 I'm back again with another inspiring story, I'm still here in Nairobi like I said, it's time to inspire him, it's time to tell you guys that it's possible in Africa, is it possible in Africa? Absolutely this is the place where it's especially for us Africans. But anytime I tell them it's possible in Africa they think I'm lying to them? I'll tell you a story, so my background, we were having a conversation earlier and I told you that one of those people, I know we're going to be talking about my business today but where I started I was working with a multinational who gave me an opportunity to work out a you can either go to South Africa or you can go to Ghana and obviously in those days South Africa was a place to be but they gave me more information, I said this Ghana opportunity sounds more interesting. So I found myself moving to Ghana and you know East Africans tend to be a little bit scared of East Africa. Really? Because there's a lot of very bad press, there's been a bad press from particularly Nigeria back in the day, all these schools and you know there's a lot of sort of negative images being projected. But when I got to Ghana, oh my goodness I was blown away and I lived there and I had three fantastic years. Which year was that? Now we're going back in history. No you have to tell me which year was that. Actually this was between 1998 and 2001 so Jerry Rawlings was the president then. That time. And there's a lot of discussion around change of regime and Kufo came in towards the end of my stay there. And you know it was a wonderful thing to see an election that went smoothly and contested. You know the country just moved on smoothly. In fact one of the things I really admire about Ghana is how you guys conduct your elections very very smoothly. People will express themselves, they make their choice and they move on. Move on. Yeah. So I just want to know your name and where you're from? So my name is here, from Nairobi, Kenya. I grew up in a modest suburb called Kilimanjaro people. And I'm here, although I live in Nairobi. I do spend a lot of time on the continent. I just came back from Akra last week. Yeah. I think that's why I met you. I know we're going to talk a bit about that. Yeah. I want to know, yeah, you are the CEO of Horizon offices. That's right. And I just want to know, what were you doing before Horizon offices? Because you said you were working for a multinational company that was Unilever? Yes, I was working for Unilever. For how long? I worked with Unilever for just over 10 years. My background was in marketing. It was a very, very good start. Because Unilever is a great company for any young person. You go in to train you. You learn your core skill. You also teach you about business. The exposure is fantastic. You were tired or you quit? I resigned. While I was there, as much as I was really enjoying myself. You know, the comfort and the security that comes with working for a big company. You know, every month was coming. You have really no concerns about security into the future because you have a strong company. But there was something inside me that was really burning. And you wanted to be my own man. I wanted to run my own business. I had so many ideas. When I got back from Ghana, it was very interesting while I was in Ghana. I had a lot of time to think. And I think it came to me very clearly that when I got back to Nairobi, it was time to make the next step and to move out of employment. And I needed to self-employ. No one told you that you're getting crazy by leaving such a comfortable job and start your own business or something? Of course they were there. It wasn't a very popular decision. But at the end of the day, you have to be honest with yourself. Because if you're not doing what you're passionate about, if you're not following your own path, you will never be happy. So, I would like to you, it was very uncomfortable. Because you stop getting that regular income. And in fact, when you start your business, the problem then becomes where you're going to find money to pay people. Because you're employing people. Now you're employing people. People start depending on you. But no regrets. Can you tell us about what you do right now about the Horizon offices? What is it all about? Yeah, sure. So, especially now people I think know what a service office is or co-working. It's a place that is taking over from a conventional office. In the old days, you had to go take up a lease, look for money to furnish it, to fill it out. Particularly for a new business. Very, very big obstacles. But now, you've got people like Horizon, where you can literally walk in within a couple of hours. You find yourself working from a fantastic work environment, nicely furnished with all the equipment you need, with stuff to support you. And they were very flexible. So you can have an office for a shorter, whether it's a week or a year. You mean you provide all the, how do you call it, the furnish and all that? Everything. Absolutely. All you need to do is to move in. You just move in. Tell us what your needs are. If you're working on your own, working with two people, maybe down the line as you expand, you need more space. You don't have to move again. You just come and have a conversation with one of our staff and we'll find you within the same location. You know, a bigger, more appropriate space. Or if business isn't going well, and you say, you know, I love it here, but I need to scale down. You can also scale down without changing your office location. And how many of these do you have in Nairobi now? So in Nairobi, we have five different locations, spread across Westlands, Riverside, Kilimani. And then, as I mentioned, we're also in West Africa, we're in Lagos. And of course in Ghana, and I think I know you had an opportunity to do this. I saw the Ghana one, but when you're not scared of going to Nigeria to establish your business in Lagos, it's really to most East Africans, they don't want to hear anything about Lagos. So, I mean, you had the confidence to go and establish such a business in Lagos. Were you not scared? No, I wasn't scared. But remember, I was a