Jan Koum, the former cleaner who created WhatsApp and sold it to Facebook for $19 billion.

The two founders of WhatsApp, Jan Koum and Brian Acton were turned down for jobs at Facebook but today Facebook has bought their product, WhatsApp, for 19 billion dollars. But it was not a smooth ride for the Jan and Brian, especially Jan who had to overcome adversity to get to where he is today. Jan’s is an inspirational story that yet again proves that as long as you refuse to give up but continue to look for a way out, you will eventually have your big break.

Jan Koum, a Ukranian, went to the US at the age of 16 due to the hostile treatment Jews were receiving in the country. When they arrived in the US, Jan and his mother lived on food stamps. He met Brian Acton in 1997 at Yahoo, where they were both working and they became friends. By 2007, the two of them men had become disillusioned and they left Yahoo to seek new challenges.

Koum founded WhatsApp in 2009 and was joined by Acton who had been turned down by Twitter and Facebook. They created a project that allowed them to concentrate on creating an easy-to-use messaging product and the approach paid off. WhatsApp amassed 450 million monthly users. Their idea was that smartphone users should be able to easily message each other without incurring fees from phone carriers. The service is free for a year and then costs 99 cents per year after that. They refused to advertise their product  and only relied on the recommendations of  users of the product. In 2014, Facebook decided to purchase WhatsApp for a whooping 19 billion dollars!

Jan Koum’s (and Brian Acton’s) story is full of many lessons that we can all learn from. I have decided to bring out some of these lessons:

Your background is not an excuse for failure in life: Jan Koum did menial jobs like cleaning and mopping at a grocery store while his mother took up a babysitting job. At a point in his life, he and his mother depended on allowances from the government. (Jan signed the agreement with Facebook on the door of the social services office where he and his mother used to stand in line to collect food stamps.)

Adversity should make you stronger and resilient not break you: Jan learnt computer networking all by himself with the help of manuals from a used book store. He couldn’t afford to pay for lessons but he has become a billionaire today.

You can profit from your experience: Jan’s experience in communist Ukraine where phone lines were bugged by secret police greatly influenced his decision to create WhatsApp. He wanted a service that guaranteed messaging privacy. “I grew up in a country where I remember my parents not being able to have a conversation on the phone,” he explained. “The walls had ears and you couldn’t speak freely.”

If you find your job unexciting, get out: Jan and Brian became disillusioned with life at Yahoo and they quit.

Don’t allow disappointment to overwhelm you: Jan and Brian were turned down turned down for employment by Facebook. Brian was also rejected by Twitter and he took it on the chin. Read this: "Got denied by Twitter HQ. That's ok. Would have been a long commute." and this "Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life's next adventure."

Be passion-driven not money-driven: Jan wanted to create a product that would meet a need, and when this product filled the need, money came. Today he is a billionaire. Money was not his primary motivation. He says he just wanted to build a great product. "I started WhatsApp, to build a product. I do not want to create a company around it, the goal was not to earn. We wanted to spend our time building a service people wanted to use because it worked and saved them money and made their lives better in a small way.” He tweeted in 2012 that he was not an entrepreneur: "Next person to call me an entrepreneur is getting punched in the face by my bodyguard, seriously."

A good product will advertise itself: WhatsApp has a ‘no ads’ policy. The company refuses to be involved in promotions, marketing and advertising and it has over 450 million active users, reaching the number faster than any other company in history. This is what WhatsApp says about advertising, “No one wakes up excited to see more advertising, no one goes to sleep thinking about the ads they’ll see tomorrow. We know people go to sleep excited about who they chatted with that day (and disappointed about who they didn’t). We want WhatsApp to be the product that keeps you awake… and that you reach for in the morning. No one jumps up from a nap and runs to see an advertisement.”

What other lessons that can be learned from Jan Koum’s story? Please share them with us.

Lupita Nyong'o: The New Face of Black Beauty

Lupita Nyong’o, is undoubtedly the new face of black people, particularly black women, all over the world. The Oscar award winner, who won the 2014 award for the best supporting actress for her role in the film, 12 Years as a Slave, is a Kenyan who was born in Mexico and is currently living in the United States. Apart from her impressive performance in 12 Years as a Slave, she has been wowing audiences and listeners with her speeches. Her speech at the Essence Magazine's 7th Annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon last month is a speech that will definitely inspire every black girl, woman, and even, man that reads or hears it. In the speech, she talks about inner beauty as the true beauty and she also encourages people to accept themselves the way they are. What a beautiful speech! And during her gracious speech at the Oscar awards, she blew everyone away with the statement, "No matter where you're from, your dreams are valid."

