I was invited to the YALI RLC EA STAKEHOLDERS/PARTNERS AND ALUMNI FORUM-JUNE 28, 2022 as one of their leading alumni and as an exhibitor to showcase some of the work that I do including work on my new book Practical Skills for Entrepreneurial Success. During the exhibition, the book generated a lot of interest from the attending participants who bought most of the copies that were brought for the showcase commenting on how incredible the book lineup was. I was truly humbled when the USAID Communications advisor Steve Susens also got his copy of the book and commented on its impressive first impressions.
The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) was launched by former President of the United States Barack Obama as a signature effort to invest in the next generation of African leaders. The need to invest in grooming strong, results-oriented leaders comes out of the statistics: nearly 1 in 3 Africans are between the ages of 10 and 24, and approximately 60% of Africa’s total population is below the age of 35.
WITH the USAID Communications advisor Steve Susens
The day was a busy day, I had an exhibition in the morning, a meeting in the afternoon and a book launch to conduct in the evening. Being a very particular guy with the details of the launch I found a bit of a challenge of the hotel where we were launching as they made some last-minute adjustments to our initial arrangements. But even before the book launch itself, there was the issue of invitations.
the red carpet
The event was an invite-only event with a very particular audience who formed part of the invite list. So naturally, we sent the invitations but as the day progressed, some people cancelled and not a lot was confirmed by way of replying to the invite via email or SMS. So in the evening when I got to the venue, I was a bit tensed up as the people who were to attend did not send confirmations. Another reason I was tensed up a bit was the fact that the prepping wasn’t going at the pace I had anticipated it to go and I had to negotiate with the hotel to really ensure that my plan goes as near perfect as I had visualized it way back in 2017.
the red carpet
One thing I was excited though about was my branding and media. I spent a significant amount of money and social capital to ensure that we had great media coverage and an even greater branding experience and from the photos, you can tell the branding was well thought through. Anyways after all the setting up and the readjustments, we were ready to launch. I was happy when I started to see my guests arrive all glammed up and ready for the launch, my media team and my DJs were also already on site and everything was set to go. Even as the programme continues, I was still coordinating the programme lineup and ensuring some logistical considerations were underway. I was lucky though that I had my volunteers and best friend help with the coordination as well. So the first part of the event was the photo session, networking and book signing.
The set up
As this session was happening, I realized the room arrangement had way more seats that the invited guests so as a way to quickly readjust the room setting, I skillfully got everyone out of the main hall to the media room for photos and videos and got my volunteer team quickly rearrange the room configuration reducing some of the seats. and guess who was there giving those directions and helping, me. I did this quickly, changed to my official senator suit for the day and was now ready for the launch to flow. The photo session was handled by professionals Circuite Photography and Front Pixel Studios. And after an exciting set of photo, we were ready to go back for the second session which was entertainment and cocktails.
Praying and opening remarks
In the entertainment I had two friend poets of mine who went on to do incredible poetry pieces on me and my journey and Kitunguu Machoni gave a particularly moving piece. As the entertainment continued, the event only played the best of African house music with the incredible Mundu Wa Nyumba also known as Simon Chege. After the entertainment we all went back for the main session speeches, the book launch and unveiling and amongst the guests of the day was my father who was accompanied by my sister.
The guests and the looks
Before that my best friend Oduor Kevin gave introductory opening remarks and then the speeches began. The first speech was by Baba Muli, my other father who spoke about our African nature and our contribution to leadership and entrepreneurship as Africans. Next was my father who gave a moving speech on one of my near-death experiences when I was kidnapped at 4 years old and the ordeal he went through to get me back. Then I went in to finalize on the book and why it was important. The event was moderated by a powerful mc don the black.
the speeches.
What can I say, the book launch went better than expected. Videos coming up very soon. For now though, enjoy the photos.
The launch of the book Practical Skills For Entrepreneurial Success started 5 years ago in 2017 when I realized that I had a story to tell and that I’ll tell it the best way possible. In 2017 I saw the book launch happen, I visualized it, I created the details of it and I saw how successful it was. One thing though is that I did not know where the resources were going to come from but I knew it happened. So by the end of 2017, I had already launched the book and after that, I started writing it.
Having a proper book launch for this particular book was such an important part for me because this book besides being an autobiography of my first 25 years in life, was also a very much-needed practical tool for entrepreneurs, visionaries, and leaders like me to curate their way to success. So when the book was done and ready for the real launch in 2022, I was very particular about the branding I wanted and who I wanted to be there.
I was very privileged that I had over the years developed a very strong network of very reputable friends who were entrepreneurs and connections in their various fields and so when it was time to do the launch, I reached out to my network to see whether they were in a position to help. And lucky for me, they were. At the end of the day, I ended up doing such an executive launch with a very close community of friends media, and mentors.
Ogweno Stephen was recently hosted on KUTV where he did a media launch of the book Practical Skills For Entrepreneurial Success. In the media launch Ogweno talked about his journey as an author and why this book is so important.
Ogweno Stephen recently published an important opinion piece with the Project Syndicate sharing deep insights on funding and non-communicable diseases. Project Syndicate is an international media organization that publishes and syndicates commentary and analysis on a variety of global topics. All opinion pieces are published on the Project Syndicate website, but are also distributed to a wide network of partner publications for print.
