 Good morning. Welcome back to why in the morning if it's Tuesday, you know how you do it's entrepreneurship Tuesday Our Y2 54 channel is where you can find us across all our social media handles at Michelle Ashira is where you can find me across all my social in this particular interview We dive into we are looking at designing professional development for you So I'm going to quote none other than Raina Maria Ricky and he said that the only Johnny is The Johnny with it that explains a lot considering the kind of composition we're going to have so I am joined by grace Jio The founder of able pasture. Thank you very much for creating time to be with us. Thank you for having me Michelle All right, so earlier on before we even got you know in the presence of our viewers I asked you if you believe that life is not just about finding ourselves Mm-hmm. How true is that? The truth is life is about finding ourselves and making the best of it Do we really ever find ourselves? We can and that's that's precisely why God created us in the past things And that's why you're here actually so tell us more about able past it and what it deals with Okay, so able past it is a new outfit modernized to with the virtual personalized portal to help you and Any other adolescence and any any other young adult to be to be able to know their talents So they discover themselves by knowing they need potentials their talents their values their drives and then helping them also story tell about it and Also going further in terms of professional development and with life in itself. We help you as the person also Nurture those talents into skills and Competencies that you can easily develop because your innate potential cannot really develop all competencies So we help you identify the specific competencies that you can easily develop and then Once you're able to develop competencies also we help you become resilient because it's necessary especially with COVID-19 the pandemic has had hit so many people in so many ways and it has caused a lot of depression a lot of Life hardships amongst ourselves even for those people in the marginalized communities Generally not out of COVID-19, but the kind of life that they leave refugees people in wars and all that they need their resilience also Besides that we help you now match those competencies and their resilience into jobs So we're looking at the future world of work involves a lot of automation and Machinery machine learning computerized modernized ways of doing work and so a lot of skills that will be needed are actually soft skills Because now the machines will be taking up the role of you know doing the technical work day-to-day like you know in a simple factory Packaging and all that will be done by robots So and and cars will be driven by will be self-driven by the software the program They are the programming that has been put into into into the cars So that means that as an individual you need more soft skills to be able to survive the future world of work And that is why we are here as able pursuit To help you prepare the best for the future and the world of work It's quite broad actually I have to mention because I can hear the aspect of The career aspect of it self-development also involved So what whatever programs do you run as as a company? So the whole thing the portal is self-paced is self-paced for the individual and for us we do not We do not limit the kind of person that joins the platform. We are an all-inclusive Portal and a platform and as an open community We are we advocate that we start with you at the age of 12 as Earlier 12 is when you you're trying to discover yourself. So what's the age age group? The age group is generally between the ages of 12 to 29 Let me define that a little quick between the ages of 12 and 24 is the adolescent stage I know so many would deny this and say no it ends at 18 Exactly Also want to deny it. Yeah, so this is what happens Yeah, between the ages of 12 to 18. Yes, you discover in yourself But you discover in yourself under the care of your parents or your guardians or Whomever is taking care of you whether in school you're dependent on someone Then between the ages of 18 to 24 You are still an adolescent you're trying you're still trying to discover yourself and Right now you're in you're in that stage. We call independent stage, but not yet fully Established as an individual, you know to make the right decisions and choices You need some bit of experience and this is why the ages 18 to 24 are quite important And that is when now maybe you you find that when you joined university or college You take two years in college and then you're dropping out because you're saying oh no I chose the wrong course or in the journey of self discovery at this particular time Because you're making your own decision right now. Yes, you're not trying to make your decisions But and that experience is very important and this that is why you know You hear psychologists and other people advising that do not get married at that age Do not make very important decisions at that age because you're testing you're testing life With that independence that you received from the age of 18 in other countries. It's actually 16. Yes So let's run because whatever you guys are actually doing it's quite very broad when you talk about a portal is itself like Self self help in terms of I actually take myself through these particular programs And there people are going to help me take actually per take on these particular programs. Yeah Okay, so yeah, so what we have what we're offering is one area in the portal how it works you join You complete an assessment which is a personal evaluation about yourself Which brings out the outcome of your talents your drives your learning style How you're able to you know to study because everyone has their own learning styles your communication style How you're able to communicate and how how can people also communicate with you how interact with others and Also your work your ideal work environment based now your interest your talents and your values and your drives and then also It brings out a summary of you know the competencies that you can easily match to So that's one aspect and then the second aspect of the portal is where now you can be able to choose from jobs So this is this is a new actually a new feature that we have We are developing in collaboration with different organizations that