2 questions to uncover your passion -- and turn it into a career

What's your passion? Social entrepreneur Noeline Kirabo reflects on her work helping out-of-school young people in Uganda turn their passions into profitable businesses -- and shares the two questions you can ask yourself to begin doing the same.

When you have a job that pays you enough
to cover your basic needs,

your bills and even some more to spend,

the assumption is that you'd be happy,

or, even better, fulfilled.

And it seems unthinkable
when you wake up and say

you're going to leave a job like that
to pursue a passion.

And that was my dilemma six years ago.

I had a comfortable job,
I lived a comfortable life,

and people expected me to be fulfilled,

but I wasn't.

There was something
in me that wanted more.

There was a misalignment
between the things I did on a daily basis

and the things that I deeply cared about.

And so I decided to quit

and explore the possibility of bringing
this passion into my daily routine.

And the thing about finding your passion

is that it's not straightforward.

Even for people with money and degrees,

they still struggle
to identify their passion.

And here I was as a 30-year-old,

talking about finding my passion

and turning it into a career.

Literally, people told me,

"You don't talk about passion
until you've made enough money --

(Laughter)

or at least until
you're ready to retire."

Because there's a notion
that looking inward

and finding the things that give us
pleasure and fulfillment

is a luxury that only the rich can enjoy,

or a pleasure that only
the retired can indulge in.

Which made me wonder:

Is passion only for the rich,

or an experience
only the retired can enjoy?

For many of us, we've been led to believe

that life is a race of survival.

We've been conditioned
to see ourselves as survivors

that must do everything
in our power to survive.

In Africa, we're nurtured to go
through school, cram and pass,

in the hope that you get a job after.

And if you do, stick at it
no matter how much it sucks.

(Laughter)

Until you get a better offer
or you're asked to retire.

And as a dropout,

I knew that I was
not entitled to anything.

Every opportunity was a privilege.

And so when I thought about quitting,

it was a huge risk.

I was given two alternatives,

which are the most popular in Africa.

The first one is sign up for any course
at a vocational institution and do it.

My second option,
settle for any job offer you can get,

no matter the working conditions,

and do it.

That probably explains why we have
so many of our young people

being trafficked
in search of greener pastures.

I opted for the first option.

I did look at a couple
vocational institutions

in the hope that I would find a course
that resonated with my persona,

my dream and my aspiration.

I was disappointed to learn that there
was no room for misfits like me

in these institutions.

The education system
in many parts of the world

has been designed
around preselected options

that young people are expected
to fit in or risk becoming misfits.

And so going through school,
I was nurtured and conditioned

to think in the straight line
and stay within the straight line.

But when I dropped out,
I discovered a world of possibilities.

I knew I could be anything,
I could study anything,

and so I leveraged free online courses.

That's how I built my CV,
got into employment

and worked for eight years.

And after eight years,

I told myself there must be more to life

than just going through
the routines of life.

So in 2014, I started
an organization called Kyusa

where we are working
with out-of-school youth

and empowering them to turn their passions

into profitable, scalable
and sustainable businesses.

Now, when we talk about passion,

one of the most common questions
that people ask is, "What is passion?

How do I even find it?"

And in the simplest definition,

passion is a collection
of your life experiences

that give you the deepest
sense of fulfillment.

And to identify your passion,
you need to look inward.

So we use two reflective questions.

The first question we ask is,

"If you had all the time
and the money in the world,

what would you spend your time doing?"

It sounds like a very simple question,

but many people struggle
to answer this question

because they've just
never thought about it.

The second question we ask

is, "What makes you happy

or gives you the deepest
sense of fulfillment?"

Now, you would assume that we all
know what makes us happy,

but it's also interesting to note
that so many people have no idea

what makes them happy,

because they are so busy
going through the routines of life,

they've never stopped to look inward.

And so identifying the things
that give us a deep sense of fulfillment

and the things that give us deep joy

are thoughts that begin to direct us
in the direction of our passion.

And just in case you're wondering

what your answers are
to those two questions,

I invite you to sit with these questions
later and just reflect about it.

