3 ATTITUDES OF GRATITUDE TO BRING GREAT THINGS TO YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

Over the last two years since I'd been working with the community, we have trained 100 young entrepreneurs. Upon completion of the training, my Chamber initiated an alumni group to continuously monitor the progress of this young business community.

My speech was first published in my Facebook page as well as our Chamber Facebook page. The reason why I feel like blogging about this is for it to be a reference to any aspiring young entrepreneur who happens to be reading this post.

Photo source : http://www.swazyalexander.com/resources/blog/an-attitude-of-gratitude

Dear aspiring young entrepreneurs,

I'm indeed glad and blessed to see that all of you have completed the program successfully and will now either continue in your journey as an enlightened entrepreneur or that you have the neccessary tools to be one in the not to distant future.

The essence of this program has not been for you to become an overnight success but to give you the essentials that may equip you for a bright future ahead of you.

As Rome wasn't built in a day and it has been estimated that ancient Rome took at least a thousand years to reach its' apogee, success, similarly, unless you are extremely lucky, is a journey towards a certain destination. Rome began as a small village which then gradually grew into a larger city before becoming the capital of an empire that gradually refined over time. At its' height, it was considered to be the largest and most powerful city in the world. This Alumni group, therefore, was created to identify, develop and guide members to be future successful entrepreneurs through the initiatives of the Chamber.

Briefly, our Chambers started the Young Entrepreneurs program in 25/9/2015 and just ended on 16/6/2017 with the culmination of a total of 4 batches. We have been trained under the capacity building strategies of the Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju) scheme for the Bumiputera Empowerment Agenda (BEA). This initiative was to create Bumiputera entrepreneurs who would be more focused, progressive, creative, innovative and be ready to compete globally. All of us therefore in a sense have been chosen to deliver towards our country's aspiration of achieving high nation status .

Realistically, this generic development program had been planned and organized;

1. For participants in business like myself; to review our company strategies, to achieve our the objectives and to map our progress over a given period.

2. For participants who are about to embark on a business venture, this program will aid in designing the planning and mapping of percieved objectives according to the Business Model Canvas (BMC).

3. We may also have participants who are interested in running programs under their NGOs. The BMC will, I am sure, prove to be a useful tool for any project planning program envisaged.

Time flies, we are now at the 'follow through' stage of the initiative with the Chamber. Allow me to suggest 3 attitudes of gratitude to bring great things to any new young entrepreneurs out there.

1. Register as a Chamber Member

Any local Chambers of commerce is made up of a group of leaders that's dedicated to protecting and promoting the local business community and to help business owners network and grow. It’s therefore important for you to know your business and your target clientele and markets.

Are you looking towards building local B2B relationships or to grow a local business? If these are your primary goals, Chambers of Commerce will prove to be a valuable association for you to be a member.

As far as I'm concerned, our Chamber is also one of the three chambers in Sabah which has been given a lot of opportunities (business and social) from the State and Federal governments.

2. Register as a Human Resource Development Fund member

Whether you are a Chamber member or not as yet, the record has shown that the young business community still needs a lot of awareness as to the benefits of training and development in their organizations. Employee training not only provides benefits for the individual, but also to your business, helping your company to continue run efficiently as well as effectively.

As part of our efforts, Our Chamber is now looking forward to promote selected Human Resource training and development programs to its members. It is now time therefore to strategize for the economic growth of our people through the training and development approach.

3. Leadership from Within

In celebrating the completion of the the two year training program, we have also just completed the so-called capacity building workshop for 'Young Bumiputera Future Entrepreneur Leaders'. I feel that this is also an opportune moment for me to speak up about the perils and pressures of the Gen XY leadership.

Over the past few years I have been blessed with opportunities to work and to speak in a number of developing and newly industrialized countries. Most of the discussions centered around infrastructure, technology, natural resources, corporate and government funding for development, and educational needs. Much energy is needed to thrive and survive in sometimes very challenging situations. It may be cultural, and perhaps it may be the passion for driving positive change in the community that nurtures inspiring leaders, but it now the time we need to get back to a heart-centered leadership. No matter whatever title we may have, a leader with no title can be deemed to be important.

When we lead from our hearts we can never be hindered, whatever obstacles that may be thrown in our paths.

Looking back, the one of the things I will most treasure is how we came together as a class. Before arriving here we all came from very different backgrounds, experience and situations. Over time we have grown together and somehow have become friends.

Perhaps more than anything else, a lesson we have learnt is that as separate individuals we are, at most, mildly effective but together we may be able to combine our talents into a powerful force of our community to face the many challenges we have to contend with.

This is now our time, our opportunity towards playing decisive part in the development of our community. We are the generation that has been given the opportunity to shape how our people living in Sabah can build a sustainable future together.

Last but not least, my hope is that all the aspiring young entrepreneurs out there will endeavor to interact, perhaps trigger or indeed renew our commitment to each other and to any organisations that we represent, as we continue on our journey to build a society in Sabah and beyond that we can all say, is inclusive, cohesive, peaceful and a pretty good place to live.

Thank you and may the Lord's blessings be upon all of you.

Photo source : https://quotefancy.com/quote/1415682/Simon-Sinek-Be-the-leader-you-wish-you-had

Yours truly,

(@madeve is currently a Vice President for the Women Entrepreneurs, Education and Training for the Kadazandusun Chamber of Commerce and Industry Malaysia)