bit more exposed to most East Africans, because I lived in Ghana. And while I was in Ghana, my job took me around the region. So I used to go around Lagos, I'd gone to Côte d'Ivoire. I was quite comfortable. I mean, I've even drive from Accra to Abidjan. I didn't have the ignorance, so to speak. I was more exposed, so it was easy for me. But I think you have a message for, I mean, the ignorant one, if you have a message, since you've been exposed, since you've been there, you know, in and out, you're not being scared of establishing your business in there. If you have a message to your fellow, I mean, East Africans will think that way. What will it be? We're all Africans and one of the things that strikes me all the time is our similarities. And also that all our solutions are in Africa. You know, one of the things that I found incredible was when I went to, I don't know, the first time going to the supermarket in Accra, and even in Lagos. And I'd find things that we could supply from Nairobi being stocked on the shelves. And it didn't make sense to me. I remember finding potatoes from Europe, milk from France, fresh produce. You know, we are huge exporters of fresh produce from Kenya to the rest of the world. Why won't we supply, you know, to our brothers and sisters in West Africa, in Ghana and Nigeria? And a lot of it is because the, you know, the information has not been there. A lot of it is, you know, I think it starts from knowledge or lack of knowledge. I think a lot of it has also been a problem of some of the, you know, the enablers, like having good tax arrangements between countries. Transport was a big problem. So it is to take 14 hours from Nairobi to Accra because we have to travel through different countries. I know a lot has changed since then. But I think a lot of these things have been, you know, resolved, a lot of these issues have been resolved. And what remains now is for people just to take up the opportunity and just go. I mean, there are the Kenyans there who are doing great things. In West Africa? In West Africa. And the other thing is also good to go to a place where you are wanted. You know, when we go to Nigeria, Nigerians love us. People may not realize that, you know, they really embrace us. Ghana, I think, goes without saying. We feel very at home. So for me, those are the things that are important. You said Africa's solution is in Africa. It doesn't mean that we don't have to travel out of the continent to find greener pastures. We can find everything in here. Absolutely, absolutely. And I was just giving you some of those examples. It's actually, I would say it's a lot easier. I would say it's a lot more sustainable because you find yourself in an environment where you can also live. You know, many of us are quite happy to... I know people who have settled down on property and if you try to convince them to come back to Kenya, much as they love home, they're also at home where they are. But we know we have a majority of Africans living abroad right now. That's why most of them are subscribed to my channel. They want to know what are their fellow brothers and sisters doing on the continent because they can't believe that the Africans are the left. I mean, people are changing stuff. Do you think that it's time for them to come back and come and take part of the cake of what is going on in Africa right now? I think so. Actually, ask yourself why are the Americans, the Europeans coming to Africa and leaving their homes? Why are they doing that? Because they've spotted something good here, right? Yet, you know, this is our home. This is where we belong and this is where we're most comfortable. And this is where we can be most effective, right? I think in some ways, maybe we are our worst enemies because maybe we have the wrong image of our own country. I think we need to be more aware of what starts with, I suppose, a better sense of identity and confidence that we have something better here than what we will find out there. Mr. Karbu, do you know that since I'm sitting down here with you, a lot of people are going to trust you that let's say there are people from Ghana who want to do business in Kenya or people from Kenya want to go to Ghana and do business. You can be our mediator to help us. Is there any way you can help solve this problem about people who want to move from Ghana to, I mean, Kenya and those who want to move from Kenya to do business? You've taken the words out of my mouth. That's exactly what we're set up to be. Initially, the majority of our clients tended to come from outside Africa, but increasingly what we're seeing is exactly what you're saying. A Ghanaian company wants to try its luck in Kenya. This is a one-stop shop, so you literally get in touch with us and say, look, we are interested in exploring opportunities in Kenya. You land in Kenya, live in a race to meet you at the airport, take a short term lease with us in one of our offices. And then we give you access to all our networks, so figuring out how to register your business, how to get your bank accounts sorted out, business contacts, whatever industry it is that you might be. We will point you in the right direction, and that gives you that very, very important look into the market. If you like what you see, then you come back to us again and say, I'm ready to now take a permanent office and get started. And vice versa. Kenyans want to go to Nigeria, want to go to Ghana, same thing. And I'm not just saying this. Others have already done it. Your final message to all Africans watching us right now. Your final message. It's just to re-emphasize what I know we've been discussing, which is, I think Africa is primarily for Africans. And we have everything that we need. We have all the solutions here. I think we are only scratching the surface. If we really put our minds to it, in developing ourselves, we're developing others and the continent as a whole. If you had a chance to change something in Africa, what would it be? Barriers. I'll just bring down all the barriers. Make it easier and cheaper to travel. I want to say thank you so much for talking to me. You're welcome.