Hargabits Gave Me Confidence
Fadxi Abdi, is a confident and outgoing twenty-three-year-old student who graduated from the Hargabits School Program. However, he was not always like this he says. “I had no confidence because of my lack of skills.” He was always worried about his future and was always looking for jobs but with his limited skillset most jobs were unavailable to him. “I was turned down with every employer I contacted, even if it was a family member, no one wanted to give me a job.” His path to entrepreneurship was blocked because he had no business knowledge and no capital despite having good ideas. “I remember a job I had working at a factory that produces snacks like crisps and juice, it was a tough job that barely paid enough money and had terrible working conditions. I would spend 80% of my salary on lunch and transportation and the little I had left I gave to my mother. One time, after a long day of working with heavy and noisy machinery, I was tasked with cleaning up the juice that had spilled during the packaging process, after hours of cleaning up one of the group leaders came by and threw his juice on the floor, spilling everywhere I had already cleaned, on that day I knew I wanted more for my life.”
“When you have no knowledge your prospects for the future are limited”
Fadxi attended a course at a local technical school where he was learning graphics design in theory. “The school did not have the proper resources, so we learnt from books. One day I was at a tea shop when I met some boys I know, they were on their way to sign up for the new Bits School intake and they told me about the program. I was immediately curious and could not believe that a school with such resources would offer their program for free, so I followed them and registered. When the interviews came and went, none of the four boys I came with made it through, but I did, and I took it as a sign from God.”
According to Fadxi the Bits School Program was the best thing to have ever happened to him. “Not only did I gain the valuable skills I now use to make a living like graphics and motion design, but the program has also made me a more confident person. Before I was quiet, and I always worried about speaking up but these days I talk to anyone who will listen about the things I have learnt.”
Fadxi says the Program brought about several positive changes to his life. “I speak English these days, it’s not the best English but I improve every time I speak. The knowledge and skills I gained from the Bits School has also allowed for me to became valued as an asset at the company I work for, much different from my factory days. So much so that I have already received a raise twice from the company, I have much more freedom than before and I can finally give a good portion of my salary to my family and still have more to save.” These days he pays attention to motion design elements while watching the news and gets excited because he knows exactly how they achieved it.
Hargabits Annual Impact Video 2022
Fadxi also commends the entrepreneurship training he received as part of the program. “In the past, when I used to worry about finding a job, sometimes I would think that maybe things would be easier if I started my own business, but apart from the question of where I could get capital to start, I knew I had no knowledge of business practices I did not even know there was such a thing as a business plan. Now I know the basics of starting my own venture thanks to the program and when the time comes God Willing, I know how to write a business plan.”
“When you have no knowledge your prospects for the future are limited”. Fadxi says he now has big plans for his future, in the next ten years he hopes to have launched a successful e-commerce business. “Once I’ve saved up enough money, I plan to attend university and learn more about business, once I do that, coupled with my skills form the Bits Program which I use every day, I will be unstoppable.”