offer entry-level jobs for youth and This includes internships attachments You know freelance jobs We're all looking at now the world of work weight is so all this is self-paced and you can easily also book a Calendar to get guidance from someone It's either me or the trained experts that we have in our in our networks that we work with also Incorporate a lot of coaching and mentorship. So we work with a network of the same wedding five mentors in different areas because Someone would want to join and you know start a business so we would link you to someone who is very good in that and Would also link you if you want a career Particularly in medicine will be able to find someone in that field who's much more experience would guide you through Yes, all right as a company what market gap did you see in order to just venture in this particular space? So this this is actually very interesting Michelle What we did before even established able-passed we deep dived into the market itself In we did a lot of intelligence with the global business coalition for education. I'm a council member there It's based in New York and We did the first survey in 2018. We conducted a survey on youth skills and innovation How prepare that we for you know 2025 for example? That was actually our target and we found out that actually 79 percent of Youth interests you do not align with opportunities that they are in the community right now That was an interesting outlook. Also. Secondly, we we've discovered that about 400 nearly 400 million youth in sub sub-saharan Africa alone Would be prepared for won't have the skills the resilience the competencies Necessary for the world of work. So we were doing this in Collaboration with Deloitte. They were the lead partner in terms of the survey that was conducted on the ground amongst about one 1500 youth and then The outcome of that led to the second survey which you conducted actually last year with the pandemic 2020 and this outcome showed that a lot of youth need the resilience to survive And so this has guided us and a lot of practical We did a pilot test also on the ground with within kill ify McQuinney and Garrisa County We are doing pilots also virtually Right now we're calculating about 155 we had a free trial period whereby we were able to establish that yes, particularly this Solution would be very good and it's actually needed. So yes, we have opened up our portal free of charge for quite a number of collaborators who have received access to their people and The young people through their programs training programs schooling That kind of thing that you know is targeted to the youth and it has helped us It has also given given us a lot of intel on how we need to present this To different people. Yeah, but when you take it back to know the person as an individual Now because you're clearly talent is of high importance here. Sure knowing actually what you want also. So How effective is that just working through it as an individual? So is there any subscription fee that is supposed to be paid? Okay? So yes, so the subscription fee is just five dollars five hundred shillings per year and With five hundred then you'll be able to access all the services mentioned Apart from storytelling. That's a new feature and once it's ready, then we can quote for that for now in terms of The level of interest from the individual Would quote a couple of or send guys to our website and check couple of quotes received from some of the people just on the home page some of the people who Shown the interest and the will but also allow me to also mention about specifically where youth in business where we have been Sitting as advisory team and with youth in business. They consider this a very important Opportunity for the members because Number one They use themselves do not know how much enter pricing they are and that's one of the competencies we actually assess so the level of enter pricing and Other skills combined Competencies combined how they'll be able to you know quickly match that Into the kind of enterprise that they want to set up again also in terms of in sourcing In sourcing human resource for their own enterprises it makes work easier for them Okay, it's clearly like we can you can correct me from raw. It's it's sort of like an online online course That's one can put taken yes It's let's not put it as a course, but let's say as a self-paced journey. Okay. Yes, right Let's put it that that way Yes, so how do you monetize from this particular space if someone out there wants to you know start up start up an online Program, so how do you monetize from this particular space? So for us Do you mean online with with us that an online with us or separate from as a company as a company? Individual or with us as a company because at the end of the day This is a business that you're running. Yeah, though you're helping in the community So looking back as a business, how do you monetize apart from their subscription fee? Well apart from the subscription fee we have other income-generating activities where we source for you know Sponsorship in terms of undertaking projects like mentorship and all that but also Able pass it is an investments company It's a set up as an investment enterprise Whereby we also setting up to invest in the talents of these individuals and Have Stake within that their own different Enterprises and then they will be able to pay back So for you as a person if you want to monetize in online just look at areas where people are People people people it's about the people and their needs their primary basic needs What lies close to their heart is all about then you're deemed to survive in a business setup Because then you're meeting the needs of the people and these needs that the people are The solutions that you offer is the people they're able now to you know to pay you for the services They admire they appreciate the services that you offer to them So what is your value proposition in the market space? So for us it's about real-time and personalized data for the individual. It's also about The journey it's about the self-paced journey. It's not about just work But it's about connecting your dots in in partnership with every zone who are our greatest supporters the technology providers We help the individual to become the best of themselves by helping them connect the dots of living Learning and working From this particular space by self-development