 The hashtag is hashtag entrepreneurship Tuesday at Y2 for fortunately so you can find us across all social media handles at Michelle Ashira is where you can reach out to me on all my social in this particular session you are looking at an outdoor recreational venture and most importantly for right now it's a non-profit organization but we look at ways my guest says is going to make generate income out of this so it's a composition that you want to stick around. My guest is David Molo from Green Kenya a sport for development organization that has different program from sport for the sport for develop development we have environmental program and also I believe girl and boy child empowerment it's a composition you want to stick around stick around for stick around for so we know for that let's just dive into this so David Molo thank you very much for creating time to be with us you're welcome all right starting starting us off I'm very curious and to why did you start an unprofit organization and before that tell us what Green Kenya is all about well just the information thank you for having me so Green Kenya sport for development organization so we teach through sports just like teachers use you know chalk I will use football to mentor and work with children in informal settlements yeah all right why sport center because I grew up playing football I started playing football age of eight nine there and I know what football can do in someone's life I remember when I was going to the field I will feel you know different being in the field and as I was growing up I decided this is what I want to do but I did not I did not have a clear picture of how I'm going to do it but I knew that with its football I can do something so and I grew up where people liked football so we would go and play football even forget food during lunchtime and I would come back in the evening and my dad would be like where are you and based on you know how I was looking it was like he's from football and also my dad liked football so I think I got this from him and that's how this passion you know came in and the conviction that this is possible yeah what is interesting about this organization that you've started is that it focuses on life skills which is so essential when it comes to teaching young children they are there once in the society because they go to school you know the formal education and then life hits and life situations and they don't know how to deal with that why did you choose on life skills they don't know I decided this is because of my upbringing I saw I lost some of my friends in mysterious ways and I decided that if my fellow players and my community like football then we'll use this to bring change to bring transformation and you know when you play football and and you're good at it people tend to you know follow you it and to have you know friends around you they want to be like you and in our community we were at that level so I decided that I'm going to use this football to transform the lives of young people so that they don't see or face what I faced or or you know the the challenges that we faced when we were growing up and that's how the passion to use football came in I remember in high school I had friends who you know challenged me and say come just just come and pick the cones come do a tendons register and that's how I developed you know the the passion to do this and before I knew it I met people who you know nurtured my my vision and one day I just said you know what this is what I'm going to do this up and I remember I was sitting with all my friends it's called OT Charles and he said why don't you you know call this green Kenya I was like why not so we went to do the search and we found that there were so many green Kenya so we said let's put green a hyphen between Kenya and green and the green Kenya came up so when I was starting I did not have any clue that it would be like what it is today we did the constitution we said okay we don't have a platform where we can you know show people what you can do we created the website and that's how we developed the organization so I did not do I was not aware that we were creating a business in one way or the other because in the long run we're like but this is a business because this we didn't have the structure we have the structure now we didn't have a team we have a team now we didn't have like a school that will go do this program now we have it so it's more of a business you know okay that comes out please that you followed your passion to the point where you actually didn't identify that it was actually a business so how important is it for someone who is watching this and probably have this particular interest so how can they convert that into a business idea well first of all what I'll say is you need to have the conviction you need to believe that this can be possible many a times we tend to believe what other people are saying for us but once you believe that this is possible then you follow your passion when you're starting you'll not be clear up just want to be in honest with this you'll not know exactly where you're going but as you follow your passion it will open up those number two is what makes you feel like what makes you turned on that's what I experienced I felt like when I play football I will feel good I feel that supernatural good and that's how this vision came up so if you're at home and you have something that you believe this is it you believe it you believe on it and then start this how I did it so start writing the things that you you want in that business or in that organization so for example is how many children do you want to work with where do you want to work where do you want the business or the organization to be who do you want to work with who do you want to be in your team how big do you see this business or organization and believe you me if you start doing it like that you're breaking the dream or the vision into segments it will happen you just break it down in small portions yes so for example I remember when we were starting we didn't have even I have what I had one ball and we didn't have like the team and I wrote the names of the people that I wanted to work with and they are qualities and that's that's what came up so I remember when we're doing