Who is Lupita Nyong’o?

Lupita Nyong’o is Kenyan who was born in Mexico in 1983. The second of six children grew up in Kenya, having gone to Kenya at less than a year old when her father was appointed a professor at the University of Nairobi. At age sixteen, Lupita’s parents sent her back to Mexico for seven months to learn Spanish. She graduated from Hampshire College with a degree in film and theatre studies and got her master’s degree in acting from Yale School of Drama. The vivacious Lupita is fluent in her native Luo, English, Swahili and Spanish. Some of the production she has been involved in include: Shuga, a 2009 MTV's award-winning drama series where she played the lead role; stage plays such as The Winter's Tale, Uncle Van and The Taming of the Shrew. Her most prominent role, however, has been in the film 12 Years as a Slave, a film that tells the real-life story of Solomon Northup, a free born African American man who was sold into slavery in 1841. In the film, Lupita played the role of Patsey, a slave who works on a cotton plantation, where she is cruelly treated by her master and his wife.

With her recent award, she became the first Kenyan to win an Oscar,

the first African actress to win the award for the Best Supporting Actress and the first Mexican-born actress to win an Oscar. And going by her brilliance, profundity and oratorical prowess, I think Lupita has accidentally or unintentionally begun a career in public speaking. It is a preoccupation she should give serious considerations to because she has become a role model to millions of Africans and blacks all over the world. Listening to her, and hearing her story will certainly encourage many insecure people all over the world to live their dreams, since she too confessed that she was inspired by the success of other black women, among whom are: Alek Wek, Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.

Lupita has shown that she is capable of making speeches that will go into the history books as some of the greatest speeches ever made. But for now, the major message from Lupita Nyong’o’s speeches and her personal story is that THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING BLACK and that BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL!

Thank You Arsene Wenger, and Yes, Arsenal FC, We CAN!!!

Arsenal FC are in the semi-finals of the F.A. Cup and I am deeply grateful to Monsieur Arsene Wenger. Before the quarter-final match against Everton, I was apprehensive. I had thought Arsenal’s season was going to end that afternoon. This is not because I am a cynic but because I had seen what happened to my darling team in similar situations in the past. I was worried about the team Wenger was going to choose against Everton, considering the fact that we would be facing Bayern Munich a few days later in the Champions League. I was thinking Wenger might field an under-strength team against Everton because of the Bayern match (which I thought was already out of our hands). I thhought Wenger would take a decision that would make Arsenal lose against Everton. But thankfully, Coach Arsene Wenger decided to take the match seriously and we ended up beating Everton 4-1. It was a score line I definitely could not have predicted, and all of a sudden I started to think we might go to Munich and overturn the table against them. Thank you, Mr. Wenger, for taking the F.A. Cup seriously again. Thank you for renewing your desire to win the F.A. Cup.

I have been supporting Arsenal FC of England for a little over 15 years now and I have not regretted my decision, so whatever I write about Arsenal FC is from a passionate heart. A heart that is passionate about such an impressive football club. My love for the club is so great that despite all the taunts and derisive comments I have endured from supporters of other football clubs, even those whose clubs have not recorded the achievements Arsenal have had, I never for once thought of supporting a different club. My support and love for the club have not reduced one bit despite the fact that the club has gone trophy-less for many years now. My respect for the coach, Arsene Wenger, has also not reduced. In fact, season in season out, I keep appreciating his efforts on the team. I admire what he is trying to achieve with the club and I believe that if he does not sell his best players, Arsenal will soon end her trophy drought.

This evening, I am looking forward to a great second leg game between Arsenal and Bayern Munich. From our win on Saturday, my belief in the team has been bolstered and I expect them to go all out and win the game. We beat them at home last season and they edged us out only on goals aggregate. So WE CAN! Yes, WE CAN! I must also add that whatever the outcome of today’s match, Arsene Wenger has made me proud this season because I don’t think any other team had a more difficult run than Arsenal up to this stage of the F.A. Cup competition. Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton were among the adversaries that we have already faced in the F.A. Cup this season and we triumphed over all of them. Barring any upset, which has become a constant feature in the F.A. Cup (It still happened with Wigan beating Manchester City on Sunday), Arsenal are on course to win the F.A. Cup this year. But because of the many years of failure to win a trophy, Arsenal faithfuls are now very cautious in expressing their confidence in their club’s capability to win a trophy.

Tonight, we will be wishing Arsenal good luck and will be praying in our hearts that Arsenal will reenact the magic they performed in 2008 at the San Siro Stadium when Arsenal did the impossible by beating AC Milan at home.

ARSENAL, YES WE CAN!!!