Nairobi businesswoman Agnes Kagure has for the first time revealed how she made it in life and became influential in business.
Kagure, who has been elected patron of the Kenya University Students Organisation, shared her secrets of success and urged the youth to work hard and not expect things on a silver platter.
For almost 20 years, Kagure, the founder and Managing Principal of The Insurance Consulting Group (ICG), a leading insurance agency in Kenya, says she used to sell insurance and got paid by commission.
“If you don’t sell much, commission becomes like a curse because 10 percent of zero is zero,” she says Ms Kagure.
“But if you sell much, then commission becomes a massive blessing because ten percent of 10 million is one million. And ten percent of one hundred million is ten million. That is how I made my millions during those two decades."
In 2011, Ms Kagure was named in the Top 40 women under 40, an annual list of women who have risen to occupy positions of influence in Kenya before the age of 40, published by the Business Daily.
The power to make it in career or business, lies in an individual’s hands, she says.
“I know from experience that during that biting morning cold when you wake up early to go for yet another unfruitful employment interview, these words that I am saying may seem empty and unrealistic. But they are true. I know it because I have lived it,“ she says.
Ms Kagure was recently appointed a peace ambassador by the leader of Thailand, adding another feather to her cap.
“If you want a dream job, you must start with a nightmare job. If your dream is to start the next Facebook or the next Bidco, you must start as small as you can. Remember that Facebook started in a university dorm and Bidco started as a small garment manufacture company.”
Her secrets lie in what she calls the five stones King David of the Bible used to bring down Goliath.
“You too, must direct your stones at those challenges, those giants that are causing you sleepless nights. This means that you must intensely focus your time, energy, skills, education and connections at slaying the unemployment that is waiting anxiously to grab you once you finish school,” she says.
Here are her five steps to conquering the world:
1. Use your time now very productively because youth is fleeting and will be gone before you can blink your eyes.
2. Use your youthful energy to work twice as hard as the next person because that will eventually take you twice as far in your career or business.
3. Develop your skills as much as you can because your skill is the one tangible ticket you have to a successful livelihood.
4. Your education is the foundation upon which you should already be building that business or career that lies in your dreams.
5. Finally, connections are critical. It doesn’t mean knowing big people but knowing people with big insights and ideas. You cannot fly like an eagle of you spend all your time with the hens on the ground. Learn as much as you can from those who have already made it. Soak in their insights and apply them to your journey.