our trainings I told them that guys I don't have all the expertise but what I know is that if we stick together where two or three are gathered something will happen you had the vision oh yeah all right so forgetting a shot so how did you start and what what were the gears and tools did you have because you mentioned you had one ball how did you gather around to to get other resources and how many students did you start very good so we had you know some people believed in us and and this is what I believe it has become one of my motivating factor that sometimes you have to believe in other people's believe before you believe kicks in so I had friends like from coaches across continent who you know were able to train me but before coach across continent I was able to volunteer with other organizations like Wijjana Manipa Moja in easily and through that I was able to you know have some knowledge and idea of doing this and then I met CSE coach across continent whereby I was able to meet with their founder those early years and he told me one thing he said David you have something in you I don't like you to follow it up so he said as coach across continent will help you to do monitoring and evaluation to have webinars and virtual meetings whereby you can develop your skill and then after that they gave me opportunities to go and work in other communities so I've been able to to work in like six counties in Kenya we've been in Mars a bit I've done volunteer work in beta in Kisumu in Bogotio just to mention a few and through that I was able to get the knowledge that I wanted so the vision was in me but CSE you know gave me like the skill that I needed to do this work and then with the resources I remember the first two years it was was very difficult we had nothing I remember would walk from school A to school B and I'll tell I'll tell them that I'll be there in the next 30 minutes and I'll be late because I was working so towards three years down the line we're able to meet with the Polynesian project and the Polynesian project is is also an unprofit organization that gathers you know resources and impacts the life of young people who are doing extraordinary things and they're able to support us the thousand dollars that's like hundred thousand and I remember I remember the feeling up to date you know I was able to get the balls the equipment that we needed and I will go to the school the exact time that feeling I was not earning anything but that conviction that feeling that it is possible that kept me going all along so I remember the first seed grant that was like a game changer I just wanted to meet this person who was able to see my vision from from far and and get supported and up to date I feel still I feel emotional every time I think of that one moment because through that we're able to get you know other opportunities and other interviews and other people wanted to work with us and we ended up working with the first time I work with around 50 children 50 50 and I went to a school in Chowde Moio 2017 and I remember I went to one school we still work with that school it's called Splash Community School in Chowde Moio and I remember that the head teacher then told me that David I will give you only 20 minutes because if you waste the time of my children you'll never come back I was like that is what I wanted that is what I wanted and and since 2017 we've worked with school and we had 50 he added up another 20 and so the children were many I was alone so I had to look for other people and that's how we were able to bring other people into the team so at this moment we're like 10 10 volunteers were working to this project this they cannot you know commit their time fully because they have to go and work absolutely but for me I'm there full time come rain come sunshine okay I will be there speaking about being there for them how how do you sustain yourself considering like it you've not yet got an structure business structure how you can generate income yet and what's the plan so you know one of the things that pollution told us or asked was how are you going to be sustainable how are you going to ensure that okay you generate income in this and we've also been doing fundraising online through global giving where people who see or want to donate to your project can donate so that's how we've been keeping ourselves able sometimes it comes sometimes you know takes time but the permission asked how are you guys going to be sustainable and we have to think some of the ways that are going to be sustainable so we've put other programs that helps us to generate funds or or some money to help us going so for example and there's another program that that came in that's why I told you that I didn't know that I was you know doing a business per se so we have another program called kick and conserve so it during kick and conserve we bring around 10 schools that's about 450 to 500 participants in one institution in one big school where they learn about environmental games they play football and then later they plant a tree so through that schools are able to pay and that helps us to run the organization we're able to buy trophies and we can you know pay transport and and stipend for other volunteers so so through kick and conserve we've been able to you know generate funds but also help children have fun and also conserve the environment you know and and then because in schools in Nairobi they're not that huge so we choose the captains to plant a tree but our vision is to have you know all these children at least plant three or four trees in their primary life can imagine if you have five hundred children let's say let's take the least four hundred children in one activity and they're able to plant four hundred trees and we normally have three kick and conserve in a year so that will be like you know 1200 seedlings in a year and we've only worked with class four and above how about if you need involve you know children who are in a lower primary we'll be able to you know cover or plant enough trees with this with these children okay so that's how we've been able to raise you know and also like the pilot it's also an opportunity to also include the underprivileged they privilege so I'd like to find out how important for someone who's watching this conversation