Here is a snippet of the article
Noncommunicable diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, but efforts to tackle them receive less than 10% of the global health budget. With the NCD burden likely to increase further, countries must take five urgent steps to bring about a shift in funding priorities.
NAIROBI – Noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, lung disease, diabetes, obesity, and mental disorders, are often chronic and develop over a long period. Collectively, NCDs account for about 70% of all deaths globally (and 60% of deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa, where they account for over 55% of hospital admissions in countries such as Kenya). Developing countries thus face a double burden of illness, with communicable diseases like malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis still presenting a huge challenge alongside the rising incidence of NCDs.READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON THE LINK BELOW: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/noncommunicable-diseases-funding-strategy-five-priorities-by-stephen-ogweno-2022-07
So, as a son who has been privileged to travel to many countries, one of the things I keep doing on my long flights to other countries is to take as many photos and videos to ensure that when I’m back home I can be able to create a visual experience for my parents and my family about my flights. And one thing I’ve always known my parents wished to experience was an opportunity to fly high in the sky and get that first-hand experience. Because of this one of my goals, this year was to give them that experience.
My dad at the book launch
So, when the time came for my book launch, I thought it wise to give my parents the VIP experience from their hometown, to the city and back as a way to achieve that objective. Whilst my mother could not make it due to unavoidable circumstances, my father had the privilege to enjoy all that I had planned for him in his short visit to the city to attend my book launch.
serving looks
So, I meticulously planned his itinerary, I flew him to the city, booked him a 5-star hotel, got him a personal driver to take him through the city, organized some sightseeing and museum visits for him, and on the last day in the city took him to my dream real estate projects just to show him my dream residences in the city. More than that, he become one of the first to enjoy the recently opened Nairobi superhighway that offers stunning views and no traffic jam on our way back to the airport.
At the Eye of Kenya
This experience really mattered to me because my father has been a pillar in my life, he is the wisest man I’ve had the rare opportunity to know and he definitely deserves the very best that the world has to offer. So giving him this unique experience was definitely a milestone for me, a way for me to begin saying thank you for all the great things he has shaped me to be. Here are some of the photos of how it went.
At Two Riversat the book launchvisiting various projectsviewsat the book launchwith both my fathersAt the Airport
For the past two years my focus as the CEO of Lifesten Health and the focus of the team has really been about how we transform the field of non-communicable diseases and how we get people to develop and practice healthy lifestyles. As we all know, building healthy habits is one of the hardest tasks but also one of the most rewarding ones and so we have been working with the communities in Rwanda and Kenya to find out how they love to be motivated, how they enjoy their health products and how they would want a properly executed digital health platform to look like.
And I strongly we finally found those answers and are building the health tech platform designed and developed by Africans for Africans. We have also been privileged to go through the health hub training accelerator supported by the Novartis Foundation where we have met incredible mentors and resources that have helped us along the way in building the health start-up of the continent , aimed at improving health care for the next one billion.
At Lifesten, we want to reward you for being healthy, we want to support you to achieve your health goals and we want to connect you with relevant health products and services when you need them. So, you ask again why am I excited about the future of Lifesten health? It’s because we are building a health care solution for the next 1 billion people and we are building it with them.
The Africa NCD Champions podcast is a podcast that aims at sharing the life experiences of people living with non-communicable diseases from Africa. The podcast aims at educating, informing, and inspiring the world through these stories. Non-communicable diseases like cancer, obesity, hypertension, asthma, and even diabetes are still the leading killer diseases and now more than ever, awareness through the voices of people who have lived with these diseases is needed and this podcast is here to amplify those voices.
The podcast recently won a grant with the Global Youth Mobilization and we will be bringing you curated content on non-communicable diseases, covid 19, and the stories behind them. Looking forward to sharing this special project with you all.
Ogweno Stephen was recently interviewed on Radio France on his journey with physical fitness and advocacy for obesity. In the radio interview, Ogweno talked about how he got from living with obesity to a healthy BMI through physical activity and nutrition. He also mentioned a few myths associated with physical activity including:
Myth 1. Exercise is the best way to lose weight
While there is plenty of evidence showing people can lose weight just by being physically active, it is also one of the hardest ways to go about it.
The best way to lose weight is through combining a nutritious, low-calorie diet with regular physical activity.
Myth 2. You can’t be fat and fit
Inactive people of healthy weight may look OK, but this isn’t necessarily the case. When you’re not active you have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, some cancers, depression and anxiety. Several studies have demonstrated the association between premature death and being overweight or obese disappears when fitness is taken into account (although another study disputed this).
This means you can still be metabolically healthy while being overweight, but only if you’re regularly active. Of course, people who are fit and of normal weight have the best health outcomes, so there are still plenty of reasons to try to shed some weight.
Myth 3. No pain, no gain
Or in other words, “no suffering, no weight loss”. As mentioned earlier, if you want to lose weight by being active, you will need to do a lot of it. But while physical activity of a moderate intensity is recommended, guidelines do not say activity needs to be of vigorous intensity.
Moderate intensity physical activity is not painful and does not include excessive suffering to meet your goals. A study of weight loss in groups with higher intensity and lower volumes of activity compared to groups of lower intensity and higher volumes of activity did not find significant differences.
STEPHEN OGWENO 