Tony Kirui – Exclusive Interview

Kip: G’day Tony! Welcome to KenyansInPerth.com, a site committed to entertaining, informing and connecting Kenyans in Perth, Western Australia.

Tony: G’day mate!

Kip: We will be shining the spotlight on one or more Kenyans in Perth every week. You are our first  guest : congratulations and thank you!

Tony: No worries.

TONY’S BACKGROUND

Kip: Let us start with what is probably the most common question Kenyans in Australia get asked. How long have you been in Australia?

Tony: I came here in 2005.

Kip: Did you come here for your first degree?

Tony:  I did my first degree in Kenya… Nairobi University, then came here for my masters.

Building a Scholarships Website

Kip: You have been doing a great job publishing a scholarships website, HigherLearning.co.ke. It is a valuable service to Kenyans. What drove you to undertake that project?

Tony: They say necessity is the mother of invention. I was looking for a PHD course to do… I wanted something to do with WIMAX or LTE. I googled a lot but nothing was coming up… then I thought…I wish there was a website where all these institutions and their courses could be listed. And that is why I thought about it as a small project for Kenya… if it would have helped me chances are it could help others in the same position.

Kip: Was there a database of all the courses and scholarships available?

Tony: No, I had to get all this information from scratch. I had to copy and paste from different sources..painstakingly. It was a lot of donkey work. It took me like 6 months… staying up late.. even the scholarships I had to copy and paste, it kept me busy and out of trouble!

Kip: Wow!

Tony: There are many people who want to do MBAs but they don’t know about the different MBAs out there. My job has been to make access to relevant education information easier.

Kip: Who is your target audience for the website?

Tony: The site makes it easier for the guy looking for education, whether it is the student or student’s parents. I am also targeting institutions of higher learning. They can login and update their courses.

Kip: You have a lot of scholarships listed….

Tony: Yeah, I have filtered them in such a way to show only those that are available for developing countries.

Challenge to Kenyans

Kip: Aha…do you get many Kenyans applying for those scholarships?

Tony: I think Kenyans are… I don’t know whether I can say they are lazy…because, it is like the lotto. How can you win the lotto without trying? By not trying you have already counted yourself out…

Kip: You’ve got to be in it to win it…

Tony: Yeah. By trying, you probably have a 0.01% chance. By not trying you have a 0% chance. They will say that I know a lot of people who have applied for scholarships but never got one..so I ask them, have you tried yourself? They say no… and then I ask them, why? They say, “coz I know you cannot get it”. Is that a fact? Have you tried and not got any response?

Kip: Losing before the race begins!

Tony: Yeah, they say they don’t want to apply coz they know it is impossible. And that is why those scholarships go to those other countries. The reason I put those scholarships there is to give Kenyans a better chance to access them.

Kip: Does someone need to be in Australia to get the scholarships?

Tony: If your country of origin is a developing country then you will be eligible. Kenya has dual citizenship now so even Australian citizens with Kenyan passports will be eligible. These scholarships have been going to other countries… maybe their ministries of higher learning have been doing more work in making them accessible to their people.

They probably take these scholarships and put them on their papers and tell their people to apply for them… If you work from a numbers perspective, then those countries will end up with the lion’s share of the scholarships.

Long term Vision

Kip: What’s your long term goal for this project?

Tony: My long term goal is not just scholarships.. it is to make it like a consulting for education…my long term dream is to have a team that goes to high schools, organizing conferences and expos to promote higher learning.

Kip: So the name, HigherLearning.co.ke when I think about it is not by accident… it is well thought out, not limited to scholarships…it has broad potential..

Tony: It also offers educational counselling..people email me and ask for career advice and help in matching courses with their career aspirations. They want to know which courses are marketable. There is a gap for that in Kenya. You will find someone applies for uni without really knowing what it is they are applying. There is a bigger picture to this; what other countries do … where they actually connect universities to students…. one of the other ways that this can be beneficial is that parents can also use the site to research what courses to advise their children to take.

Kip: Are the institutions that you are targeting mainly Kenyan?

Tony: Yeah they are Kenyan… that is why this is good for Vision 2030. We need to support our Kenyan Institutions.

Kip: How does this tie in with vision 2030?

Tony: Because we have to develop our education sector in Kenya.. .we cannot keep sending students overseas and then they get foreign citizenship and start developing that country and not coming back.

They can now do a quick search and find that there are good courses right in Kenya… it helps put the money that could have been spent abroad right in Kenya… in the Kenyan economy.

I think it is in play with vision 2030 because education is a big part of vision 2030. We can do everything else but if we forget education we won’t go far.

Looking for a partner

Kip: What is the sustainability plan incase you get bored? Or don’t want to do it any more?

Tony: That is why I want to have a team… I don’t believe in doing this alone. I need to have a team more specifically… in Kenya. I am even looking for someone as a partner who might be interested in running this with me.  But they have to be in Kenya.

Kip: What kind of person are you looking for?

Tony: I want someone who believes in the idea. I don’t want someone who is just out to make money, I want someone who genuinely believes in the idea and would positively contribute. I don’t want a person who will tell me “you can make a lot of money”. I take a lot of pride in the idea. I think it can help a lot of people.

I want someone who believes in the idea not a money opportunity seeker. Whether it is a young guy or an established guy, as long has he believes in the idea and I can see that he is able to help the course.

Kip: You want someone who will be with you for the long haul.

Tony: Yeah, not someone who will come and say oh this a bit too much work. I want someone who will commit and say lets do this and struggle together.

Higher Learning Lessons

Kip: How long have you been building the HigherLearning.co.ke website and what has your experience been like?

Tony: I have been doing it for 6 months.

Kip: What have you learnt?

