 It's entrepreneurship Tuesday right here on Y in the morning at Y244 channel so you can find us across all our social media platforms at Michelle Ashira is where you can reach out to me as simple as that, right, all right. So in this particular session we are looking at the recreational business. So in this particular interview we are looking at ways we can empower the youth through a sports center that you're going to have a conversation about. So it's all about sports, recreational activities that may turn out to be great business ideas in studio. I am joined by the founder and also the managing director for Pomodja Multisports Academy known as Ms. Janbeth Wambui Mushir. I hope I got that right. Thank you guys for creating time to be with us. Thank you. All right. Maybe I can start with you sir. Tell me to give you this opportunity to introduce yourself and tell us more about Pomodja Multisports Academy. My name is Ex-Copernassus Masbate. Pomodja Multisports International Academy was founded in the year 2008. The vision of Pomodja Multisports International Academy is to empower our society through sports and education. Our mission is to nurture talent from the grassroots. All right. But we could just turn to the mic properly so we can get more on that. Okay. Beautiful. Our mission is to tap talent from the grassroots and nurture it to professional levels. Our goal is to be in the Olympics. We began this journey 20 years ago. 20 years ago. Yes. And now we are expecting to have our first Olympian from the academy by the year 2028. Okay. Well, we'll get more into that. Thank you. Maybe this is an opportunity for you to also expound on why you felt that, how did you join the sports center and what felt within yourself that you actually need to be part of this recreational activity center? Personally, I've always wondered because I have, I love developing people. Okay. It is my passion. I love to see people grow from one point to the next. And I've always loved the fact that we've got so many foundations that do support children. But we have foundations that support the A level, you know, like the kids who is getting with very bright, the kid who is getting A. And I've always wondered what about the kid who is getting D and E? Who is supporting those kids? Who is supporting the child who, yes, they have a certain capability, but they're not very good in school. So what's happening to that child? And you'll find that that is the bigger majority of our children. That's the bigger majority of our society. So with that, I found that recreation and sports is another way for getting the children to know that after all, I'm not worthless. I can give something back to the society. I can make money or I can make a living out of who I am today. Great. And the fact that you've mentioned that you're tapping onto the skills and talents of these young people. I'm probably going back to you, Mr. Nesmbati. Before Pamoja Sports Center, what were you doing? Because I have heard you mention that ex-coplan you were very specific or not in that title of this conversation. Yes. Before getting into Pamoja, I was in the military. I joined the military when I was 18 years of age. So all my working life has been in the Kenya Defense Forces at the Kenya Air Force as a military police. So I retired five years ago after three years of non-active service and 18 years of active service total. I have served this country for 21 years. 21. Wow. That's two decades, over two decades. Before Pamoja and while you were still in service growing up, did you feel like you were so much constrained in exploring your talents? What actually influenced you to start up a center for the youth? Basically, I was a hyperactive child. It's quite the opposite. Yes. I was a hyperactive child. The child would be everything. We would go to Tani, Bano, Kati, Mungaregane, all those kind of stuff. Growing up in Easterlands, I was an outdoor guy. By the time I was around six years, Bruce Lee was the thing during our time. So everyone was, everybody wanted to be like Bruce Lee. So for me, I really looked for somewhere I could be trained in martial arts to become like Bruce Lee, but I never got. Because where we are living in Pamoja, there was no social hall, nothing to offer such kind of things. Until we moved to Isli, where I stumbled upon boxing, which I started at St. Jesus Catholic Church in Isli. And then from there, after boxing, there was Taekwondo. And after boxing, I was around 14 years of age now. I would peep through the windows and I'll say, this is fun. I want to be that guy who can fly with kicks. So I decided to leave boxing and join Taekwondo. It is almost 30 years. Do you regret it? Of course not. It is the best thing that happened in my life because I was identified when I was in high school by the military. I was scouted from school. I was at St. Jesus Boys High School in Isli. So I was identified from there. And then immediately after Form 4, I only stayed home for four months. And then I was called to the military. And through the journeys, through the work in sports, I have been able to travel the world, 13 countries in total because of sports. So this is the best thing. If I was to rewind the clock, I'll start where I began. Well, it's the way to go for the young people. Yeah. So back to Ms. Mushiriya. I'd like to find out, for any other sort of business, there's always the target audience. When it comes to the sports center, who are the guys that you're targeting in this particular business? Because on the other side of it, even though it's an empowerment sort of a business, it goes back to you have to make profits. At the end of the day, it's recreational business. So who are your target market? Our target market actually cuts across from the very low like you've had with talent. And then we go up to the middle class where that's where we have a larger crowd and then the upper class. But our main core business is based on the middle class level because we feel like we have people who are talented, but some sports are just designated for the rich. So we want to break that. And like now when you look for swimming or long tennis, it's only for the who's. So we want to remove that bar and open the market to other kids and everybody else so that you don't have an Olympian who is a swimmer who is only coming from the rich. You can have an Olympian who is a swimmer who is in the middle class or the lower class. Yeah, that's what we're trying to do. We'll get much more information on how you guys are actually helping the privilege in the society when it comes to this particular opportunity. It's back to you Mr. Nesmusk. I'd like to find out for someone who is watching this conversation and they would love to get into the recreational business. What sort of educational background does one need to have or if there's any skills or any information? Education is your torch of literate skills. But getting into business, you don't need an education. Even if you are illiterate, you can get into business. We have same PhD holders teaching business administration in universities, yet they cannot run a kiosk. So business is nothing about education. I usually say just follow your passion and money will come. As simple as that. Follow your passion, money will