 This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. Welcome to Use in Action, where young people are realizing their dreams like never before. In today's program, we have a young engineer and CEO of Elvred Investments, Elvis Omondi. Elvis, Karib Lusana. Thank you, Granny. So tell us about yourself. What do you do? Who are you? Thank you. I am Elvis Omondi Aluala, a graduate engineer, registered with the engineers board of Kenya in that level, and also a member of the institution of engineers of Kenya. I'm also a member of the future leader's forum, the administration of consulting engineers of Kenya. I'm a graduate engineer in the field of civil and structural engineering. I'm a resident of Kaka-Mega, and I'm so happy to be here to share with you my journey. Interesting. I love the fact that you've mentioned the Kenya engineers board of Kenya, the institution of engineers of Kenya, and the association of consulting engineers. Why did you feel the need to mention them? These are regulatory bodies and some are associations. EBK is basically the engineers board of Kenya, the regulatory bodies, and it categorizes engineers according to their year of experience. And the most basic one is the entry level, the graduate engineer, that is basically after your five-year or four-year course. And then you transition to being a professional. After being a professional, you may transition to be a consulting engineer, which is the highest in that order. So it's basically important to be in these organizations because they regulate your practice and they allow you and recognize you as a person. It's important as young engineers and young professionals to be involved in activities of such organizations so that you may be able to grow professionally in those levels. Interesting. So everyone has a dream. I too had a dream of being a doctor in life, but I didn't meet that dream. So what is your dream and have you met it? My dream has always been to be an engineer. And I remember in Form 2, you see the lockers that we have, the front of my lockers indicated that I'm a future engineer. And I think the moment I stepped into engineering school, I've met my dream. Wow. Yes. That is a true success story. Yes, I think so. So take us through your engineering journey. You've told us about the memberships that you're part of, but how did you start? Just like a normal Kenyan, I went through the 844 system. I studied in... I was born and raised in Negori. I studied in Negori Primary. I went to Negori Secondary School. And then I got a call up to join Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology to study civil and structural engineering, which is a five-year course. I graduated in 2020. And I joined the field, of course, through mentors, because these are very dynamic fields. For example, in civil engineering, we have a wide area of practice. We have water engineering, highway engineering, the structure engineering that now deals with the structures, houses, which are basically in. So after college, just like a normal young man, I was walking up and down, looking for where to start. But I met some young people with the same vision. So that's where I started learning the basics of engineering, what to do, what not to do. And it's important to note, as a young engineer, when you're from school, you'll be required to be under a professional. A professional engineer is someone who is registered by the engineer's board of Kenya and is given powers to practice as an engineer. So as a young person, as a graduate, you have to look for such a person to guide you and help you grow so that you may also be able to transition from the graduate level to the professional level. And that's how I got myself into this noble field. Wow. You're calling it noble. Some of us appreciate engineers like they're way above the steps. But that is a true transition story. Speaking of transition, what prompted the decision to start your own investment company, Elrat? Fun enough, I had this dream when I was still in college because as a young man, I used to meet people that are in the same field. You go to a construction site, you meet contractors, you also meet engineers as they come to site to give instructions. So you get interested in whatever they do. So I saw it fit to also join these guys in doing whatever they do. So while I was in college, I could still follow up and I could still do some little assignments that were assigned to me by registered engineers. And I remember I did my first drawing for a client. That is a private job when I was in third year. That was basically not so much engineering. There was so much in the architectural part of it. But this now started exposing me to what engineering is basically about because engineering now, we also try to actually work on it with architects. So if you also understand the architectural field the way it operates, you end up also appreciating their value. And that's how I found the urge to come up with something. I am somebody who wants to study each and every day. So I went to online portal and tried to look at how somebody would start up a company or a business name. And that's how I came up with a business name. I started my company. It was rough at the start, but I think we are a sailing group. You've spoken about exposure while still in college. Yes, yes. How significant is that towards progressing in your careers because most students think that I will study, finish my exams and then outside it will be a walk in the park. No, it's not a walk in the park. You have to be smart. There's a street saying that you have to be book smart and street smart as well. Now the street smart part of it comes in when you go to your first you want to meet people that are basically doing the same thing that you study. Now this is where you start creating your first connections. This is where you start creating friendships. Because in this field it's basically about friendships and connections. So maybe I will advise young men that are coming up is the moment you get into your first attachment that's