Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Mentor-ship Vs. 'Mentorsheep'

Come to think of it, I’m a mentor and I do have some quite a number of mentees on my side. I have always allowed myself to learn in all possibilities of life and this is without the exclusion of my mentees and mentors who bring new perspective into either old thoughts or new ones.

We live in a world of many possibilities and equal share of confusion, what I came to realize the world of mentor-ship isn’t known to many as much as it might sound to be something that has always been there with us. I believe many people practice the “mentor-sheep” at the expense of mentorship. So what do I mean with with the two terms;

Mentor-ship is about something mutual between the mentor and the mentee organized through a system or plan connected to a common goal and interest. Everyone learns from each other while listening, questioning and testing are key part of the growth of the relationship.

Mentor-sheep is full of imitation, following for the sake to belong, obey and maintain the status quo. The 'sheep effect', plans might change randomly whilst there might be less listening and there might be no or less questioning especially from the mentee.

#MyDiary2017 Below are 10 points a great mentor and mentee should practice; 


  1. They should have wide knowledge and skills in the area of interest. 
  2. They should be willing to show the way and sometime through the mentee in the deep end of things, the good thing is that they will follow through so that the mentee doesn’t get drowned.
  3. They should have dedicated time and they are passionate in mentorship. 
  4. They should be well organized and work on schedules than randomness. 
  5. They should share part of the journey (success, failure and future) not to be imitated by the mentee but for them to pick the best practices of pivoting. 
  6. They should be good listeners and good at asking great questions. 
  7. They should allow failures only that everyone should account for the gaps for future lessons. 
  8.  They should always be eager to learn from the mentee. 
  9. They should have great values system especially empathy and patience. 
  10. They should be willing to make random check on how the mentee is doing. Everything need not to be structured. 

  1. They should be well organized especially on time management. 
  2. They should be good listeners and good at asking questions. 
  3. They should show tangible result within the journey of the relationship. 
  4. They should be accountable for the failure or missed targets. 
  5. They should have a clear big picture in mind and willing to start with the baby steps. 
  6. They appreciate their mentors as partners in exploring the new world of possibilities. 
  7. They should have great values system especially professionalism. 
  8. They shouldn’t imitate for the sake, they should have analytical, creative and critical mind buffers before taking the jump. 
  9. They should always be open to new learning experiences, especially triggered by themselves.
  10. They should always engage while it happens than report later in the organized sessions.
If I missed something you would love to share as a mentor or mentee, please feel free to do so under the comment section. For more insights visit get in touch with me for a session with your group on issues around personal branding, personal plan, creative entrepreneurship session, inspirational session, creative boot-camps, photography session etc. wilson.masaka[at]

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

The Next Big Thing

There are many factors that contribute to the next big thing, for example the social factors, political factors, economic factors, education system, the gaps and need in the society, technological factors, emerging market trend just to mention but a few.

On the long list of possibilities and influence, I believe the linchpin is with people linked to something else. Let me expound further on these four basic fundamentals with the launch of the next idea as follows;

People with Ideas

First and foremost, coming up with a solid idea can't survive in randomness and reacting just for the sake of having something in place. No individual or group has a monopoly of idea generation, respect everyone in the system and make a culture of start to finish with traces of accountability. Remember, people in higher position don't necessary have the brilliant ideas.

People with Position

The position you hold in any system or company facilitates either the delay or progression of the idea for the next big thing. It takes a bold leader to work and delegate responsibilities strategically and intelligently to their team. Great leaders will always know when to fine tune the idea and train their team on what next step, this is called teamwork.

On the contrary, delays or death of any idea might happen at this stage if the people with position (management title) don't agree or understand the idea as generated from other levels, doesn't favor their thinking or even worse the value of launching isn't clear.

People with Experience

Nothing outshines experience even if you have the top degrees in the world. The experts with vast experience will always analysis the situation holistically looking at the pros and cons, then correlating best practices before making the jump. At this stage humility is key than ego for anything to work through the next level.

People, Brands and Emerging Markets: 

Lastly, let us not forget people working with big brands in the market also have a big stake of influence, trust and loyalty in kick starting the next trends. Think Google, Microsoft, Safaricom, Linkedin, just mention but a few.

Don't despair if you aren't a big brand every entity had a starting point and break through to the next big thing. Explore the unknown market where it's a space for all! The next disruptive market is within the existing, emerging and unknown market place #NextBigThing #PositiveDisruption You have a chance to cause it just do your research and start #HumanCenteredDesign

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Are You a Web designer or an ICT Expert?

On Sunday 5th February I was privileged to visit Sama Source offices in Nairobi, where I shared my journey in ICT and design with a group of aspiring web designers and developers joining the master classes organized by Sama Source.

My journey in web design and development started in 2000 and still going strong... #LifeLongLearning 

Below are my key highlights of my presentation; 

Trends to check out in 2017

  1. Digital Marketing / Social Media Marketing
  2. Mobile Application development 
  3. IOT – Internet Of Things Artificial Intelligence 
  4. Branding 
  5. Big data 
  6. Responsive web design 
  7. Frameworks e.g Bootstraps, CMS, Canva etc. UX and UI
Tips for Up Scaling

  1. Learn the tools ( Softwares)
  2. Join a community of designers or developers / programmers 
  3. Self learning and pro bono assignments 
  4. Learn a least two programming language
  5. Learn some coding even if you are a designer 
  6. Think of the users their needs also are changing with time. 
  7. Love the process as much there are frameworks etc. 
What You Can DO is the END GAME #DeathOfCV 
More about me

#MyJourney Sharing our journey's might spark new trails for others to follow...