how important is it when it comes to networking and how do you actually maintain those relationships because you're speaking about people who actually haven't met this vision from a different continent and country so how is it important to maintain and how do you actually maintain this relationship when it comes to the trucking very good so the trucking is very important you cannot do this work alone and once you have a vision as time goes by it gets you know it gets bigger and now you cannot hold it alone in other people that's why in a trucking is very very important and the way we've been able to nurture this network is you know just get out there and share with people what you're doing and if you have like minded organizations like you know the pollination or quotes across continent then you're able to exchange ideas and so another thing is talk to people about what you're doing because you can imagine the people who are having great ideas also here but they are not ready to share with other people or they don't know how to bring it out so you also need to be able to communicate your ideas and your thoughts clearly okay something else is is actually believe in what you're saying because you might be saying something else but your heart is saying something you'll not be able to get it right so when it comes to networking just just go go on to these events just sit there and learn I will say that I don't know if it is a universe or the way I am but I was able to you know follow these links and my vision of my plan was not to get money in the beginning was to learn get the idea through that you're able to connect and learn from other people who are doing the same and then I thought that you know if you have more money you can have a good plan but I came to realize that I thought I thought that you know if you have more money you'll have good plans but but I came to realize that if you have a good plan money will follow but you have to show what you want to become and what is possible within you before that money can follow and if you learn that way then you'd be able to know that it is not about money per se it's about the vision you know it is it is it is very very critical to understand this because at times you're so much into money and forget the bigger picture we've worked with children who will never pay assume I will never maybe see again in other counties or in other countries but that feeling makes people want to support the vision okay so what is it what's the age target the organization is aiming for so organization is now divided into two tires so we have nine to nineteen years with boys and girls and then we have you know 20 years and above because we also have another program and I like talking about these through programs because that's how we were able to evolve and create this this program so I've talked about two tires so from nine to nineteen this is a young people so they like to have fun and play so we have you know our programs that give them that opportunity but when you come to the second tire where we have you know green Kenya sports for social impact consultancy where we work with other organizations this is where we are able to you know charge a small percentage to be able to support the organization I believe that have experiences and expertise that I can share with other people and can imagine sharing what you love doing and then people pay for it I mean that is that is the you know and and this is this is what I learned along the way that your job is what you've been hired for but your work is your is your gift you go and work for your skill you're being paid for your skill but your work is what you came with you know what you're doing right now was in you and if you went to school to refine it can imagine you're being paid for what you like doing so our second tire is about impacting other communities also and to give them an opportunity to feel the way I'm feeling and how fun play but also you know pay something small that can support the organization just have a clear in look of what the organization does when it comes to offering our life skills to these young young people let's look at for instance if you're intending to teach discipline how does the how do you go about it very good I get you know I get this kind of questions most of the time so we do have a curriculum we do have a soccer team curriculum through our partners CSE and we've been able to localize it to suit our our needs here so we have a structured program where it has three parts one is we call it warm up where we play with them you know just to involve them we do some greetings and get to know how they're doing and then the main part is now we're going to talk about the challenge per se or the social issue for example the discipline so we can divide it in different segments so is it self-discipline is it you know respecting women is it respecting your environment or respecting your your surrounding and then we'll we'll talk about maybe for example respecting women and we look at some of the social issues or things that makes people not to respect women and then we start to question these harmful practices and you know children are children they will tell you so through football we ask them questions we ask we spark vital conversation through play I wish I had a ball and I could demonstrate it here but through that they're able to open up and they're able to reflect and see oh so the way I was thinking is not the right way the first week is difficult but as you work with them as you become consistent you see the change so we did an example so there was this girl who was always violent and the teacher said so we got curious so we went there in the afternoon and we observe the girl and later in the in the in the pitch we asked her what is the problem boy always like this and she looked down and we started involving her in the sessions giving her small task calling the tennis register and we started seeing her transforming okay so we let her realize that it was the abuse that was taking place at home that was making the child become violent now the teacher ruled how that we are not going to you know so and this one does not come one or two days takes time before you can you can study a child through CSE we're able to you know do trainings and and other