A person can acquire massive academic excellence, and its associated financial status, yet still lack a sense of fulfilment or purpose—and Jane Mwangi can attest to this. Among Mwangi’s many accomplishments, she has a Bachelor’s degree, two Master’s degrees and a PhD, and has worked with big organisations and institutions—on top of starting various businesses—none of which gave her the satisfaction she sought. “I asked God to lead me to something that would match my passion. And in 2020, it happened. I love relating with people, adding value to them, helping them to discover who they are and what they love for them to live a life of contentment,” she says. The bookworm Mwangi was born and raised in Kenya and is the sixth of 10 children. Growing up, her father was a school head teacher and very passionate about academic eminence, which prompted her to study hard and make him proud. “I was an ‘A’ student. My dream was to join the university as no one in my family had been to university and as a ‘village girl’ that was a very big achievement,” she says. When she got a scholarship to the university, she was offered a course in anthropology (the study of the origin and development of human societies and cultures), which she didn’t know much about but pursued anyway. By the end of the course, Mwangi wanted to be a diplomat, as she had attained a good grade point average-GPA. She then applied for a Master’s in international studies, which she excelled at. ALSO READ: Living with purpose Becoming a businesswoman On August 4, 2001, Mwangi walked down the aisle with the love of her life, and a year later, she considered venturing into business, at the time, a boutique and salon. She sold women’s clothes, handbags, shoes, jewellery, nail polish, and more. She would travel to Dubai occasionally for stock, and her business picked up faster than she imagined—still, she wasn’t satisfied. “I started asking myself whether this was all life had to offer. My husband persistently asked what more I craved but I was clueless. I hadn’t figured it out,” she says. Change of environment Mwangi’s husband then had to relocate to Ghana for work, and she didn’t hesitate as it was a chance to try something else and, hopefully, ‘ditch the emptiness’ she felt. She imagined a different environment would perhaps enable her to stumble on the ‘it’ that she was in pursuit of. After their first wedding anniversary in September 2002, they moved to Ghana. Mwangi started hunting for jobs, but couldn’t be hired without a work permit, and the government wouldn’t give her one without a job. She found herself in a very difficult position and stayed home for three years, trying to figure things out. While home, she took on French classes at Alliance Française, an international organisation that aims to promote the French language and La Francophone culture around the world. During that time, Mwangi gave birth to their first child, which lightened her up. But she still yearned for something to occupy her besides motherhood. She, therefore, opted to pursue a second Master's degree in economic policy management and graduated with honours. During the course, she developed a passion for consultancy and embarked on a search for jobs in that field. “The world is cracked, men would propose a romantic relationship before offering me the job, but I couldn’t. No one cared about qualifications and, worst of all, I was a foreigner,” she says. Having discussed the prospect of teaching Swahili at the University of Ghana with her husband, he encouraged her to grab the opportunity with both hands. She was employed at the university as a Swahili language lecturer. At the end of the semester, she was certain that it was the kind of work she longed to do for the rest of her life—engaging people, mentoring students and adding value to them, and for once, she was ecstatic. She taught Swahili for seven years. The university administrators advised her that in order to retain her job, she had to pursue a PhD. Mwangi enrolled for a PhD in immigration studies, four years into her teaching career in 2010. She had her second child and it was tough to juggle. Mwangi completed her PhD a year before it was supposed to be done. “It was a struggle for me to graduate before time as the university was giving lots of excuses to hinder that. I graduated in July 2014 and by September, my family had relocated back to Kenya. It was God’s timing for me to finish before time.” Back home Returning to Kenya, she searched for jobs in public institutions to continue teaching in universities, but in vain, regardless of her diverse and rich qualifications. One of the professors approached her and said that it would be difficult for her to get employment in public institutions because she was young. By then, she was 40 years old, and she wondered why her age was considered ‘young’. “I was told that most people in high positions were over 70 and once a younger individual was employed, they would feel threatened. I had to look for plan B.” Plan B was to start her own company, ‘Diaspora Interlink’, designed to provide an opportunity for Kenyans in the Diaspora to invest back home. This company now focuses on managing projects of Kenyans in the Diaspora. Eventually, Mwangi got the opportunity to teach part-time in two tertiary institutions. She taught social science research methods though it was quite challenging because of the commute. And so she called it quits. Moving to Rwanda In September 2020, Mwangi moved to Rwanda with her family after her husband was posted him to the country. “My husband and I would sit down and brainstorm on what I could do. I told him I had not yet found it but once I did, I would alert him.” While searching online, she stumbled on a John Maxwell training programme that offers skills in analysis, coaching, and leadership. She reached out to inquire about the training and was given an opportunity. She started the following day. Mwangi could feel the satisfaction, as this was the ‘it’ she had been looking for. “All the life experiences and exposure were preparing me for this, I was so confident in my spirit that it was the one. I started jumping up and down in my house in celebration. My husband was also convinced that this was what I would resonate with,” Mwangi recalls. In 2022, she travelled to Orlando, Florida for an international conference where she received her certificate. She is now a certified consultant, trainer, coach, behavioural analyst, and public speaker. For her, every day is a marathon, there is always something new to learn. ALSO READ: Finding your purpose in life As a behavioural analyst, understanding a person’s nature before speaking to them is very helpful when dealing with them, to be aware of how best to add value to them. “It is about how you can maximise yourself to be the best for someone else with the gifts you have. I have been doing debrief sessions with different people, taking between 10-15 minutes to assess them online,” she says. She sends people the assessment forms at their convenience, to fill them out and send them back. There is a procedure that is used to generate a report about oneself. ALSO READ: What is your purpose? “If the only thing that is keeping you where you are career-wise is just money, then you’re not really living your life’s purpose. You have to weigh and see whether you’d still do what you do even if you weren’t paid,” Mwangi says. Having a positive impact on people’s lives is what satisfies her, and she says the biggest risk of not knowing one’s purpose is that it results in a futile life—‘you just exist.’ Before coming to Rwanda, Mwangi may have been financially secure, but not happy. She recalls parking her car by the roadside and breaking down into tears, asking God if that was all life presented. She is grateful to her husband for being her pillar of strength, as he was supportive all the way. “He was supportive even with things that he clearly knew had nothing to do with who I wanted to be, but offered me an opportunity to do it all and discover my longing,” she says. She anticipates writing a document in the field that she is invested in right now— to speak to this generation and the generations to come. “I am into capacity-building; I would like to be a catalyst of excellence to people in what they do, influence them to do better than they did before, and maximise their potential. I hope to create a centre where all this happens.”
