NairoBits trust.

Below are eleven areas I faced towards building a career as a young person dating back from the year 2000. 

1. Not knowing what I wanted to do.
2.  A lot of copy and paste. 
3. No career mentors in my network. 
4. The future was blurry whereby juggling more than one thing randomly. 
5. No strategy for self discovery and talent utilization. 
6. Peer pressure based on career prospects. 
7. No guidance on how to work with money. 
8. Not knowing what career paths to take. 
9. Not knowing my key areas of strengths and areas of improvement. 
10. Lack of awareness on networking, personal branding and self marketing, 
11. Lack of opportunity or knowledge and skills to spot opportunities. 

Currently I'm a youth advocate, trainer, photographer, social entrepreneur, graphic designer and coach. My vision is to train more than 500 youth per year in 21st century skills to address the challenges that youth face towards employability, personal branding and career development. I offer training in different areas for example in web design, graphic design, trans-formative leadership, blogging, life skill, photography, and personal branding, communication, social media, community engagement, event management, creative entrepreneurship, financial literacy and internet research. 

My acquired experiences of 20 years counts back from working with NairoBits in Kenya, ZanziBits in Zanzibar, KampaBits in Uganda and Kilimanjaro Film Institute in Arusha. I’m a proud alumni of Amani institute (Kenya), NairoBits (Kenya), Do school (Germany) and MYSA (Kenya). All this platforms have played a pivotal role in choosing and building my current career pathways as a youth advocate, social media expert, change maker, social entrepreneur and photographer.

The Youth Situation 

Today majority young people face similar experiences of what I faced 20 years back and I can attest that there are many things that you will always learn beyond the confines of your classroom. I see the same patterns as explained above repeating in many young people’s life especially in a society where parents are becoming very busy, increase in youth unemployment and personal mentors a rare arrangement.

The list of challenges of what the youth face keeps on growing top on the list being unemployment, youth bulge, under employment, poverty just to mention but a few.   It is saddening that even with the best education there are no jobs guaranteed for anyone unless otherwise.

We need a mind shift on what education should provide to us especially in creating an environment where we can build careers as employers, investors, problem solvers, job creators, innovators, influencers etc.

It’s very possible to create job opportunities for youths for example in supporting the creative economy, establishing a vibrant sports economy, collaboration between public and private sector while also diversifying in areas that aren’t considered white collar jobs like in Agri-business and talent utilization. Below are tips you can take within your career pathways;

Four areas for Self Marketing 

1. Personal Branding – This is a process of knowing self, building a reputation, Known for something and a strategic approach towards build relationships of value addition in story of self and others. 
2. Leading Self – A more focused journey of living as per set values, goal driven, self discovery, lifelong learning. Loving what you do and doing what your love. 
3. Networking – Building relationships of values towards personal and career prospects. 
4.  Values – Building a strong culture and guiding principle on where you are, what you to do, defined peer groups, character, personality, behavior and habits that also adds to your personal brand. 

There are four types of interviews you should prepare for, namely;

1. One on one - You can meet either in the office or out of office like in cafeteria with the prospective employer. 
2. Telephone Interview – Schedule calls to get to know you and other follow up questions. 
3. Meet a panel: Mostly a panel of three people 
4. Questionnaire / practical test - Pre-qualification form sent to a portal and followed up with practical test. Get in touch with me for a training session with your youth group on topics like personal branding, blogging, photography, leadership, conflict management, communication among others. Email;- wilson.masaka@gmail.com

Capacity Building Training at Oasis Mathare

 It was a great privilege to interact and train the Oasis team based in Mathare. Oasis Mathare is a youth-led organization that seeks to eradicate illiteracy and poverty through improving the quality of education and skills training. They envisage to transform the lives of disadvantaged children and youth by providing access to safe spaces, quality education, skills and economic opportunities. Read more on http://www.oasismathare.org/ 

All organizations go through different stages of growth from the date it was established and as part of organizational growth there is institutional memory as captured in different data formats which only can be effective if it is captured, stored and shared in a structured way.

 Also important is building the capacity of your team which is at the core of everything from operations, strategy, communication, creativity, innovation, etc. towards a more vibrant and sustainable organization that can survive any transitions.

