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There is a lot of talk about whether or not the current Kenyan education system is the right one or not, with varied opinions on what can be changed, what is working or not working. The naming, the numbers, and all sorts of hullabaloo. I think we're still getting it all wrong as a country.

It was very dehumanizing. I felt very low and for some hours, I was a public failure. It felt like I had let my family and those who invested in me down; a great disappointment to all those who had banked on my success. That very evening, I started pondering and soul-searching. My business was doing poorly and I was definitely stressed; wondering why me! And so the traumatizing question was actually well intended.

It was one evening. A Saturday. The following Monday I was to go sit for a very important exam; an exam that would give me an opportunity to prove that my dad had not aided me to cheat in the previous exams in which I topped the class in this new school. There were strong allegations that I had cheated in exams in order to be ahead of all the (local) pupils. The headteacher expressly stated that it was not possible for a pupil to come from another school and lead a class in that school. That idea pained me a lot. I had never cheated in any exam in my life. In fact, that was quite a foreign vocabulary even in my imagination.

“Will I just die without killing anyone!” Wondered my dad, talking to himself. “Not really. Not me. Anyway, I ever killed someone. We fought and he go terribly injured. He later died.” That is the kind of person who would ask me for a panga to go fight people. I heard him with my own ears saying that very statement one evening before dinner. He was looking disappointed in himself. He had not killed a person, save for the consolation he drew from the thought that he ever fought someone who ended up dying awhile later.

I never called him ‘baba’. It was unimaginable for me. That word refused to come from my mouth. Not because I thought he was not my father, but because of fear. He was cruel. He was cross.

This is a subject of betrayal and disappointments. Life is built on relationships. Meaningful life means meaningful relationships. It doesn't matter what sort of business you're involved in. Everything boils down to family. Your business family, your nuclear/extended family, your workplace family etc. If you go out to build a business, your major business is building good relationships; relationships that last and give fulfillment. Relationships of value. In doing this, some of the few things you may want to consider, in my opinion, include: