In the good old days … when I was young … I remember when …
These are phrases we have heard time and time again from parents, uncles, older family members and sometimes from people we don’t even feel like talking to who just happened to catch us off-guard. We are often reminded of how they used to walk to farms and to school, of how they studied HARD and never gave up. How they struggled to get into university and when they came out how they got a job.
Hey did you hear that correctly? Let me go back and say that again “when they came out of university they got jobs”. Now this statement seems rather normal. Until you finish university in OUR generation and find that getting a job isn’t as easy as it looks.
Back in the “Good ol’ days” there was a high demand for educated workers, when our parents were in university they used to receive allowance and had rooms to themselves (well at least till some point). Well times have changed now … in some public universities like the glorious ----- four people are quashed into an excavated sardine tin which they call a room. When you got there your life is your problem, and when you finally finish school finding a job is harder than using your tongue to touch your nose.
These days most jobs are looking for people with “5 years relevant work experience”, so for all of us who finished uni a few years ago are left to dry like your skin in harmattan. This has led to the development of the “Galamzey Mentality” amongst a segment of the youth today (where youth is essentially 35 and below … if you are 40 you aren’t and old man but you are definitely not a youth).
Nowadays every relatively young person is looking to create a job for themselves, partly because we don’t feel like sitting under the thumb of some old dude, but mainly for the reason that finding an orthodox job is difficult, and once you get it you find that it is mentally and creatively unchallenging and dampening, doesn’t pay enough for you to sit in traffic for 2-4 hours a day as well as a load of other things as well. Now don’t get me wrong here, many people get good jobs, and quite a lot of them pay well, but not everyone is enjoying these benefits (especially those who don’t have CONNECTIONS). Even those with jobs are looking for side attractions to lubricate their harmattan infested wallets.
Now I’m not writing this article to complain, rather I think that the entrepreneurial spirit displayed by we youth today is simply admirable, and we need to do things right. I can relate to people who are trying to get their businesses off ground zero and have parents sitting on their necks saying “oh Kwame, don’t you think it would be better to get a job?”. Don’t let disappointments get in the way of you starting and sticking to your own business, have a good vision and mission, make sure you have realistic plans that you can stick to and even if you are working on it part time (after your regular 9 to 5) you can still achieve a lot with proper time management and a little investment. Soon it will be our time to shine in Ghana’s economy, let’s make sure that we shine like the sun on not a polished shoe.
Also let’s patronize Done-by-us-Goods, we can be our own CONNECTIONS. We all need clients for our businesses to thrive so if we make sure that we create our own business communities we will definitely succeed, it just takes time, and since God is on our side, there aint nobody who can be against us …. At least not successfully.
So drop a comment with your business name, and what you do and let’s spread the word!
p.s. power to the lizard ... its time to scare the dogs