programs that helps you know how to work with children you know so when it comes to discipline it will go to child protection policy where why do they behave like this and what can you do to correct this you know so we have a child protection policy games and child protection policy document that you're working on to build it and make it stronger so that you know we are able to protect children in our in our program that way you'll be able to look at the root cause of the problem you know and you brought up something very important about the whole situation and you gave us a scenario of the girl and the fact that she was experiencing abuse back at home are there is an inclusive of well maybe a counselor when you deal with mental health when it comes to this young kid so that's very very important at the moment like I said we're working on our child protection policy and it has to have that segment you know like I said it is a nonprofit so sometimes you're not able to pay for this to pay for for a counselor and so what we've decided is one of the volunteers I think two will go and study how to counsel children it's called counseling psychology hopefully next year it was supposed to happen this year but because of the situation we won't be able to that person will be able to go to school but next year we'll have two people who will do counseling psychology that will work with both male and female because that's a profession and the skill that is is needed but in our child protection policy document we have a procedure of documenting this you know if an abuse happens what do you what do you should you do where can you go and where can you refer them so the moment is just referrals. When it comes to the other trainers that you work with what is the process that you take in terms of just getting the ideal trainer to do this young people. So I do mostly training I train them on how to work with children we do things like physical literacy a child-centered program and physical literacy it's a program by itself and through CAC as well we also have you know trainings that happens every year we were supposed to have one in April this year but did not take place because of COVID so through this kind of trainings and exposure in other other communities they're able to learn this skill but we do have a stringent process of getting volunteers because we have we want to have people who can be role models who will not abuse children who will take care of children even outside the Green Cana program you know so we have a procedure where we follow and you know we ensure that you don't have criminal records that you're a mentor you're a role model in the community and you like sports for example football that is the criteria to bring in coaches. We have different sport centers recreational sports centers for young guys out here what makes the Green Cana different? Very good so what makes us unique is first of all the passion that we have for this we believe that we are not only focusing on Kenya but looking at Africa in general that is our vision and what makes us unique is that we do this from the core from our heart we want to make lasting change sustainable change through play and we believe that this is possible another thing is that we have a youthful organization and people who are committed into the vision because at the end of the day is the vision that will make Green Cana bigger and yeah we love what we're doing we love what we're doing because sometimes I work with my team and sometimes I'm like okay guys we don't have anything here but let's go do this if we stay together where two or three are gathered something gonna come up. Well a couple financial lessons that you you and your team have learned consider that you started with nothing financially so what a couple financial lessons that you want? One is you need to ensure that you're looking at your financial books or you have your financials in order so for example how much did you use in your transportation how much did you use in training and you need to document that very very good because remember when you're starting I wasn't really focusing on that mine was just to go into the field and play and and leave it at that but as we moved along I met people along the way who told me David you're doing a good thing but you're not focusing on ensuring that your financial measure up to what you're doing because you're focused on passion. I realized that when you focus on what you're doing money will come so but I was not aware I'm not you know good in mathematics so I'm just good in creating programs so I had to have people who will ensure that our board and and and our leaders ensure that David you have to make sure that we have a good plan here when it comes to financials how much money are you bringing in to do this program I was not focusing on that so I remember they sat down with me and say you have to so we had a reconciliation and an Excel where I'll write everything that we've spent how much we project for the year and something like that and now now it is organized thank God that is organized I might not be the one who is organizing it but through other people who saw the vision said I'm gonna support you to organize your finances so just let me let me cook finish this so your your financial should really go hand in hand with the program that you're doing because honestly if someone is going to support you to do this program then they look at that side as well how are you good in managing this and through the years we've improved I'm happy that we've improved a couple of achievement stories when you look back and you feel like I don't regret that I actually embarked on this journey Wow a couple of them so number one I remember I was chosen to attend the United Nations office for sports and development and the all-spice of Willie Lemke who was the special advisor to Bankimoon then and I was chosen to go and represent you know our organization in Doha to just you know explain and express what we are doing that was one of the achievement and then I was also chosen to be part of the first imagine peace in Greece twice first and second imagine peace and through this training I was able to learn you know different things that I would come and implement here at home and then with CSE because across