Man Crush Monday
TONNY MPAGI : On Finding Purpose In Adversity.
Born to Ugandan parents, Mpagi Tonny was quite the repairer kind of child. Every time someone needed help figuring out what was wrong with their phone, he was just a call away.
It wasn’t something they put on him. He was equally interested. When I ask him to tell me a little bit about himself, he says “I am a Muganda by tribe who doesn’t eat nsenene (grasshoppers) however much people say those things are delicious. I am also a God-fearing person, lover of people, software engineer who loves singing, hanging out and interacting with people, media is my thing.”
Tonny leads Motivate Uganda, Gix investments and is a co-founder at Vya Foundation. He is a Software developer, and philanthropist. “I was always a top leader through school, Head boy at Kazzo Summit Primary school, Governor and Papa (male student spiritual leader) at St. Marks College Namugongo. I realized early on that I was a leader, always willing to give a hand.”
Whether his ambition and leadership abilities were braced by situation or character is not so obvious, but definitely, there is a mix of both. Tonny’s parents separated when he was still a young child, but the pain that came therefrom is something he can still recount. “Having my parents separated was very aggravating. Life became full of many hiccups but it was eye opening. When you are not presented with what you like or expect, the universe opens its options to you so you can see what you need and how you will get it.” he says.
After secondary, Tonny did not join university, “Truthfully I did not join university because of many reasons. First, I had a lot of ambitions.” At the moment Tonny has 65 ideas to implement. “When I read about people who were successful in life, I saw little to do with university so I decided to do little courses here and there to gain the skills I need to make it in life.” Secondly, he did not just discard the idea of university, “I didn’t have the luxury of sitting by to dream about going to university, my parents had other needs to spend money on.”
How it begun
During my early education, I found a friend in the computer lab who was doing graphical design, and another doing html. I was intrigued by what they were doing. I was in my senior 5 and I soon fell in love with computers myself. I reached a moment and these things became part of me. In fact, my mom tells me that I was quite the repairer as a child. People would come to me to help them fix their phones and stuff. In high school, I tried majoring in Biology Chemistry and Math but I dropped the subjects for History Economics and Entrepreneurship, so I could do computer.
I used to tell one of my best friends that I would open an organization that helps young people with purpose and it would be closely related to motivation. As a leader, I wanted to follow up with all my friends since I was the papa (christian male student model leader) of my school, and this organization I wanted to start would help me guide them even further, as some of them got destructed by the world after leaving school.
I now lead an organization called Motivate Uganda which is a Youth based organization that seeks to help young people visualize their future, ambitions, life and career. Gix investments is an IT firm that is bringing the next technological breakthroughs in Uganda. Then lastly am a co-founder at Vya foundation, and NGO that helps street children find descent homes to live in, and gives them a better future.
How to Find Your Ambition
Tonny was once a messy teenager, he smoked, drunk, crept out of school to go clubbing and did all the funny things you could name. “After I gave my life to Christ and settled in myself. I quickly realized that my heart softens on seeing someone in a situation of incapability. I knew I wanted to help before I could spell the word philanthropy, I didn’t realize in the moment that it would contribute to making my identity. As a leader, empathy is a must” he says.
“Everyone has something they really love” he says. “Every time you are at a point where you feel that you add value beyond tasks and self, in that place, you can belong.” But because we are not trees, it will require a lot of moving, “Involve yourself in life circumstances.” Tonny says. “If you just sit down and hope that your purpose will find you there. If you don’t explore with your ideas, they will never come to life. Regardless of how beautiful they are”
Tonny goes on to explain the power in self-affirmations, “yes, it’s true but that is not also really enough. I also believe in people moving and working out things to ensure that what you think about and speak about your self has means through which to come to life.”
Tonny Mpagi is a motivational speaker, Youtuber, Podcaster, Software engineer, application developer with savage skills in building online radios, TV’s, website and software development. You can get in touch with his social media links below.
Motivate Uganda
Vya Foundation
www.facebook.com/vyafoundation
www.instagram.com/vyafoundation
Personal Pages
www.facebook.com/tonnympagim
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