come. Follow your passion, money will come. I think that's an advice we can all take home. So for anyone who is watching this, the young people, they will be asking, how can we be part of Pomodos Sports Center? And they'll be wondering what are the particular ways and the process should I go through in order to be part of this recreational center? At the moment, we usually just count open. We don't usually say, oh, you have to be in this manner because also it is a leisure recreational center. So if you come and you feel like, oh, I just want to do swimming because that's now part of the business now. If you want to just come and you want to be a swimmer or you just want to be fit, we have a lot of activities that do cater for just general fitness, which is yoga, swimming, zumba, all those things that keep you just fit as a business side of it. But for the academy side of it, as we go out and we see, as we're training, even as, say for example, if you come and you train and we say, actually, she's quite good at ABCD. You can take your talent or your interest to the next level. So even as the kids come, like now we're having the open week where we just open it to everybody, all the kids. And you're able to tell that one is very good at Taekwondo. And so you advise the parent and tell them this one you can actually go somewhere with them with Taekwondo. This one you can take them with swimming. So normally it's open first. And then we start seeing and we don't, we don't want to excite you and tell you, yeah, you can be an athlete. And yet we can see you have the struggles. So we'll just look at you and see where your talent falls and vice-according to, yeah. You're actually being honest to the clients and actually taking them through a particular process just to see their capabilities. And back to you, Mr. Nesmus. I'd like to get a glimpse of the sports center, the training services. She has mentioned a couple of sports. She has mentioned swimming. I've heard of tennis. So probably you could just give us a glimpse of the services and also the training at the academy. When we began this journey in the year 2000, I traveled to Korea for the World Military Games to participate in Taekwondo. So when we were in Seoul, I was shocked at how big Taekwondo business was in Korea. And I realized this thing, I can take it back home and assist others, Eastlanders like me. You know, we are condemned by society. Nothing good can come out of Eastlands. And I thought I can prove that with the society wrong because some of us have come from there. So we began as a Taekwondo Academy, Top Kick Taekwondo Academy in the year 2000. Through the process, the feedback we got from parents was, my kid loves Taekwondo. What you're doing is very good. But his brother doesn't want Taekwondo. His sister wants something else, swimming, tennis. Something different. So I'm in this quagmire wondering what can I do to be able to take care of a whole family so that when they come in, they are one stop center. So I did a lot of research and feasibility studies and how to go about all this and decided to form a Multisports Academy. That is how Pomongian Multisports Academy was born in the year 2008. First forward, you cannot start with everything because of resources. So we began with the very basic Taekwondo, football, swimming. Those were the basics that we began with from 2008 up to around 2015. We are just measuring with those three. 2015 gave birth to skating, netball, volleyball, and badminton. As we continued to train the last five years, now we have covered the sports sphere in terms of just dream and sport you want. We'll deliver it to you at your doorstep. Impressive. You want ice skating, we'll deliver it to you. You want golf, we'll deliver it to you. Then there was this other thing that came up. My child is not an outdoor child. Or my child wants art, music. Now I have to bring a child here, drop one or two here, and then I have to rush to somewhere else to drop the other child. So today, September 1st, we have launched our international segment of the academy, which includes art and music. So we won't play any kind of instrument, art, drama, acting, modeling. We are one stop. It's totally the leisure sports. The leisure space that it is for every sort of sport and entertainment. We'll get back to that and also look at if there's any competition coming up, Olympics, and how the youth are actually benefitting from that. I'd like to come back to you, Ms. Mosheire, back to you. Ms. Mosheire mentioned something very important when it comes to sports and the fact that there's the society aspect of stigma concerning people, particularly youth coming from a section of a different level or class in the society and the stigma from people, of course, from the slums. I'd like to find out, apart from their physical wellness, are there any programs that look at their mental health for these particular people? Yes, we do have a department that deals with rehabilitation actually counseling. We found out that the athletes, especially the athletes themselves, they end up sometimes, the higher percentage end up with intracts. So we have a department that deals with the counseling also. We also have that general counseling for those kids where we know, yes, when we have the open day, you will find that we have kids from the neighborhoods and then we have the kids that come in driving and then now you will see that there's a very big difference between the two groups because even the behavior is very different. These ones are really rough and these are so docile and you'll find the parents saying, okay, you see. So we find a way to match the two groups. You have to have somebody on the ground to make the two groups work together. While you're observing that, you'll be able to pick and see that child has this and that problem. So with time, as they continue coming, you talk to them and most of the time by the end of the open, maybe about a month, you'll find that the two groups have matched. The confidence I've raised in both sides and from there, if it is more than we need to, from the ground, then we take it up, we talk to the parents and then we can induce them to the counseling sessions. Amazing. And now, investing in recreational business, is it a viable source of business? Yes, it is very viable but you need to be street smart, very street smart. Okay. And these things are not taught in college. Learn them on ground. I'll give you some tips. I'll give you an example. I'll give you an example. By the time 2008, we were taking off of Spamodia Multisport International Academy, I had started six businesses which all collapsed with almost five million down the drain. Then I read Robert Kiyosaki's book on rich dad poor dad and he said that if you want to start a business, look for a business that you're specialised in. And I sat back and thought, hey man, I've run tax businesses, I've done butcheries, I've sold eggs, I've sold electronics, I've imported torches. You're venturing so many. And since I was born, I was a running man. I should be doing sports business. So by that time, in 2008, we had been auctioned, we were in depths of two million, minus two million. I had zero ceiling, no furniture in the house, nowhere to go, and with a family of three kids.