Tony: The general perception of people. You send them a link… even your close friends… you try and sell them the idea, you tell them to check it out…even a month or two weeks later…they say oh, I did not see it, it is very demoralizing , you are supposed to be my friend… We need that positiveness, I don’t think guys believe in fellow Kenyans.

To be able to move ahead, you need to know that at least one or two guys appreciate the idea… that it is not too bad. But now if no one is appreciating. You will be like this is a waste of time, but if a few people can say, good work, good work then you get the energy to continue. But there is a lot of people who cannot bother…

Kip: That is a very interesting point… what you are saying is that if Kenyans supported each others ventures…

Tony: Especially in the IT ventures…

Kip: We would get more confidence, maybe do more…

Tony: A lot of people fear to even begin… because they think that others will not support or appreciate them. You might even think, why am I wasting my time doing this thing? I think it is very important to believe, if you believe in doing something right…people , whatever they say; you should go for it.

KENYA DIASPORA CONFERENCE

Kip: You attended the recent Kenya Diaspora Conference in Perth… your thoughts?

Tony: I am so glad I went coz it opened up my eyes completely… I was very happy with the speech for the PS of Roads. I found him to be a very clever man. Even that lady from Vision 2030… I found her to be very good as well.

Kip: What did you take away from the conference?

Tony: One of the speakers was a CEO of a mining company, after his speech I followed him and asked him if I could go and see him… so we can talk about this mining thing. I am an Australian citizen and I am also a citizen in Kenya…you never know… there might be an opportunity later down the road, he might be looking for guys who know both countries well.

He was very interested in meeting me. I actually went and saw him today… he gave me this presentation, he took me through it… the phases of what they are doing. He told me keep calling him every few  months… that he will be giving me updates, he liked my positiveness. He said if anything ever comes up, I would be the first person he thinks of. That he won’t even think of advertising for the position.

How would I have met this guy if I had not gone for the diaspora conference? And the other thing, all those guys who were there, ambassadors and high ranking government officials, when are you going to get a chance in Kenya to talk to them? They are inaccessible… but here we were mingling with them. Many Kenyans in Perth missed out by not attending.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Kip: Before we finish, are there some words of advice you would like to give to young Kenyans in Perth?

Tony: You just need to believe in yourself, have confidence and not short change yourself.

Kip: What if what they feel from within is already negative?

Tony: You just need to be consistent. You might go for an interview and  miss out on the job, but that is not the time to quit … you have to keep on trying. You have to remember that it is a dog eat dog world. You have to find ways of hustling. If you build rapport with someone you have to follow up as soon as you can with an email or phone call. If you don’t others swifter than you will do it. If you call a few days later, it may be too late. A lot of Kenyans just slack off…

Kip: So you need to be more aggressive…

Tony: Even if that aggressiveness brings you zero you have to be persistent and keep going for it until you get results.. Nothing will be handed to you on a silver platter.

Kip: How has aggressiveness  worked for you?

Tony: I guess even when you are looking for a job, you have to show them that you are different from the others. I went for a job interview, they told me that they had done 5 more interviews with other people…but after that I sent them a courtesy email… thank you for having me for the interview…follow up… that is what separates you… many guys will do interviews and then dissapear. You need to follow up, it shows that this guy is a professional…

Kip: It is the small things that count

Tony: Yeah it is the small things..then they may or may not reply. Then it went quiet for a week. I followed up with a phone call, just a courtesy call to see … it was my way of finding out what is going on… you have to be very polite about it…many people wait for those things to come to them…

Kip: Wakijihurumia…

Tony: The world is too competitive; you have to put yourself in the right place. I believe in myself so much, I know that most of the things I am trying right now yatagonga ukuta pap but there is that one thing that will come, and I will be glad that I tried. You just gotta believe … it may come next month.. or in ten years… but the only way you can get there is by trying. I believe that is how all these millionaires and billionaires did it. Instead of waiting for the opportunity.

ON Going the Extra Mile

Kip: Talking of preparation, it ties very well with what you are doing here in HigherLearning.co.ke many Kenyans in Perth just get that basic degree and get comfortable…

Tony: I was also telling a friend that comfort zone is a killer. You get a job, you are comfortable with the pay..and sit back.. relax knowing that you have a good Monday to Friday job. But the thing is the guys who will make a difference are the guys who will go the extra mile and do professional courses and develop themselves.

Kip: How important are those professional courses and evening classes?

Tony: Very important first in terms of developing yourself…and also in terms of competition. When it comes to a time when they have to retrench ten guys… they first look at the guys who are different from the others… if you have all got degrees, they look for another criteria.. If out of those ten, if two have done extra courses, then those courses will give them an edge.

Kip: What are examples some of these extra courses that Kenyans can take to get the edge?

Tony:  It depends. in IT, there is MCSE, Cisco which I have done… every field has professional courses. You don’t have to go to class for the courses. You can download these courses… all you have to do is pay for the exam.

Many companies will tell you that they will pay for your exams as long as you pass. Stanford and other Ivy League universities put their courses online, but they are not going to come and beg you to do them… it is upto you to do it. It goes back to what I was saying that many people are lazy.

Tony’s Parting Shot

Kip: That don’t care attitude might be costing people opportunities.

Tony: Stanford University is saying… we have all these courses here…all you have to do is click here to download. Take your notes… but to get people to do that is very hard. These opportunities are there for anyone with an internet connection. This content is available for you. Tell me what course you want and I will download for you the nuggets that you need. All you need is your computer or web Tv, maybe do three units a day, take notes, revise, they have multiple choice practice questions.. go sit the exams…more chances than not you will pass. If you fail it only costs you $300 dollars.

Kip: Thank you very much Tony for your sharing candid views, for being our first guest and for your words of wisdom. Ahsante boss!

Tony: Thank you very much.