The executive chairperson went to share his experience and his path to Youth Impact Mission coordinators who gather every week to share knowledge and exchange with the aim of self development.
He focused on 3 things; his personal experience, leadership and reality versus the image people see of a leader.
He began by sharing with them his journey to where he is now and his dream of becoming a leader. He told them that he has dreamt of being a leader ever since he was a child but he couldn’t see how he was going to achieve it. Nonetheless, he kept chasing his dreams until he attempted to lead in his class while he was in his secondary education which passed through after failure in a business he had with his friend where he was the manager. He started opening up his eyes and thinking about contributing to the development of his country. With a couple of his friends, while having lunch, they came up with the idea of Rwanda We Want as a club where they could be meeting up after lunch and share couple of ideas on how they can help in building their country. When he was done with high school, he left Rwanda We Want on hold or at least he thought that it was over, and he started working as a waiter. After spending some months in that job, he later got an upgrade and started working in monitoring and evaluation in one of the most reputed non-governmental organisation where he claims to have learnt a lot about NGOs work. It was after his dad had passed away that he questioned himself about carrying on with his father’s legacy which led him to resume Rwanda We Want’s activities.
“You won’t be wrong if you say that neither did i have the skills or the experience to resume Rwanda We Want’s activities and expand them to even impact Rwandan youth instead of Glory secondary school’s alone” he said, “but a true leader is a person who is willing to learn both new things and lessons from his/her mistakes.” he continued. He said that a leader never stops to learn; he never thinks of himself on top of the World even though he might be doing great things, he always tries to look for ways to improve. He then said that a true leader also knows that he can’t achieve success alone which is why choosing the right not best team is an important thing for a leader. He later added that true leadership is a lifestyle rather than a position, for a leader leads his life firstly, and does the right thing even when no one is watching.
“But for a leader there is that reality and there is that image that people have given you or you have given them.” he said. He explained that at the end of the day, one is a human being before he is a leader which means that at times he can make mistakes, but as a leader, he never stays down; he corrects his mistakes and learn from them instead.
Having already stressed on the fact of a true leader’s thirst for knowledge/learning, he challenged the youth impact mission coordinators to teach him something too as they will be making comments or asking questions.
He was asked by one of the YIM coordinators who is the deputy guild president of Akilah institute, the strategies he is using so that Rwanda We Want organization doesn’t fail like his previous business. He answered that he has now a strong team and that he never stops learning which helps him to remain humble. He was then asked by the second participant how he came to transform his dream into reality, and he answered that among many tools that one can use social media because the youth can use it easily and if used correctly, it can bear good fruits. After having been asked by another participant who is the guild president of Akilah institute what the Rwanda he wants would be like, he answered that the Rwanda he wants is like any other Rwandan would want; having the best in every aspect of a person’s daily life where there are a lot of opportunities for each and everyone to choose the best that suits their dreams and vision. Mr. Tristan in turn asked her to teach him something for other participants had only been asking questions, “How does it feel to be the guild president first of all?” he said. She answered that it feels good but only if one likes it. She also shared a saying “opportunity meets preparedness” saying that one can not become what he/she hasn’t dreamt of yet.
Mr. Tristan ended by commending the work of Youth Impact mission and promised to be available whenever he will be called whether it will be to attend or exchange with them again.