where you're going to get your first connection. So when you get to your attachment, don't just go to the attachment and finish your maybe eight or nine weeks of attachment and come back to school thinking that after graduation you're going to apply for jobs and not get them. And so what activities do you do at LRAD Investments? We deal with designs or buildings, structural designs to be precise. Structural design is maybe if I will explain in layman ways to if for example you're my client, you already have approached an architect to do for you an architectural drawing. You want to do a residential apartment, maybe three suspended floors. Now you already have the architect and the architect has given you a concept and you have accepted the concept and it has been drawn. Now it's upon us to come up in the design. We look at the architectural drawing. We come up with structural drawings. Structural drawings especially gives you details of steel, concrete, what glass, what type, what type of steel, the size, the spacing. What are you going to use in the foundation? You don't go in blankly without knowing what it entails. That is what we do. We come up with the structural details of your building so that it is safe and sound. Structural details of the building. We've seen recent issues of buildings collapsing. Is it a structural issue or is there something else to add on? I don't think it's a structural issue because I believe our engineers are competent enough. I think it's a regulatory issue of which the regulations are there already. I'll give an example. An example is where an engineer, you're the client and you told the engineer you want a three-storey building. The engineer designs in mind that you want a three-storey building. That's basically what you design. We design to a safety of three-storey. Basically as a client, maybe you might intend to look for services of the engineer thereafter to come and supervise whatever you're drawing because you also have to come and see if whatever your drawing is being implemented the way you intended it to be implemented. The engineer supervises your building up to the third story as you agreed. But then you feel that maybe you've gotten some money. Now you want to add two extra floors without knowledge of the engineer. And having in mind that you're told the engineer from the concept stage that you want a three-storey and you're not going to add any more. Now, because maybe you've told your advisor that these engineers maybe they don't know these things. We've done this before somewhere. If you add two extra floors it's very safe. Now the engineer withdraws because if you cannot follow the advisor, we withdraw. So if the engineers withdraw from your project and then you decide to proceed with three or four stories more from the initial three-storey that you desired. Basically that weight is going to exceed the bearing capacity that the initial plan that was designed for it. That will be one course of collapse. And another course might be sometimes the plans will totally ignore the professionals. So if you totally ignore the professionals there's nothing good that is going to come from it. If you want to do a seven-storey and you've ignored a professional you've just picked a contractor. I don't think there's anything good because a contractor is a businessman. A contractor is a professional. An engineer is a professional. A professional will put his ethics first. So my ethics before I make money. So if you tell me I want to add two extra floors and I already designed for three no matter how much you're going to pay my ethics will come first. But a contractor will be interested in money and mostly they'll get away with it. Mostly contractors will get away with it. But if you're an engineer and a mistake happens you'll never get away with it. It will follow you forever. And maybe the National Construction Authority that oversees constructions I think they also need to regulate the contractors because I feel nowadays anybody else could just come up and register a company and they become a contractor. So I feel she should be a requirement that not just on paper but on the ground a contractor should have a professional. And we hope that the mentality that you have will be pushed towards a broader audience and into the future will not have such cases. And so what about the mixture the consistency of the cement, the rocks and the ETC I'm not sure what materials are needed. So does it also contribute to the collapse if it's not in the right consistency? Yeah, it's called concrete. It's a mix of cement, sand and ballast. Ballast is what we call Kokoto. The local language. Now I told you as we design we give specifics. So for a given building you'll see an engineer indicated we need class 20 of concrete. A class 10 basically will tell you the ratio that is required. Now it comes to concrete you find that the biggest mistake that people do is the mix is not regulated. Oh you're not following what was designed for. The engineer might have designed for class 25 but you use class 20 to save on cement or something. So basing the knowledge that you have what did you say has been pushing you towards ensuring that your company success? We are in a very competitive world. Engineering is also competitive and there's a lot of technology coming up. So what we basically want to succeed is trying to advise clients on technology trying to advise clients on how you can save money. What we're interested mostly in is what the client must be interested in most of the time is how am I going to save money how am I going to do this project and how is my project going to be safe at the same time saving money. So I think that's where we come in and that's maybe why most of the clients might reverse to maybe the older guys we are trying to to embrace technology and advise on technology. And also you know as a young person when a technology comes up you want to know what it's about where does it fail and how does it compare to the nominal thing that we've been doing. So we also try to compete