FRIDA OWINGA, 45, is a PassionPreneur coach and speaker at the Passion for Profit School of Entrepreneurship, where she helps individuals create successful businesses. She spoke to NJOKI CHEGE.
Many people are miserable in spite of the fact that they went to school and have all the papers. That is why I decided that it was time people knew how to turn their passion into profit.
I had discovered how to do this while in the US where I lived fro ten years from 1999 to 2009.
Frida Owinga. [Photos: JOSEPH KIPTARUS/STANDARD]
While in the US, I realised that people were living way below their potential by doing menial jobs just to make ends meet. I refused to do the regular immigrant jobs such as certified nursing assistant and broke the tradition to become an executive assistant to the vice-president of US Personnel.
I later worked at Jubilee Christian Church, Atlanta, as a business administrator. Here, I began training teams on leadership.
At the same time, I studied Organisational Leadership and Management at Regent University and acquired my small-business coaching certification.
While at the church, people would ask me how I managed to do what I love without getting bored. I advised them to follow their passions and this worked for many. Some left their jobs and started doing what their hearts dictated and found themselves enjoying it and making money at the same time. At first, I did it for free and then I began charging a small fee.
Soon, the demand grew and I formed a company — Excellent Image — where I did leadership and management training and consulting.
I came back to Kenya at the end of 2009 and after a quick survey of the economy, I realised there was a lot of entrepreneurial opportunities. I realised that Kenyans needed the skills and tools to create, manage and grow successful businesses.
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I started with Excellent Image, but soon realised the market was crowded with leadership training. I went back to the drawing board to review the strengths and skills I had at that time.
I discovered that many Kenyans were going back to school with the aim of landing white-collar jobs, but there were no jobs in the market.