continent we've been able to get a chance to you know travel to even to other countries last time I was in Malawi and you know I was able to run a program by myself with the support of they call them global citizens who were able to you know we met in Nairobi first we concluded a program in Nairobi then went to Kisumu and Bita and then went to Malawi so it was like a month just traveling from different communities teaching the same so I felt like this thing is possible it is really possible so through that and then working with different institution also really expose or give me the opportunity to believe mine was just the belief because if this believe can kick in then I can achieve that I can achieve what I want so those are some of the achievement and when it comes to the organization we're going to celebrate our sixth birthday tomorrow so so I really don't know because we normally celebrate our birthdays with children in different schools so I don't know I don't know I will ask the team I'll ask the team and see what we can do but we normally celebrate this with children in the informal settlement in Mukuru in Shaorimoyo so that's why we've been doing this celebration so we'll see if you know we'll gather cut a cake maybe and just celebrate with the team now and hopefully maybe when schools are back up next year when we meet with the children we'll do something a couple of challenges that you you you are faced of still facing doing this time of pandemic and also in the business aspect of it also you know every every every question is like is a story by itself I've faced and we have faced so many challenges that team that we don't take them personal anymore top three top three one is a you know when you're starting to do something like like what are doing right now people don't believe in you because you're still young like are you gonna make it or you just hear for the money so when you're starting people don't believe in you and you have so many challenges and then number two is the opportunity to go and do these programs in schools some teachers don't believe that you you're able to do what you want to do and then number three is there the finances now finances now comes in because now as you expand other organization other organization as well and other schools want this program but you cannot do it to that capacity be though because you don't have enough funding or support you need number of coaches you need equipments you need the training expertise so those are some of the challenges that we've faced but we've you know overcome them that's where we are here today and for someone who is watching this on your final remarks pertaining as someone who wants to start up a business they're thinking about the financial aspect of it how am I going to raise my capital how am I going to get funds and your story is something which is in a way started with nothing you just feel your passion and here you are transforming young people's lives like what would be your advice to to that person number one is write down what you want the way you want it because through that one you've committed down you know then start going into action going into action is talk to people talk talk to your parent talk to your family members and don't say there's no money if there's money outside here one thing I know is that there is money because there's no money that has left the universe there's money somewhere you know so what you need to do is just write what you want down and then number two go into action then number three act as if this thing is going to work because at times your mouth and what your heart is saying a two-dimensional thing but once you put them into alignment I can assure you because I'm a living testimony it will come to pass and you may not yet seen what we can do yet what this space I'm telling you the truth watch it what's the vision for green Kenya let's I don't want to give a specific like a couple of years down the road so one of the one of the biggest vision right now is we want to build a seven aside tough field where you know children can come and play there but also create revenue for that and we will build them in different counties in Kenya and then number two we want to do sports for social impact in Africa sports for social impact consultancy in Africa because we want to teach other young people and inspire them with our story and we can only inspire them if you go near them and show them if we made it you can make it and then number three is to create an opportunity for you know women to learn about you know to have an opportunity for everyone to come and learn and become who they can become we've started slowly but I believe in the next three to five years sport tough field is maybe next about one consultancy in Africa will give it three years and then women empowerment also two to three years we have structures all you need is just to open up and have the right mind the right people I don't want to say money passe fast I want to have the right mind the right perception and the right people to work with oh yes all right so how can people find you on social media if they want to reach out to you and that just give this conversation going so we have our Facebook page we have our Twitter we have our YouTube and we have our Instagram if you write green hyphen Kenya if you have green just write a green hyphen Kenya dot RG we are all there follow us talk to us and we'll be happy no to share with you this dream because if you stop dreaming then you stop existing like that if you stop dreaming you stop existing like the initiative by actually transforming lives at a very tender age and just you know focusing them focusing the young minds on matters pertaining life skills and how important that is when it comes to the real life situations thank you very much David Muller for creating time to be with us you're welcome all right that was David Muller from green Kenya Sports Center just for young people to just get to learn different life skills just to apply them in real life situation I try to fight for channel so you can find us across all of social media platform at Michelle a share is where you can reach out to me on all my social then I'll be taking a break and we'll be right back to sample some of your comments on the question of the day