Turn Your Passion Into a Successful Career
Noeline Kirabo has dedicated her life to stimulate job creation by identifying and empowering entrepreneurial youth to turn their passions into profitable, scalable, and sustainable enterprises.
The Woman Post | Carolina Rodríguez Monclou
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The social entrepreneur from Uganda founded Kyusa in 2014. Her company supports the creation, improves the survival rate, and accelerates the growth of micro and small enterprises (MSE). Besides that, Noeline empowers women and youth to live to their full potential by identifying their life purpose and turning their passions into skills for fruitful living in ways that benefit themselves, others, and the community.
The speaker had a comfortable job and life. However, her life didn't fulfill her. The things she did daily were not truly aligned with her heart and passion. For this reason, Noeline quit her job and start to bring things that she cares about into her routine.
At 30 years old and before becoming a social entrepreneur, Noeline decided to find her passion and turn it into a career. She firmly believes that living from what we truly love isn't a luxury that only wealthy people can enjoy or only a pleasure that retired can indulge in.
Noeline's decision was courageous and risky, but her conviction was guiding her along the way. She looked at a couple of vocational institutions hoping she would find a course that resonated with her dream and aspiration. However, she couldn't find the right place for her.
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Through the organization she started named Kyusa, her team worked with students and empowered them to turn their passions into sustainable businesses.
Kyusa's CEO defined passion in her Ted Talk as "a collection of your life experiences that give you the deepest sense of fulfillment." She explains that to identify it, we need to look inward.
To help young people find what they truly love, Noeline asked them two questions. The first one: "if you had all the time and the money in the world, what would you spend your time doing?" many people struggle to answer this because they've never thought about it.
The second question her organization asks is very simple: "what makes you happy?". It's an apparently easy question, but many students were so busy going through their routines that they've never stopped in their lives to look inward.
According to the speaker, many things bring us joy and direct us to our passion. She warns, "passion alone cannot guarantee success in life." However, with the right set of skills, it can be possible.
People can find their passion through their talents, skills, and experiences. Those dreams must be worth paying for.
If people want to buy the results of that passion, it can turn into a business. The goal is that the creator can make a living for him or herself and generate jobs. Noeline says that one person's dream can transform the lives of hundreds of people.
If you really want to make a living from your passion, it's crucial to shift your mindset from a hobby to a business. Rethink how you can create products or sell what you're doing. Noeline admits that looking inward can be scary but is worthy.
The speaker's message is very clear: there's potential in all of us; we just need to look inward to identify the things that make us happy and give us a deep sense of fulfillment. Living with joy and sharing this journey with others can be a reality if we are willing to fight for it.
