How Do You Start a Career in Social Entrepreneurship?
“Because of Nai Nami, I know everyone can live a fulfilling and meaningful life by discovering their own uniqueness – even if you’re a criminal street child in Nairobi who didn’t finish school.” – Gianmarco Marinello
Imagine you’re eight years old and your mother tells you that you’re old enough to take care of yourself. You’re forced to leave your home and fight for survival on the streets. Going to school is just a distant dream and unemployment eventually leads you to a life of crime, which is often tragic and short. This is the story of Donga, one of the 60,000 street children in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
Today, Donga is 29 years old and while he was struggling to survive on the street, I, Gianmarco Marinello, was in Switzerland where I lived in a cosy home, attended school, completed my studies in psychology and eventually tackled my career with well-paid jobs with respected employers. Nevertheless, I was not satisfied with my situation. I had this constant feeling of not being in the right place, not using my full potential and not following my purpose.
How do I find the right place for me, where I can unfold my potential and live my purpose?
Nowadays, many people ask themselves this question, including Donga. In contrast to him, due to my privileged situation, I was able to find the answer through an intensive search. As crazy as it may sound, what connects Donga and me was the dissatisfaction with our situation and the belief that we are destined for a different life than we were living at that time.
It was this shared belief that brought Donga, me and two other street kids together in Nairobi, after I had left Switzerland behind in my search to study “Social Innovation” in Kenya. There I realized that my purpose is to become a social entrepreneur who enables disadvantaged people like Donga to unlock their potential. This way both of us could live our purpose. Based on this vision, we founded the social start-up “Nai Nami”, which builds on the street skills and life stories of former street children. This approach gave Donga and seven other criminal youths from the street a full-time job, a stable income and the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. Through Nai Nami, our youths offer an intimate storytelling tour in the city centre, which gives tourists the opportunity to experience Nairobi through the eyes of a street child. On the Nai Nami tour they share their captivating life stories, teach their street skills and show how they survived on the street. Today, all of our youths are responsible young men who live their full potential and purpose as storyteller city guides by offering a unique experience which has become number 1 on TripAdvisor in Nairobi.
How to find your place
In my seven-year search for my purpose, the following steps were crucial in order to finally reinvent myself as a social entrepreneur for disadvantaged young people:
- Rummage through your past and look for experiences where you were completely at one with yourself and thriving.
- Find simple and small steps that allow you to repeat these experiences.
- Never give up on your search and don’t be afraid to take a step back sometimes.
- Be patient, connect with people you admire and learn from them.
- Ask yourself the question: What does the universe want to express through me by creating me as I am?
- Identify your unique strength, which is manifested in the combination of your skills, experiences, personality and values.
If street children can do it, you can too!
Gianmarco Marinello
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About Gianmarco Marinello
Gianmarco Marinello is a Social Entrepreneur and Innovator who guides people in the process of reinventing their lives by transforming their weaknesses into strengths.
After receiving his Masters in Psychology from the University of Basel and several jobs in the corporate world, Gianmarco Marinello went to Nairobi, Kenya, in order to complete a field-based program in Social Innovation Management. There, he founded the successful social start-up Nai Nami, which builds on the street skills and life stories of former street children, in order to offer them a job and a source of income. Nai Nami offers a Storytelling Tour in Nairobi, which gives interested tourists an insight into the city through the eyes of a street child. As a result of countless positive reviews, Nai Nami has a first-place listing on TripAdvisor.
After having returned to Switzerland, Gianmarco’s current vision is to offer underprivileged youth a chance to develop a successful future. With the tools and skills he gained on his innovation journey, he continues to seek creative solutions to integrate as many young people into society as possible.