How I Went From Branding T-Shirts To Changing Lives – Meet Chege Thiong’o

How I Went From Branding T-Shirts To Changing Lives – Meet Chege Thiong’o

“Sometimes you’ll be afraid to do something; well, do it afraid,” says Chege Thiong’o, the co-founder of Empire International.

Empire International is a social enterprise that offers training, strategic solutions and team building to companies and organizations, to raise their productivity and output.

Chege formed this company in 2009 and was simply branding T-shirts – until he decided to follow his dream.

Here is his story…

“When we started, though, we weren’t doing training, we were branding T-shirts. And then one day we stopped and asked ourselves, ‘is this really what we want to do for the rest of our lives’?”

The answer was no. Chege’s real dream was to empower people in the workspace to ensure their personal growth and improve team synergies.

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New mission

He decided to do something about living up to this dream, and Empire International’s new mission was born.

“The biggest challenge was gaining trust and building relationships in the market because this industry is very subjective,” Chege says.

Despite these early challenges, the business has slowly gone on to build a brand by emphasizing its capacity to understand a client’s needs and tailor-make products that meet these needs.

“The first thing we do when we take on a client discovers, in a one-on-one meeting, what challenges they’re facing in the workplace, what they want to improve or instil. It could be discipline, motivation, trust or initiative,” Chege says.

“Once we have this information, we meet with the employees and assess their point of view as well. Do they agree with the employer or do they have a different opinion about the challenges they’re facing? We have found that the best way to make this assessment is through activities because you can learn a lot by watching someone.”

Driving force

Inspired by the transformation his company was able to provide for the clients they worked with, in 2015, Chege started a separate branch of Empire called Aspire, which focuses on empowering the youth.

“Our vision is to equip young people to become the driving force of society. How do we get them to live their full lives by bridging the gap between education and their places of influence when they get out into the world?”

In line with this, Aspire got a contract with the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), which was launched by President Barrack Obama as a way of investing in the next generation of African leaders.

“Our mandate was to build a product that could teach these young people about leadership. Perhaps our most iconic activity was making all participants scale up the side of a building using a rope,” says Chege.

“It doesn’t sound like that has anything to do with leadership, but when you think about it, as a leader, you encounter several situations that are scary and make you doubt your capabilities.”

By each of the participants scaling the high rope, they learned one of Chege’s mantras: “Leadership needs fortitude and sometimes you will be afraid. Do it afraid. A nation’s future might depend on you handling your insecurities.”

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Real conversations

Aspire currently has programmes running in universities, colleges and high schools. Daystar University is one of its main clients.

“I think one of the most vital things for the youth are having real conversations about their dreams and purpose in life,” says Chege.

In 2017, he set up Spotlight, which brings together experienced professionals and young people who aspire to be in the same industries.

Through workshops and forums, they talk about the realities of business, what paths these young people need to take, what challenges they can expect and how to overcome them.

“The next Jeff Koinange is somewhere out there. How do we find them? Nurture them? That’s the Spotlight mission; to be the go-to career development platform that connects young people to resources, opportunities and the marketplace.”

There have been two Spotlight forums so far, impacting 300 participants, 20 of whom now work closely with Aspire to help it achieve its long-term goals.

“We have to invest in the youth. Our future depends on them,” Chege says.

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