Below are three topics we covered at Oasis during the capacity building training at their office;

1. Time management 
2. Communication 
3. Data collection 

Training Objectives;

1.  To learn different ways on how to use different tools for time management and planning. 
2. To understand data collection, usage and storage. How, When, Who, What and Why in terms data. 

Training proceedings 

Staff members presented How, When, Who, What and Why in terms data they collect siting different challenges. We also looked at the communication channel within the institution and how it affects the external communication. In terms of data we looked at categories of data (quantitative versus qualitative), how data is captured, stored and when it can be used.

Call to Action Call

 Are you a youth led institution working in the community with a desire to improve the already existing systems, want to build a vibrant culture of teamwork, looking for a more professional insight on how to go the next level of responsibility? Then I’m here for you, get in touch and sign-up for training session at affordable rates. wilson.masaka@gmail.com

Below are ten areas most youth led initiatives in the community face that hinders their desired growth;

1. Building a team  and conflict management.
2.  Institution memory.
3.  Organization story
4.  Resource mobilization 
5. Impact measurement 
6. Embracing technology
7. Organization growth and transitions 
8.  Decision making 
9. Financial administration 
10.  Forming meaningful partnerships Among others! 

If you are facing some of this challenges then I’m here to engage with you at your level to maximize on the desired results.

Call To Serve The Youth

I'm a champion of SDG 4: Quality education and lifelong learning. Currently I'm offering training for the youth groups in the areas of ICT, life skill and creative entrepreneurship.

It is a journey I have lived in the last 18 years and the impact has been wide either working under different youth organization or as an individual youth consultant.

The main highlight of my work isn't found in What I train but in How and Why I train in those specific areas targeting the youth spaces.

 Get in touch with me for training in Leading Yourself Module which includes:-

1.  The art of self marketing
2. Blogging 3. Photography (DSLR vs. Mobile phone)
3.  Social media strategy 
4.  Personal branding 
5. Business model canvas
6.  Interview skills

 Just to mention but a few! More about me and my work www.wilsenx.blogspot.com

My Drive in Life

Mentor, Soccer Coach, Youth Advocate, Photographer, Web Designer, Social Media Expert and Tutor. 

My name is Wilson Masaka, I’m a youth facilitator and social entrepreneur with a background in ICT, creative entrepreneurship, graphic design and community engagement. I have more than 10 years’ experience working with youth lead organizations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania as a project manager, coordinator and trainer respectively.

My vision is to train more than 500 youth per year from marginalized communities in 21st century skills for example in problem solving, creativity, adaptability, technology, financial literacy, communication etc. The expected impact would be a more informed youth who will spark positive chain of events in different spheres of life using their talents and skills.

 In 2011 I founder Wilsen Initiative (www.wilseninitiative.wordpress.com) as a result of my passion in serving the youth in finding solutions towards decent work, poverty alleviation and lifelong learning. I'm a champion of UN- Sustainable Development Goal 1, 4 and 8 and to achieve my vision and set goals I have also partnered with other youth-led initiatives in conducting different training programs for the youth. I offer training in Web design, graphic design, transformative leadership, blogging, life skill, photography, and personal branding, communication, social media, and community engagement, organization of events, creative entrepreneurship, financial literacy and internet research.

More about me www.wilsenx.blogspot.com
Some References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmlNSYNp9Zo&list=PLwdG5aff9oj44LU7C5iTY5YRSOpnE7rd0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0wH9TLPVwE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqQSNUJz1k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzmboH0ZYOc

Below I would love to share some of the moment in my life journey that was inspired by my interaction in different spaces in the last 10 years. I hope you will be inspired by one or two in achieving your meaning of success. 

Get in touch with for training or motivation session with your youth networks! wilson.masaka@gmail.com

 Other quotes inspired by different personalities

Inspired Journey - Youth Advocate - Champion

As a youth facilitator I'm inspired by creating ripples of positive effects through my craft (skills, initiative, talent, projects, values etc.) whereby training young people on 21st century skills to build an everlasting brand that will make the world a better place. Read more about me on www.wilsenx.blogspot.com Book me for a session with your youth network!

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