What you need to be an entrepreneur - Kenya experiences

What you need to be an entrepreneur. Not only in Nairobi, Kenya
The first Entrepreneur Café meeting in Nairobi is over. Despite us coming from different parts of town and backgrounds, there are certain features we all have in common or need as entrepreneurs.
One: Idea
“It starts here,” says Stephen, and points at his head.
“That is the common thing among all entrepreneurs,” Lawrence had explained earlier: an idea they are burning for, which they want to see get out of their heads and into the real world. And they are willing to invest time and resources to make it happen and see it through.

Two: Community
What you need next is community. Entrepreneurs can never make it alone. Stephen and Aaron have gathered friends they trusted around themselves for their entrepreneurial venture. They were already meeting in a separate association. It was time to take their meetings to a new level and tap this sense of community and togetherness for benefits.

Three: Uniqueness
Lastly, you need to be unique. You need to be a purple cow and fulfil a need of a market in a very special and specific way. Lawrence, for example, works for a health facility in the middle of the slum. Residents had to walk to the big hospitals outside the slum, but when the first clinic inside the slum opened and offered its services for affordable prices, it picked up very quickly and became successfull. The facility founders had seen a need and are now serving it in a very unique way.

Four: Information and Resources
What Nairobi entrepreneurs are lacking is information. During the Entrepreneur Café meeting we heard about organisations and funds that exist to help young motivated people like us getting started. There are a lot of resources and opportunities designed to help. We just don't know about it. That is partly because the metropolis of Nairobi stretches across a wide area. People move around quite a bit, but in circles which rarely collide.

Five: Motivation
The Entrepreneur Café meeting managed to bring four people together and make their circles collide. We met in the middle of town and brought our different interests, knowledge and motivation together. Everybody can make a contribution, everybody knows a person or an entitiy that can provide further help, advice and inspiration.

We left the meeting with some actual tasks and more inspiration to keep up struggling, to put our ideas out of our heads and into action.

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