and we try to advise on technology and what is how we compete and that's how we sustain our small company. That's a smart decision. So you offer employment to other young people what significance does this action have in the growing economy where employment and cost of living is a major issue? Yeah it's really satisfying to have young people besides you that look up to you you know you're also young but you also have some other people that think you're really great it pushes you and it makes you feel that you're achieving something and you know when somebody takes some food home cut a sea of your work it feels great so it's really satisfying. And very selfless. So what challenges have you encountered through your journey and how did you manage as an engineer and a CEO? Yeah challenges are always there and they'll remain together. The most significant one is the people that we have or the clients that we encounter you remember we are in the western part of Kenya so the clients that we encounter basically you find that most of them are not impressed the professionalism part of it you might tell a client that for this particular job we need this amount of money and then a client will tell you you need that amount of money just to draw lines and tell me what I need to do So these are challenges that we need but we have always tried to explain to people try to drive the professional part of it so that someone understands that you really need professionals because you know as time changes we also have the dynamic changes in the environment what used to be a stable ground the last maybe 20 years ago is no longer stable because of the activities that we have so it is of importance to engage a professional and sometimes the professional fees might be high but once you understand the importance of engaging a professional it might save you a lot because if a professional will tell you a given figure and you feel it's high and you proceed to do something and then now your building collapses you lose a lot more than you could have given the professional and maybe you will end up going to court and the court process might also eat a lot and you know the other side our landed friends they tend not to bargain but for us maybe we can bargain a little bit to make sure that you're safe Aside from the challenges what has been your greatest achievement in this journey my greatest achievement is it feels good to to design a house and it feels good to supervise to completion and the greatest thing is to feel it feels good to see people live in something that you designed it feels great it feels great could you maybe point to an example of a building that we can walk around and see that is this they are quite a lot in town keteers per market there is a new keteers per market in town it sits on our design we have several apartments that will also be the structure design and supervised and it's habitable and it is safe it's also important to note that it's also safe so where can one acquire your services if I need from you we have not gone the social media way because we believe there is one thing that my senior told me that the engineering profession advertises itself once you do something good clients will come so basically we have not come to advertising but we have physical offices I also work with a consulting firm level infrastructure consulting it's a registered consulting firm civil engineering consulting firm our offices are located in Kisumu exiled trading centre just behind Telcom Plaza first floor office number A9 and maybe contacts of the office will be 07 83 09 5500 you will find us through that number and our physical office is in Kakamega located at Sanjay house that is opposite Humbury Towers second floor office number 311 so to just finish what advice do you have for a young person who started their own thing but they are facing challenges and maybe they are impatient of the results and the profits and they feel like they need to quit or they want to quit quitting is never an option once you start something if it's your dream you'll never quit no matter how tough it's going to be so young people there that are really trying I know I've met young people that are really trying the results are not going to be instant you're not going to see the results it's a transition process going to start from somewhere and what I would really advise my fellow young people is never give up push it, push and push and as you push make sure you have somebody that holds your hand somebody that has been in that field or somebody that you see has succeeded in that field that can guide you because these things there's nobody who was born knowing these things so we learn from those that were before us and it is also good to know that in Kenya we have many people that are willing to help but only if you approach them the problem with young people is maybe we don't want to approach those that have made it I don't think if you approach someone that has really made it in the profession that you really want to be in they'll push you away there's nobody that's going to push you away and especially in engineering I've never seen a selfish engineer we always look look up to each other and we try to build each other so if you have a startup you have a small company push it, push it and push it and make sure you follow regulations of the government so that it will help you in the future the government maybe sets up some regulations you have to have these and these to set up a given company you have to do these after end of the year you make sure you push and achieve such these will be very important as you grow your company thank you so much Elvis I have learnt a lot just by sitting with you and I am sure out there you have learnt a lot as well as he has said quitting is not an option and don't let fear guide you towards failure find the mentors be brave enough to look for them if you have your company do not be impatient go for what you need and your dream is just behind that door this has been action I am Nyongwesa Grenis see you next time