Gems and Nuggets Podcast Series by MaryAnne Mwaura

“Networking is not about just connecting people. It’s about connecting people with people, people with ideas, and people with opportunities.”
― Michele Jennae
Its #PodcastFriday in this episode, we are delighted to speak to the unconventional @AshaMweru on the topic "The Power of Partnerships and Networks". 
"If I look back and think about what networking has done for my career, it has been so fundamental. I realized that in this entrepreneurship journey, you will always meet people that are ahead of you and behind you. Network with a positive mind frame to learn from other people,” says Asha
Dear Activators, you can be yourself and get to know others authentically because you are not fixated on making an immediate sale. #PressPlay to learn more from Asha's well of wisdom  # Listen Up 

Listen to Andia Chakava as she shares the importance of networks, "Trust is the bedrock of getting anything done" says Andia

Know where you want to go and make sure the right people know about it." -- Meredith Mahoney
In this episode, we had a candid conversation with @Patricia Okelo who runs Willart Productions,  Conferencing in A Box, and Kayana Create. This is what she had to say; In business #networking is essential, it provides growth to your business, #personalgrowth, and generally you as a leader. 
In onboarding a partner, spreading the risk is great but it is important to know what each partner is bringing to the table and be clear from the start. 
Support a woman because she is just a woman, Patricia explains how she has been natured by women, and her confidence built over time. Lastly, know yourself and be in your element because your path will open for you listen up!

In this episode, I am excited to interview our first male guest speaker, a Kenyan Olympic swimmer, media personality, rapper and entrepreneur, artist, Jason Dunford, OGH. 

Jason has been awarded Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya, the fifth-highest honour awarded by the Kenyan government, and was the Kenyan flag bearer in the 2012 Olympics. Starting a professional swimming career at the age of five, Jason shares with us insightful nuggets on overcoming fear, challenging himself, and continuously pushing beyond the comfort zone. He explains how he quit swimming at a professional level in 2014 to pursue an MBA and dedicate more resources to reinventing himself as a broadcast journalist for the BBC, as co-founder and adviser to a software company, Safi Analytics, and music and creative producer as Samaki Mkuu.

To conclude the Winning Mindset Series, Jason teaches us six critical lessons: 

1. Embrace fear: Many people view failure as something to be avoided at all costs. We learn from Jason that even Gold Medalists face this unpleasant emotion. “When you feel fear, learn to embrace it and connect with your inner power”. 

2. Manage Naysayers: What do you do when your loved ones are critical of your dream? Or when they keep telling you to be more “realistic” or “sensible”. Jason talks about having to manage pessimists by staying focused on his dream and not allowing them to protect him from their own perception of risk. “Instead, inspire them to see what is possible when we take a risk and follow our hearts. Ask for their support, not their agreement” says, Jason. 

3. Master the Art of Self Discipline: the most significant struggle is always within ourselves. Jason shared how prioritizing his swimming then his schoolwork, and later, in third place, his social life demanded huge but necessary sacrifices. 

4. Believe in yourself: Believing in ourselves is the cornerstone of a winning mindset. We can all learn to harness the power of iteration and incremental improvement once we master self-belief. 

5. Build a Support System for Success: Jason shares how his wife has been the rock on which his success was made possible. Likewise, we need to cultivate a secure support system that holds us accountable, gives us feedback, believes in us especially, when the going gets tough and cheering us on so we don’t quit before it is time. 

6. Know when to Quit: Everything we do has an opportunity cost. While perseverance and “grit” are essential to success, so is knowing when to walk away.

"Pulling a good network together takes effort, sincerity, and time." -- Alan Collins
In this series, themed The Power of Partnerships, our lead activator MaryAnne Mwaura speaks to her long time friend Isis Nyong'o Madison Founder of Mums Village Kenya, which recently merged with BabyBliss Nigeria and is the current CEO of the Bliss Group, a Pan-African entity focused on mother and child care.
Isis possesses a nuanced understanding of how to scale media and technology businesses across the continent, she has founded and holds notable leadership positions at MumsVillage among many other companies.
Isis shares how she has utilized her network to land all her jobs and how she has used it to created value in the different organizations in which she's worked. She draws on networking for her entrepreneurial ventures,
such as getting clients, hiring people, and building partnerships. #ListenUp #PressPlay

“A winning mindset is one of constant improvement and doing things better.” Says Farah, who has uniquely sculptured a multi-faceted career. “You need to reflect on what went wrong and how you can do things differently, reflecting on your gut to things, taking cues from everything around you, and your past experiences to change your decisions and do things differently,” she adds. 

It is easy to set limits for ourselves based on our background, upbringing for even life events. This week, Farah Esmail challenges us that this doesn’t have to be the case and shows how we can break the stereotypes that hold us back. She has broken the boundaries of culture and age to craft a lifestyle that allows her to live intentionally and inspire others to live their best lives. 

A Corporate Lawyer, Business Consultant, and currently the Head of Kenya for the Sirdar Group, Farah helps organizations establish and maintain a strong and effective governance structure by appointing the right people to the Board of Directors and guiding them measuring Board Performance. Farah is a recipient of the CMO Asia Africa Women Leadership Award in 2019. Farah is also is a bodybuilder/body sculptor, an International IFBB Bikini Fitness Competitor, and an Ultimate Sports Nutrition and Ignite Fitness Ambassador. She has represented Kenya and competed internationally, emerging Top 10 (Open class) and Top 15 (Over 35 class) at the Amateur Olympia Las Vegas in September 2019. She has also completed five marathons; climbed both Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya; has run fitness boot camps and spoken at numerous international engagements and regularly writes articles and blogs on nutrition health and fitness.

