Behind every successful person is a story that is rarely seen, the setbacks, disappointments, difficult choices and moments when giving up may have seemed easier than carrying on. Inspire 20/20 set out to share those stories with young Namibians who may need to hear them most.
An initiative by Elite Employment Consultancy, Inspire 20/20 brought together 20 prominent Namibian leaders and 20 schools. Participants included David Nuyoma, Group CEO of Capricorn Group; Martin Inkumbi, CEO of GIPF; Bisey Uirab, CEO of Namibia Airports Company; Robert Eiman, CEO of Agribank Namibia; and Mercia Geises, CEO of Namibia Hydrogen Fund Managers, alongside leaders from across Namibia’s business, financial, ICT, aviation, development and social sectors.
Each spent time with Grade 10, 11 and 12 learners, speaking openly about their own journey and the challenges they faced along the way.
There were no polished stories of overnight success. The conversations were about real life, where they came from, what went wrong, what they had to overcome and what helped them keep moving forward.
“Young people often meet successful people at the end of the story,” said Yvonne Le Roux, Founder of Elite Employment Consultancy, who initiated Inspire 20/20. “We wanted them to hear what came before that. To hear from someone who can say, ‘I struggled too. Things didn’t always work out for me either. But I kept going.’”
For learners preparing to leave school, that message can matter.
Some will go on to university or further training. Others may struggle to find work or may not yet know what comes next. Inspire 20/20 was created to remind them that uncertainty and setbacks do not have to define their future. And the project is no longer limited to the learners who were sitting in those 20 school halls and classrooms. Every speech was professionally recorded and the complete Inspire 20/20 series is now available free on YouTube, allowing these stories to reach young people anywhere in Namibia.
“We started with 20 schools, but we never wanted it to end there,” said Le Roux. “Not every learner will have the opportunity to sit in a room with a CEO, managing director or business leader and hear their story first-hand. By recording these conversations, we can now take them much further.”
Schools, teachers and parents are encouraged to share the series with young people — particularly those who may be uncertain about what comes after school or who feel that their circumstances limit what is possible for them.
For the 20 leaders who took part, the message behind Inspire 20/20 was equally simple: Be the person you once needed.
Each had the opportunity to look back at their own journey and share something they wished someone had told them when they were younger.
“Inspire 20/20 is about showing young people that where you start does not have to determine where you finish,” says Le Roux. “The people they see leading organisations and businesses today have also experienced hardship, rejection, failure and moments of doubt. They kept going, and now they are reaching back to encourage the next generation to do the same.” One story can be enough to make a young person believe their future can be different.
*The complete series is available free on the Elite Employment Namibia YouTube channel: youtube.com/@EliteEmploymentNamibia
The post 20 executives, 20 schools, one mission: Inspiring Namibia’s next generation appeared first on New Era.
Follow the story
