Watch! Green Innovations Bootcamp As It Happened
April 6, 2015
Gamification for Social Good Hackathon
May 16, 2015
My name is Caleb and I am undergoing 40 Days of Rejection. The premise behind the project is that in just 40 days by carrying out challenges that are bound to fail, I may prepare and reshape the way I respond to failure.
As I opt to take the entrepreneurial route in life, positively responding to failure and rejection has to become second nature. The fear of failure is both demoralising and crippling, yet an issue that has predominantly gone unaddressed in the education system.
I love Addis Ababa. I grew up there until I was 8 years old. My mother is Habesha and my father is English. We moved to the UK for education and ever since we moved I have missed the country.
However at the start of this year I had the opportunity to go back to spend a few months there. The Ethiopia I returned to was not the same place I left. The buzz around the capital is electrifying. There is so much life and energy. I loved it.
I consider myself an entrepreneur and so I’m highly excited by what iceaddis are doing. It’s not easy to set something up like iceaddis, especially when you are the first of your kind.
I filmed the latest episode of My 40 Day Challenges in Addis Ababa. It was to get people on the streets to teach me Eskista. I was scared to approach people because I don’t speak Amharic very well. But in stepping out I really grew in confidence and felt like I could talk to anyone by the end of the challenge. I want to encourage all of you interested in business to not let the fear of failure stop you. Work hard, persevere and I believe you will be surprised by how far you go!
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.
Caleb is founder of My 40 Days and winner of Milkround’s ‘2013 Graduate of the Year’. He studied a Masters in Civil Engineering at Loughborough University but after winning the university’s prestigious Social Enterprise Award, decided to go down a more entrepreneurial route.
Find out more about the project here: http://www.my40days.co.uk