Following my dream, Letting passion lead me.

The last few months have been extremely amazing. After working 13.5 years at a job that I loved, but felt more and more that I had achieved all there was to achieve, I made the difficult decision to follow my dream and allow myself to be led by passion. I said goodbye to my colleagues, amidst the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic, to walk the uncertain path of self-employment. I started the Africa Cultural promotion Center (ACPC). The mission of ACPC is to be the number one center of excellence in African Cultural identity education and promotion!

It is not an easy decision and I can’t say that I was not scared. I had many monologues with my best friend, MYSELF. YES you are right, I am my best friend. After me I have many close dear friends but before I share anything with them, I discuss it with myself first. If I can convince myself, then I have no worry about convincing anyone else. It was tough though to convince my employer that letting me go was a wonderful decision. But this is a story for another day.

 So what was I scared of?

I was scared of losing the certainty of a stable employment. I had a permanent contract and that is a big deal. I was scared that we may need to  'downgrade' our life to live on a smaller income. What was  going to cut out of the monthly budget? I was also scared becasue I was considering starting a business  in a sector that has not been penetrated before and where there is no real data available about the actual need for my services, or the chances of success for that matter. All I had was my conviction that I need to do this and the people of the African community in Netherlands and beyond deserve to have tailor made services focused on them. Most people I shared my ideas with were sure it is not likely to be a successful venture. Others advised me to wait till the pandemic was over. Afew encouraged me to giive it a go. 

But what did I actually want to do? 

What are these dreams that I was following? What am I really and actually pasionate about? 

It is not an easy question to answer and I am sure many people struggle to articulate what they are passionate about. But deep within, most of us know. So I will tell you what I love to do. These things I KNOW and  I LOVE. I can wake up each day for the rest of my life, happy to do them. 

I am passionate about teaching, both kids and adults;

I am passionate about kids, about anything I can do to give a child a happy childhood; I am that kid that does not grow old;

I am passionate about business; I see possibilities in many things;

I LOVE connecting and helping people; 

I love sharing life stories;

I am passionate about Culture. I believe that when one knows and understands their culture, they feel grounded, they can be firmly rooted wherever they are and grow in confidence;

I am passionate about personal development, both for me and others;

I am a dreamer, I love to dream and I love to help others dream too. Without dreams, we are nothing. Dreams give us hope and a purpose. I want to give hope;

I love solving problems, life's problems. I just love creating solutions.

So how does one make a living chasing dreams based on these passions? That is the question. So many unanswered questions, but I was ready to give life a go, by combining all my passions above in one business.

I made the decision because I was assured by two factors. These are things I had no doubt about. They are my blessed assurance.

First and foremost, I am good at what I do. This I know for sure. So I knew that if self-employment doesn’t work out, I can always find a job in my field. There is good demand in the area of childcare management. Knowing that the decision is 'NOT IRREVERSIBLE' gave me some peace of mind. I love peace of mind.

Second and very important is the prospect of getting up everyday to do what I love, at my own pace, fitting work times around the rhythm of my family and working on my terms. Just thinking about it gives me a glorious feeling. And this was already good enough for me to go by.

Ofcourse I am still scared, for I am only human. Feeling the fear only means I am alive. Worry is a part of me but does not hold me back. In any case, I had to have a plan, a real good business plan. I needed some sort of financing. I needed to have a website. A very good website. My current website was nothing to show because I actually did it myself. I used it for my hobby business and that was certainly not going to work. 

Thinking Solutions....

I turned to my village. During the mentoring in Project Girls 4 Girls, I discovered the concept of turning to my village in times like these. My village comprised of close friends, acquaintances and former classmates. So I turned to them asking for skills. And goodness did I get surprised! People have amazing skills I didn’t expect or know about. What started with easy weekly brainstorming team meetings has already produced amazing results in a few months. With a team of 4, we got straight to task. 

This team had the difficult task of helping me “DOWNLOAD” the jumbled story in my mind on to paper. Before we knew, we were full swing in motion. Within few weeks, we planned a successful TALES FROM AFRICA SUMMER CAMPS. These were full day camps running weekly through July to August. I can’t stress enough the skill the team has shown in putting the jumbled story from my head onto an organised website. We have an amazing website that I could never have imagined. 

We are now set for the last quarter of the year and the calendar is already jam packed with wonderful events and activities . These are all aimed at promoting African culture and businesses providing products and services for The African community. What I thought was going to be a very difficult task has turned out to be fun because of the amazing team. Please see some of them below.

You are warmly invited to The African Christmas market on 13th November in the Hague. Come and get amazing gifts, products and services for the Christmas season. If you are or know a business that would like to participate as a vendor, please click here for more information.

 

The NL African Business magazine will bring to you many African owned businesses that provide products and services from the beautiful continent of Africa. Would you like your business to be featured? Find more information here and register your business details here .

 

The autumn holidays are coming up in a few weeks and it is an opportunity for your child to do some relaxed learning about their heritage. Bring your child to connect with African culture through food. Sign them up so that they can experience cooking African food in a fun proffessional environment. They willwill treat you to a 3 course buffet lunch at the end of the day. Learn more about the Taste of Africa Cooking Camp here.

 

 

 So the question still is this. Did I make the right decision? 

The not so simple answer is that time alone will tell. What matters now is that it feels good and it feels right. I feel that what we do makes a difference. And I can proudly say that I am following my dream. For now I will let passion lead me. One day at a time.

To keep up with me, don't forget to sign up to our newsletter . I will make it worth your while because I will be sharing my challenges along this journey of following my dream. Like I said, I love sharing stories. This is my story of following my dream.

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