Hey everyone, Greetings from Zimbabwe, Southern Africa. I am Confidence Nyirenda and I am glad to be a new member on this platform. I was introduced to this platform by a good friend who I have met a month ago in the CryptoWorld. I'm 23 years and turning 24 in November(I can't believe this). I must say I am so amused to learn that there is a society like this, and I am so excited to be here. I have already read a few posts on this platform and they are quite enjoyable and interesting.
My Background
I was born and raised in Zimbabwe in the Eastern Highland of the country. I am sure you would love to see this place, its a place to be.
I was raised in a rural area where life is very slow. My dad was a civil servant and so he got a privilege to move to the small town of Mutare. This was an opportunity for me since I also started my education in a better school, although I would spend my holidays in the rural areas with my grandparents. I must say growing up in such an environment wasn't easy but I have navigated my way out with the help of my family- I love them very much. 
A typical rural home in Mutare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe - "A Place of Broken Dream"
Im sure everyone has a concept of their own of what Zimbabwe is. For the past 13 years my Country has been a subject when the words 'Poverty' and 'Inflation' were being discussed. I grew up in Zimbabwe and noticed some of the changes that happened to my country over the years. From being the bread basket of Southern Africa to being a country that most regard as the poorest country. I have witnessed how our values, culture and norms have been washed away within a flash of a second. I can narrate all day about how my country has changed from the best in Africa to one of the worst, but at the end it wouldn't be of any benefit at all. Many of my fellow citizen have kept the thought in their heads, 'Zimbabwe is a place of broken dreams!' A lot of young people have given up on their dreams and aspirations. But I chose not to Complain. I still believe in my nation and in Africa. Africa was colonized by Britain several years ago. This cemented a thought in my fellow Zimbabweans: Go to school, Graduate and Work for someone. Anyone who tries to go a different path is cursed to be a failure in life. Getting a job is now a rare circumstance, as our industries have shutdown, most foreign companies have been driven away by my governments empowerment policies. The country has been left cash stranded- you can not get $100 from a bank even if the balance is reflecting $500. The cases go on and on. Ooooh! We also made a record, The Hungry Billionaires. I was once a billionaire- Haha!
A Hundred Billion Dollar Note in 2008
Its a true symbol, Zimbabwe is a failure right? Yes you can agree? But I disagree! Zimbabwe is not a failure. Our leadership is. I still believe in Zimbabwe. I still believe in Africa.
My Journey to the Digital World
After graduating from my High school, I finally got an opportunity to go to college. I had to move to the largest and capital city of Zimbabwe- Harare. I enrolled at University of Zimbabwe : rated as the best University in Zimbabwe. In my whole life I had always dreamed of becoming an Engineer, simply because I had a relative who was an Engineer too and had been encouraging me to follow his foot steps. As I stepped to at the University, to register my self at the Engineering Faculty, I met a friend who had scored better grades than me. He told me he had chosen Computer Science. I was amazed! I had never thought about any other majors as all of my High School was saturated with the big careers any sciences student could dream of; being a Medical Doctor, Engineer, Pilot and so on. I had to return home and gave a second thought to what I wanted to do. I had always had passion for computers. So I decided to jump into the train and major in Computer Science.
I started with a high spirit and really fascinated about being a programmer. How ever all the energy faded away in my second semester when things got a little bit tougher, I couldn't handle the pressure. During my vacation I got interested in the digital world. I started to look ways to make money from the internet. I spent 8 to 10 hours of my day on YouTube watching videos. I finally bumped into Forex Trading. Well I must say I got off on the wrong note: I opened a Binary Trading account. I started practicing how to trade Binary, since I had been told that it was the fastest way on making money online. I deposited time and again and only to end up blowing up my accounts. I lost all of my capital to brokers and was back to ZERO. I had no hope, I was broke and couldn't afford to raise any more capital. As young as I was I lost USD4000+ to brokers and a few scammers that robbed me when I first ventured into the whole online business.(If any one is good at trading Forex, please teach me, I need to polish up a few skills)
I tried to jump into email marketing, I could not find the right person to mentor me (If any one is into email marketing, please help me on how to get started). It is during my vacation that I discovered I really wanted to be an Entrepreneur. The whole college thing became a total scrap to me. I decided to burn all my bridges of ever going back to school. I had to be an entrepreneur. So I started reading books(Not the ones a lecturer forces you to read). I have read quite a number of books that have already transformed me. I started with Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, Why We Want you to be Rich by R Kiyosaki & Donald J Trump. My list goes endless, but these books really changed my game. I started to believe in my self and started making decisions.. Then I read Drop out and Get Schooled by Patrick Bet. This book is a must read for college students and wanna be college students. I was pretty convinced that the education system is nothing other than a business.
Life after Dropping out of College
I began to seek a path way to achieve what I wanted in my life. So as per advise in one of the books I read, I decided to get employed at one of the companies that was in the industry I was passionate about-Cryptocurrency. Yeaaah I love cryptocurrency. So I am currently working as a Software Engineer at BitFinance(The only Bitcoin Exchange in Zimbabwe). At BitFinance I began to learn faster than I had learnt at college. My mind opened up to see the opportunities in the world. They are a lot, especially in Africa. I began to learn how the Blockchain network works and everything that is evolving around the Bitcoin. I was quite impressed. So I began digging deeper into the possibilities the Blockchain could create, which I am still learning. Within a few months I got motivated to start my own Company. After listening to the Founder of BitFinance's(My Boss) story, I learnt that I couldn't just succeed without working. I found out a problem Africa was facing and decided I wanted to solve it. So I have co-founded a company Transbit which I wont talk much about but will do in my future post. So Transbit is still a startup, and use the bitcoin technology to bring ease to people in Zimbabwe for making payments and receiving money. I am still seeking funding from anyone interested in investing in my startup. So anyone who is willing to help, my email : [email protected]. I am sure we can discuss something, or maybe you can help me access what I cant. Who knows?
Why I chose NOT to Complain
Growing up in a country like Zimbabwe and in Africa is quite challenging. Its a few who chose a pathway to success. Everyday everyone around would be complaining, about money, the economy, the hike in prices, the shortages of jobs and just about everything. You can meet 1 in a million people who would tell you that they are GREAT. The energy around me was so negative and I also joined in. It was the norm for everyone. The more we thought that life was hard, the harder it became. So I have always grown up liking politics. I read of the politics of other nations and realized that my country was far much more better. Why would should I complain? I realized I was wasting much of my time reacting to the world. I was reacting to out politicians, to our economy, to the celebrity news, to what ever was trending on social media. I had to STOP. I stopped complaining. I stopped reacting. Instead of waiting for my government to change,for our leaders to change, I decided to change. I started to live my life focusing my energy on what I wanted to achieve. That's my story. Freedom!
I look forward to networking with everyone on this network. I decided not to make my story that long, but will share much more as the journey continues. I am really interested in meeting anyone who is passionate in programming Ruby on Rails and Angular 2/4. Any one who is good with the Blockchain network, I would be very glad to have a chat, Blockchain Developers I would need your help in building my system. I believe together we can go far and open up so many opportunities that will benefit our future generation.
My Self In the Orange T shirt
Thinking of coming to Africa, and looking for places to stay, I will be your right hand man.
#I_am_a_renegade
This post has received a 4.36 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @inertia.
Thank you
Welcome to steemit you'll be enjoy here. Such a beautiful place:)
Thank you alexwonderful
really great post thanks a lot for sharing and keep on posting ;)
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