our roots

Students Entrepreneurs at
Daystar University
By Njagi Anthony
Stephen Muya (left) and Franklin Wallah (right) attending to clients at the respective outlets.
“Joining university can be intimidating and
expensive at the same time,” explained
Stephen Muya, a Daystar University student.
who doubles up as the owner of a movie
library store, ‘Kivo’s Entertainment’. His story
of how he has managed being a full-time
student and at the same time having a parttime
job is admirable.
The number of small businesses in
Daystar University off campus area has
distinctively risen over the years. These
range from; convenient shops, cyber
cafés, boutiques, a video library store, a
courier service center and a self-service
ATM terminal just to name a few. Most of
these businesses interestingly, are owned
by students. As I sat with some of these
innovative businessmen, I could not help but
marvel at their achievements at such early
stages of their lives.
Franklin Wallah can rightfully be
called the Chief Executive Officer of Arab
City Collection, a boutique and branding
business that started about two years ago.
Wallah is a third year Communication major
at Daystar University. He says he likes the
challenges and does not believe that having
a business on the side can affect his student
life. “My business has helped me manage my
time wisely. I set time for classes, time for my
business and time for my personal growth,” he
said adding that he rarely finds time to idle
around.
Stephen admits that apart from his
consistent love for making extra money,
starting his movie business was a timely
solution. He needed to take care of his
university life demands and necessities. “I
had to assist my parents with my upkeep since
I knew what they went through to raise my
school fees,” he said. Initially balancing his
schedule was tedious but now he is able to
manage his time well. He talks about how
his venture into business has helped him
become street smart. He further adds that
he does not regret starting up his business
as some lessons he has come to learn from
it has helped him better understand the
concepts in class.
But just how important is
entrepreneurship? How can we impact
entrepreneurship skills and education early
to our youth?
Wallah has seen his business grow
gradually and has expanded his network by
meeting some very important businessmen
in the country, thanks to his small empire.
“Through entrepreneurship, one becomes his
own manager, you become independent from
your parents and this sense of responsibility
earns you more respect and pride from them.”
he said.
He believes that anyone at university
level has a great mind and can reason
beyond books. Further, explaining how
monotonous the life can get when all you
do is go to class, do assignments, wait for
exams, repeat the cycle and eventually
graduate, he says, “doing something
constructive outside the classroom is beneficial
and entrepreneurship is one good example”.
A contemporary truth is that in our
modern society, many university graduates
have come to the realization that graduating
and immediately landing a job is only
easier said than done. Nowadays people
are graduating every other day and this is
indirectly proportional to the jobs available
in the market. This being the case, one has
to have an extra edge on top of the attained
graduation papers. Also most employers
today look for experience aside from the
degree qualification.
Having an entrepreneurial mind
early enough in life will also harness your
creativity and give you an avenue to exploit
your skills.
Stephen and Wallah both recommend
the promotion of entrepreneurship
education, by including it in our curriculum
as a general education course. In this
way every student can learn the basics of
entrepreneurship.
60 • DaystarConnect 2015