However, I am also aware

that passion alone
cannot guarantee success in life.

And I should note

that not every passion
can become a career.

For passion to become a career,

it must be coupled with the right set
of skills, conditioning and positioning.

So when we get our young people
to look inward,

we also ask them what skills do you have,

what talents do you have,
what experience do you have

that you can use to build
a niche in the marketplace.

But more than that,
we also look at the market trends,

because it doesn't matter
how much you love and enjoy it.

If nobody wants it
or is willing to pay for it,

it can't be a career.

It's just a hobby.

And the third thing we look at
is how do you position yourself?

Who are you targeting?
Who do you want to sell to?

Why would they want to buy from you?

And so the combination of the three
is what enables you to move

from just a passion to a business.

And many of our young people
have been able to turn their ideas

and burning desires
into profitable businesses

or social enterprises,

and they're not just creating jobs,

but they are solving societal challenges.

I'll share with you two examples.

One of them is Esther.

I met Esther two years ago.

She had been out of school for two years,

and she had been deeply affected
by her dropping out.

As a result, she had experienced
severe depression

to a point where she attempted
to take her own life several times.

Her friends and family
didn't know what to do for her.

They simply prayed for her.

When I met Esther
and I started to converse with her,

I asked her a simple question.

I said, "If you had all the time
and the money in the world,

what would you do?"

Without thinking or hesitation,

her eyes lit up and she began to tell me

how she wanted to change
the lives of young people.

She wanted to restore
hope and dignity to other teenagers

by helping them make
informed decisions about life.

I was certain of the fact
that this burning desire in her

was unquenchable.

And so we worked with Esther
to put a framework around this desire.

Today, she runs a social
enterprise in her village,

raising awareness about substance abuse,
mental health, sexual reproductive health

and is helping other school dropouts
acquire vocational skills,

so they can make a living for themselves.

Esther turned 20 this year,

and for the last two years,
she has organized an annual teen fest

that brings together over 500 teenagers.

(Applause)

Young people that are able
to network and collaborate

on different projects,

but more importantly to meet professionals
they would otherwise never have met.

This is all engineered by a girl that
believed the world had no room for her,

that without education
she would never amount to anything.

But by looking inward
and tapping into a burning desire,

putting structure around it,

it has become a model
that not only changed her life

but is transforming the lives
of hundreds of young people every year.

My other example is Musa.

Musa is a natural artistic guy.

He's the kind that would look
at any design and replicate it with ease.

And so he seeks to recognize
that ability in him.

When I met Musa,
he was doing all kinds of crafts --

bags, belts, wallets --

but it was more of a part-time thing.

Or sometimes, if he was really broke
and needed to make quick money,

then he would come up
with a design and sell it.

But he had never thought
of it as a business.

We started working with Musa,

helping him shift his mindset
from a hobby to a business

and beginning to rethink how he can
make products that he could sell

and even be able to scale.

Musa makes some of
the most amazing bags I've ever seen,

and over the last one year,
Musa's business has grown.

He has been recognized
in different places.

Currently, he's talking about
exporting to developed countries.

Musa, like any other dropout,

believed that without
academic credentials,

he wouldn't amount to anything.

He thought the talent he had was nothing

simply because he did not have
an academic paper to define him.

But by looking inward and finding
that what he had was the greatest asset

and supporting him
to turn it into a business,

he's not just living -- he's thriving.

The thing about looking inward
is that it can be scary,

especially if you're doing it
for the first time.

But the truth is
you never truly start living

until you learn to live
from the inside out.

And in unlocking potential,
we need to look inward to identify

the things that give us
a deep sense of fulfillment,

the things that give us the deepest joy,

and then weave them
into the patterns of our daily routines.

In so doing, we cease to work
and we start to live.

And the thing about living is that
you never have to retire or to resign.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

And so as you think about
unlocking potential for ourselves,

for our young people, for our children,

let's not condition them to look outward

but condition them to look inward

to tap into who they are and bring
that self into what they do every day.

When you cease to work and you live,

when passion becomes a career,

you don't just excel,

you become unstoppable.

Thank you.

(Applause)