is highly encouraged What is your take or what will be your best advice for guys who want to shift from employment the transition from employment to? business Yeah, so number one is not to be in a hurry to sit back and Set up not being hurry to you know register a business without first understanding why The why part is very important for you and also for the person that you'd like to serve for example What are those needs that I as a consumer in car on every day or if it's a luxurious product? How am I able to pay for that? Yeah, it can I manage to you know looking at also the processes of cash flow and all that the production process is very important Before anything before setting up a business think about that So do a lot of research around your business idea And then you can be able to take time to prepare for that and then eventually you would be able to register and you know Face kina carry All right, so what would be I like to find out about the basic skills just for the Viewers who are back at home basic skills when it comes to Working online and also for guys who are working back at home. Okay, so basic skills are Normally, it's it's all about it's about communication Which does not necessarily need to be oral it can also be written Yes, but at this age with the social media taking charge of a lot of things You need that communication skill is basic so that you learn how to interact not only with your Customers, but also with the people that work around you Yeah, the people you live with or you work with or you learn with every day in class number two is about Organizational skills also important if you're not good at organizing yourself Then you'll be able to learn how to Feel that gap either by working with someone who's highly organized or working around that Particular weakness and this is something that also the portal can help you with and Number three is about your social your sociability Your ability to interact with others which ties hand in hand with influential talents But before you you're an influencer you need to learn to be social Within yourself and also with others and also emotional talents quite important emotional skills Work with we this we're talking about stress management things to do with self-esteem How well do you believe in yourself? How well are you able to cope with everyday pressure? There's that fall under self-knowledge and emotional intelligence. Yes, that's it Yes, the emotional skills the emotional drives all that is emotional intelligence And all that is we can find it The portal we have everything all together for the for for the person for the whole being of the person All right So Grace you also an advisor day you in business Africa and I would like to find out What what are your thoughts on when it comes to the issue of an unemployment? What are a couple of measures that we can take as a country to just come the issue of an employment? Yes, I do agree that the issue of unemployment is quite a Challenge especially with a developing country like Kenya, but it's quite also It's it's easy to cut that it is easy and it comes from the mentality of this of the individual and then the support that the Individual receives from either the family or the community around them and then also the ecosystem So the ecosystem you're talking about governance You know the county government in our case and the national government What is that enabling environment that they are providing for the individual who wants to you know start something and then Create jobs for others. So a quick example if you starting out a business lay say a beauty salon and You would like this you'd like some financial support Again is about who is that person that will get you the financial support So I also encourage the person the individual to stay to save yeah to save enough for starting businesses and also number two Is about now reaching out to the customers Ensuring that you provide the right services to these customers No, that ties back to the individual and the ability of the individual the capability the Competency of the individual as an entrepreneur to be able to attract customers and also maintain the customers Absolutely very very true. So what a couple you guys started from way back in 2017 Yes, so 2017 as a concept Okay, so when did you guys start running off track? Operational wise 2019 2019. So what a couple of setbacks that you guys are faced during that particular time frame Okay, basically For us is about the setback actually was in the production process itself Yeah, ensuring that the portal is well built because the kind of people we are also targeting Education ministry with the schools and all that they need something that is there and scientifically proven So that's that's it took a lot of time on our end the R&D process as well and With COVID-19 last year and the Ministry of Education declaring the Financial year zero again That was a setback for us because then it limited us from going through our normal B2B2C process that's business to business to consumer with schools and We were set back by you know trying to redefine our business model on how we can go right from the business to the consumer direct All right So what is the vision looking like when it comes to able past it so right now? We are looking at a hundred thousand participants between now and 2022 and Then we will be able to expand and skill from Kenya going outside the borders within East Africa region All right So give us a social media handle so that people back at home can follow up on this particular conversation If they want to be part of their able past it and how they can find you okay So our social media is at able past it. That's a B L E P U R S UIT and able past it on Instagram and Twitter and Also, what's up number is actually on the website able past it dot com All right. Thank you very much grace for creating time to be with us So I'm looking forward to all this composition another day another time. Thank you so much Michelle You're much very much very much welcome. So that is grace founder of Able past it so we were talking about designing professional development for you So make sure stay tuned we have so much coming your way right here on why in the morning I try to fit for channel is we can find us across all our social media handles at Michelle I should I use where you can find me across all my social will be right back. So make sure you don't