Simeon Oriko

Simeon Oriko is a young entrepreneur, who is the founder and Executive Director of The Kuyu Project, which is a digital literacy initiative aimed at teaching African high school students how to use social media and other digital tools to effect social change in their communities.

Another project Simeon is involved in is Jamlab which is a community that co-creates ideas through the strategic use of digital technology to achieve personal goals as well as societal objectives. StorySpaces, another venture is a digital storytelling platform that builds on an age-old African tradition of storytelling. The core element of storytelling connects generations together through binding values that help people identify with, and relate to each other.

My Definition Of Success | Success to me means that I have helped someone else move a step up in the same way that others have done for me. My view of success has definitely changed. I once thought of success as a tangible individual thing but with age and experience I quickly realized that there’s little success if your immediate community doesn’t benefit or isn’t a part of the success you claim.

I Am Driven By | People. People have really amazing ideas and thoughts and its hard for me to stand by and say “that’s awesome” when I know I can play a small part in turning that thought or idea into reality.

My Highlights | Meeting Bill Clinton in person on the sidelines of the Google Zeitgeist 2012 after I won the Google Zeitgeist Young Minds Award. That was pretty awesome. We had a chat about a lot of global issues for a solid half hour.

The Difference Between good And Great | Discipline. People who are great at what they do, exercise a great deal on discipline in their work

A Key Talent | My greatest skill/strength is ideation. I didn’t realize it was my greatest strength – I learnt this from my friends and peers who insisted I look into it. Unsure of what “look into it” meant, I decided to lend my thoughts and ideas to open online communities and initiatives like Creative Commons. Turns out my participation in these online communities and forums has helped me hone my ideation skills. I guess practice does make perfect.

Principles I Live By | The goal in life isn’t to live forever; rather, it is to create something that will. I also believe that it is important to seek to serve others first before you seek gain.

Critical Skills I Develop | Discipline, eating healthy and going to bed by 9 pm. Sleep and good health is underrated. It’s difficult to function if your body and mind isn’t in good health.

Dealing With Doubt | Frankly, I’m a fearful person and fear does stop me a lot. Usually, I rely on close friends that know me well to speak to me and convince me that it’s pointless fearing. My fear is usually brought about when I think up big ideas or complex thoughts and plans. I’ve learned to trust that there are people always willing to help and it is easier to break down big projects to small one’s and take each step one at a time.

Resources I Use To Stay Inspired | The Bible and writings of Ellen G. White.

My Future Dreams And Ambitions | I’d love to get the voices, ideas and opinions of young people in high schools across the African continent to the forefront of major global conversations. I love the ideas of these young people because they aren’t bogged down by stereotypes and dogma that we acquire as we grow older.

The Meaning Of Life | To serve others

Advice On Building Wealth | Serve others with honesty and integrity and the rest ideally will fall into place.

On Inspiring Others | I find interesting people that I work with mostly online and in previous interactions. If we have ideas that we can work on together, I offer the opportunity to collaborate. I also appeal to their sense of belonging. People do things for themselves and they look at things as they are. I often try to identify this and match it with my goals

The Legacy I Would Like To Leave | I’d like to train and mentor a generation of African youth that is dedicated to honestly, collaboratively and selflessly tackling society’s most pressing problems.