In this second episode of the Winning Mindset Podcast Series, Farah shares her journey rebuilding her life after a divorce that saw her leaving a high flying career in the United States of America to return home to Kenya. We learn how a Winning Mindset led her to a newfound passion in bodybuilding and community service, and glean some insightful gems on how to do the same, despite our circumstances, age and even cultural background.

You can read more about Farah here: https://usnkenya.com/athletes/farah-esmail/

Dear Listeners, what do all remarkable people and organizations have in common? They’ve discovered the power of a winning mindset. Listening to Felisters authentic story of the power of a positive mind has been inspirational as she emphasizes the point that the foundation for constructing winning results is a winning mindset!

The beliefs we have about our talent, potential, and opportunities have a tremendous influence on how we perform. As a result, we rarely achieve more or become more than we believe we can. Why? This is because our mindset directs our behavior, which dictates our motivation, and ultimately determines our outcomes. A winning mindset produces results as it avoids making excuses or seeing oneself as a victim. A winning mindset determines how you will perform when it matters most.
Felisters’ story teaches us that we sometimes need to bring our own chair to the table when one is not being offered willingly. 

Here are five valuable ways to make this Winning Mindset your competitive advantage:
 1.Let go of self-limited thinking;
2.Develop the courage to embrace the unknown and discover possibilities;
3.Choose to think better and win from the inside out;
4.Believe you can, execute a plan, and achieve success;
5.Be weary of having a fixed mindset.

The most important capacity we have is the ability to choose our mindset. A winning mindset is something that can be learned, changed, and leveraged. 

As the lead Activator, I encourage us all to have the self-belief to unlock your potential, your passion, and purpose by having a winning mindset.

This week as we conclude the Art of Reinvention series, Teressa Njoroge shares her reinvention journey after serving time in a Kenyan maximum prison for a crime she did not commit. 

Tired from unsuccessfully fighting for her freedom to finding a place of stillness, Teressa shares with us how she found forgiveness and a new purpose in life that shaped her life after prison in service to others. Her tremendous courage to stand up for justice and for her values serves as an inspiration to anyone feeling pushed to reinvent. She reminds us not to lose hope but instead, to embrace even the most unwelcome and undeserved circumstances life throws at us as an opportunity to reset.

Step up with boldness to an intentional life of renewed purpose. 

Go ye therefore and reinvent!

In today's world, reinvention is competence and only those leaders who are able to adapt to the fast changes with leadership that is prepared to challenge the status quo will have a chance to lead their organizations to last success. The reality of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA)requires you and your business to seek new orientations and take a fresh approach to management. We need to develop empathetic behavior as meaning and purpose takes a central role in business activity. This will be defined by freedom, creativity, speed, flexibility, and a corporate culture that connects people.

For reinvention to happen, we need introspection and reflection for growth and it demands from us all, a new mindset as well as a new set of skills. We all evolve. Change is all about reinvention and comes from an immediate need. It can be facilitated by transitions, marriage, divorce, death of a loved one, need for a new job, addiction, and other life events. We will survive and thrive by consistently remaking ourselves using uncertainty as an opportunity to develop our reinvention competence by leveraging our skills and networks in our past and current jobs, some which may soon be phased out, to prepare for our jobs in the future.

Dr. Nancy Onyango shares some of her arsenals to overcome internal and external barriers to success. A strong support system, emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and continuous self-improvement are among the gems she shares as must-haves for creating lasting change and reinvention. She explains that reinvention must have a clearly defined purpose, be driven by authenticity,  pursue holistic growth, and celebrating little milestones along the way. 

In a world where being a black woman made her stand out, Dr. Onyango struggled with standing out and even tried to be invisible before she learned to embrace her identity as an African woman. By being her authentic self, she began to see her identity and background not as an impediment to her success, but as a strength and thus begun to claim opportunities, including her current job at the International Finance Corporation. 

Reinvention shouldn't depend on someone else changing, be about becoming someone else, be isolating, or dwell on the past. Life is a great equalizer, so do not apologize for your past, privileged or underprivileged. Instead, focus on how your actions today define your future success.

In this episode, I’m honoured for this opportunity to talk to my friend and mentor Esther Masese Waititu. 

The adventurous Esther is the Executive Director, Strategy Development, Corporate, and Investment Bank, East Africa at the Stanbic Bank. She served as the East Africa Regional Executive Head and Head of Product Management for Transactional Products and Services at Stanbic.

The inspiration behind this podcast is one of Esther's favorite authors, John Maxwell famous for the quote, "The person grows from the inside to what we see on the outside".  As a Leader, Esther believes that everyone matters, and therefore, everyone should be intentional in achieving their goals and determining the impact they intend to have in the societies they live in. 

At the time of this Podcasts Esther is preparing to transition to a new role in Zambia. She has also served at the Standard Chartered Bank as Product Head Transaction Banking, Southern Africa in Johannesburg, and senior Manager Customer Relationship Management, Corporate Institutional Banking in Nairobi. 

Prior to joining Standard Chartered Bank, in a span of 5 years 4 months, Esther rose from Corporate Finance Analyst to Corporate Finance Manager and later 
to Customer Relationship Management Manager at the Commercial Bank of Africa (former CBA Group)
 
She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Eastern Africa Baraton with an MBA in Business Administration Management from the University of Liverpool.