This appeared in a newspaper interview I did for the local Magazine EVE which is no longer being published.

THINGS YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT ESTHER PASSARIS

1. Five people she would love to invite to dinner: Nelson Mandela, Daniel arap Moi, Wangari Maathai, Mother Teresa, Oprah Winfrey.

2. One great thing she would still love to do: Get married

3. Her dream job would be: The president

4. Favorite movies: Real life stories of great people and even greater achievements

5. Favorite foods: Anything tasty

6. Favorite perfume: Paris

7. Book currently reading: The secret of Rhoda Byrne

8. Achievement most proud of: Saying no to corruption

9. She is inspired by…: My children

10. The best city in the world: Rome – full of history

11. Living motto: Be the best that you can, you are your thoughts, keep it real

12. Favorite place to unwind: My bedroom

13. How does she unwind?: Nice movie

14. The most daring thing she’s ever done: giving birth naturally

15. What songs always makes her cry?: I don’t cry that easily but our national anthem gives me goose bumps as those who wrote it had such vision and most of those led have no idea what the vision is.

16. The most inspiring person: Nelson Mandela – A true statesman

17. What does she treasure most in life?: My children, my family

18. What’s been the most humbling experience of her life? Being hugged by total strangers and being told I am their role model

I noticed that many of my readers are not aware that I have been having a monthly entrepreneurs grant.

Many entrepreneurs, young inventors and upcoming business people are most of the time restricted by the availability of funds or credit.
The Kenya government has come up with many credit programs most of which are still channeled through the same banking system and are therefore being subject to the normal bureaucracy and red tapes that surround the banks lending procedures.
In view of this fact I am giving out between Kenya shillings 50,000 and 100,000 every month from my earnings for a deserving Kenya development project on capital for investment.

The project to be considered should give out returns, create jobs opportunities and advance the life of any one of my readers. One condition is one should have a bank account.

What are the qualifications and the procedure? That your project should be profitable, create jobs and be either a going concern or a new venture.

How can one apply for this grant? Just go to my Esther Passaris site complete the form and submit it online.

Once the applications are in, a team of mentors will look into them and come up with one deserving project for that month. Right now we are working on the July entries and I will meet all the applicants where I will announce the winner of the grant for our first month which is July 2009.

Monday this week I attended the talk by CK Prahalad on the Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. This talk was quite an eye opener but the government role is key to its success.
Today the government of Kenya went a step ahead and launched the water irrigation project to address food shortage by making Kenyans less dependent on rainfall.
By the way only 30 % of the viewers on Kenya Television Network ( KTN ) had confidence in the government’s intentions. I celebrate a step in the right direction and I want to believe good is possible?
On a sad note Lake Naivasha is drying up, lets pray for rain? Most of our rivers are drying up and this is truly a situation we need to start addressing and fast!
What is your take? What can we do to reverse this trend

I want to apologize to the Grant applicants for July, 2009 for the delay in reverting back to all of you. I shall be contacting you for a get together to make the award via mail to your respective addresses.

For those Kenyans interested in being assisted in their project via a grant please continue to visit Esther Passaris website and complete the application form. There will be a cut off on 31st August, 2009 for the August applications. If you have applied you need not apply again as all applications stay in the pool.

Shortages, Shortages, Shortages. That is what we are beginning to experience as the the drought lingers on. Last night the electricity was not back at 6 pm as they had promised. The excuse was a transformer had blown. I went to bed before power came and woke up to no water to bath. This is a sad affair and if you take it a notch higher and you find many people don’t have a home, land, job or food and poverty is everywhere! We as a country need to address these shortages.

When there are shortages, no one is immune to the suffering it causes. When a Nation like Kenya or a society is mismanaged not even the leaders or rich are immune to the effects of the suffering. Looking at crime, road carnage, aids, etc when all hell breaks loose it knows not class… or status. It gets everyone, the degree and speed will vary, but let no one think its not affecting everyone me included. WHY LIE ? To me it is a WAKE UP CALL?

The media does set the mood of a country. From my own experience the media fuels perceptions that lead to talks which people then run with or without even knowing the person they are talking about.

Is it me or is the media is still stuck on warlike utterances like we were in election mode?
They need to set the tempo with topics that are very much in the hearts of most Kenyans. The direction should be one of change, forward planning.

Time is precious and the reason Kenya lacks behind is all the booze and wasted talk. One thing you note is a constant battle of divide and rule with politicking while Kenya people want change, hope and a positive way forward.

We need to rally and infuse a sense of Patriotism to cope with the myriads of issues we are facing and will encounter in the future.

Yesterday I met the Nairobi City Town Clerk Philip Kisia. I have known Kisia from his days at the Nairobi Central business District Association (NCBDA) . Then he defended Adopt A Light.

When we sat to talk I admired his professionalism as he got an internal lawyer to give him an opinion on the matter at hand between my company and the council.Then he called in the other employees and for the first time it was my pleasure to hear an employee of the council being bold enough to stand up and say, “we are wrong, we have treated this lady and her company unfairly while breaking the law”.
Wow, This definitely made my day and a Hope for Justice!

Kenyan tribes tribe tribe – Kikuyu, Luo, Kalenjin happens to be the mother of tribalism in Kenya and if we are not careful it will add other children Kamba, Luhya etc. We Kenyans have to guard against this. We should be proud of our heritage and culture but leave it there.
When the census comes knocking can we all be KENYANS. I have seen diverse people who speak fluent Kamba, Luo, Kikuyu etc and to me it should be a language, that’s it. Lets not be divided? Do you think we should fill in our tribe slot when the census people come to count us?

Last week was one long and educative one, mainly on how to trade with the US, with ourselves and with Africa. I have gathered a lot from African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Foum, but it took my whole day and by the time I got home I could do nothing else.

We have received the grants applications for July 2009 and I will be arranging a meeting with all the Entrepreneurs Grants applicants sometime mid next week. Please check this blog often for the details of the meeting where the winner of July grant will be announced .

Well last Saturday I met with some Kenyans who had wanted to meet my brother who was supposed to visit from the UK. That lunch took place at the Carnivore restaurant Nairobi. Ten of us met, three couldn’t make it. I shared the start of a way of life, a commitment to plan & live to the maximum, to work with a common vision, to stay connected for the good of the self, the family, the community and the country.

I enjoyed the lunch so much and meeting these 10 fellow Kenyans for the first time together and not knowing where we all came from, how we think, where we are heading. We were able to share together beyond our tribe, sex, status which was a blessing. We chose the title ” Eat the frog ” for our group

I wonder how the others felt?? I look forward to the next meeting where we assess the progress and increase the number of participants. One step at a time and we shall attain success. Keep checking this blog for the next meeting.