AfroCosmopolitan had the opportunity to talk to Ernest Kouassi, and the young entrepreneur spoke about his past mistakes and how his life has turned out for the better.
Speaking about how he changed from nothing to something, the young inspirational speaker told Sanchez Nelson, “No one listened to me before – but now people see me, they hear me, they look up to me and this just makes me want to work even harder.” Ernest and his company have been nominated for 2 awards at the Start Young Global Young Entrepreneur Awards taking place in London tomorrow the 1st of May 2014.
See the full interview below.
Founder of the multi-award winning company EKA, Ernest Kouassi has been described as ‘ one of the most exciting young entrepreneurs in the Uk. Whilst the description is true, I would like to refer to Kouassi as a breath of fresh air, the air that the young generation of today needs in order to succeed and to become successful in a society that tends to knock you down from time to time. Kouassi was just seventeen years old when he started EKA since it has become the shelter of five different businesses all of which are successful not to mention rapidly expanding. As a global nominee ( BEFFTA Awards), course instructor, inspirational speaker just to name a few, Kouassi is a soon to be author.
How soon you ask? Let’s just say this month just got a bit more exciting. Whilst Kouassi has not always wanted to be an author he knew that his book would enable him to reach out and connect to others even if they had never or will never get the inspiring experience of his inspirational speeches. He explained that his book can be used as a guideline or more so motivation for other entrepreneurs especially the younger generation.
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So what is the day to day lifestyle of a success young entrepreneur?
Kouassi was kind enough to spare some time to chat and give us the inside scoop!
It is Monday and it is an early start for Kouassi and I’m talking 5:00 am early, as he goes for his morning jog leaving roughly around 5:30 am. Then it is off to the office for 6:30 am which he stated is now located in Stratford, meeting with the publishers at 9:30 am and then finally its back to the office until around 10:00 pm. What a day.
I asked Kouassi, as you are still quite young. How do you balance your social life, do you not feel as if your business is taking up a vast amount of your life?
“I don’t really have a social life. I tend to meet and make new friends via work, I think its better that way, networking and anyway, time flies when you’re having fun. I love what I do”. Kouassi love and passion for his career stems from a place I’m sure a few would be able to relate. It has not always been easy for Kouassi as a young black youth. In his early teenage years, he had many run-ins with the law, this among many other things eventually took a negative effect on not only his education but his life.
One can imagine that as a teenager it can be difficult to step away and to not take part in any of the wrong doings that your peers are involved in. However, Kouassi had had enough and decided to change his life. I previously mentioned that Kouassi is also an inspirational speaker, as he is from the Borough of Lambeth I asked if he had ever done any motivational speeches in other parts of South London such as Croydon, Brixton, Lewisham etc. I was extremely surprised when he informed me that he is band from Croydon and Lewisham due to his run-ins with the law in his younger years. He continued to explain that even though he has and still is trying to illustrate that he is no longer the same individual that he once was, the answer still remains NO!
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With three younger siblings, Kouassi has proven as an older brother that hard work, motivation and dedication will and shall pay off. Kouassi’s younger brother is seventeen.
I asked Kouassi if his brother had experienced the same lifestyle as he did when he was his age or is he following in his footsteps? ” Yes he is, I encouraged him and now he is venturing into the business world”.
Kouassi is nineteen and will be twenty in June. I was intrigued to know where he would like to be by the age of twenty-five. ” I would like to be a self-made million air by the age of twenty-five, and own a global company. The first country I would like to branch out to would be Dubai because it’s tax-free ” he joked. Well, he is definitely on the right path. Kouassi website has been launched in many other countries around the world. Such as China, Ghana, Brazil, USA, India, Germany and that’s just to name a few.
Sadly our conversation was coming to end, but before it did I needed to ask ” Are you happy Ernest?
” Many of us in society can be guilty of thinking that just because someone is becoming a success, or may be financial better off than most, we automatically assume that they must be happy and if not we question what could they possibly be unhappy about when they appear to have everything?
Sometimes when you having everything it can feel like you have nothing. Kouassi is only nineteen and has remarkable changed his life around rapidly. Whilst we may congratulate and encourage his success. You have to wonder what kind of stress does he go through, does he feel like many depend on him to provide now, is it a daily struggle for him to stay on the right path and to avoid temptation or not slip back into that disturbing lifestyle, the questions may be endless.
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It is amazing to see or even to just hear about those to turn their life around and whilst doing so they are helping and encouraging others. Ernest Kouassi changed the life he was living, he has changed his life forever.
