In this podcast, I share more about Nai Nami and my journey as a social entrepreneur. Enjoy!
Podcast: Reinventing yourself as a core skill
Listen to the full episode HERE
Gianmarco Marinello, social entrepreneur and founder of Nai Nami, joined us in this episode of sensecast. Nai Nami is a social enterprise in Kenya which transforms the street skills and life stories of street children into a job and a source of income for them. They offer a unique storytelling tour in Nairobi to make people experience the city through the eyes of a street child. In his search for meaning and fulfilment in his work life, Gianmarco took on different jobs and roles, which led him to discover his true passion: reinventing himself professionally and helping others to do so as well.
What you will hear in this episode:
- The journey that brought Gianmarco to Kenya
- How Nai Nami was co-created by Gianmarco and the street children on eye level
- The challenge of earning their trust The impact of Nai Nami on the street children and on the whole community
- Nai Nami becoming a self-sustaining business, as Gianmarco’s biggest achievement
- How his journey continued between the corporate and social impact sector
- How having the right mentor can help you change your life
One key takeaway from Gianmarco’s story:
There is only one risk: not trying; failing as a person doesn’t exist!
Listen to the full episode HERE
African street kids help Swiss youths!
Can you imagine? Swiss youths with challenges in life receive help from former street kids and youths from Nairobi’s slums! durchstart is a Swiss organisation that does work integration for youths with challenges. The founder Olivier Moos invited me and the street kids from Nai Nami to do an innovation workshop for his Swiss class.
“If a street child from Nairobi can do it, you can do it too!”
It was a huge success! We were connected live via Zoom and inspired each other. It started with a live tour in the Mathare slum followed by a mentoring session for the Swiss youths. It was fascinating to see what a positive impact ex-gangsters from an African slum can have on Swiss youths!
On the other hand, the Swiss youths developed amazing ideas for Nai Nami with the aim to create additional income during the pandemic: Selling branded Nai Nami masks and making dancing tutorials on TikTok were my favourite ones.
It was such a great experience and it showed me once more that building bridges can lead to awesome opportunities. A big thank you to Olivier Moos – founder of durchstart – for making this happen!
Innovator for Systemic Change at the Catalyst Lab
I am proud to be an innovator at the Catalyst Lab of “collaboratio helvetica” which is a future lab with co-creators of various backgrounds, united by a common mission: to facilitate systemic change in Switzerland towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
My personal mission is to give disadvantaged youths in Switzerland, who are stuck in life, the opportunity to have a bright future. Applying the tools and skills which I acquired on my innovation journey, will hopefully lead me to a solution that serves as many youths as possible.
Check my Catalyst profile HERE
How To Connect On An Eye-To-Eye Level With Challenging Youth
When you deal with disadvantaged or difficult youth (delinquent, rebellious, low self-esteem) it is often a challenge to connect with them. First of all, it needs time. But there are some very important behaviours you should stick to from the beginning in order to build a connection. Youth with an unfortunate background or in a …