Einstein Ntim: Founder Of Meventum | The Business Blast Podcast #917

Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. If you want to become a successful author, Authors Unite is the place to go. So head on over to authorsunite.com to All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Einstein eAccelerators, bridging the tech divide in emerging communities. So welcome to the show, man. Pumped to have you here. So the first one I got for you, Einstein, is what is the best story from your life?

I was trying to, I was trying so hard to kind of make that work. And when I couldn't play rugby anymore because of an injury, I went around looking for roles and different jobs and different things to make things work. And I think I realized that I wish I'd started that a little bit sooner. And post, when I stopped playing rugby, when I had that kind of access and that sort of network at the time, not going straight to looking for roles and different jobs and the like, it just started my business right there and then. And that's what probably one of the lessons I've learned, you know, it's, it's better to start off in some kind of small capacity than to not do it at all and to keep looking for roles. And I think right now it's very important in the climate we live in right now that even if you're a full-time or if you work full-time or you even have some kind of job, just starting something in a small, in a small way would be great. I could have at least started like a personal training business, um, at a time by just focusing on trying to find a role in the city or wherever it was at the time. Yeah.

Yeah, man. I, hey, I agree. I think, you know, just, just start, right? Like at the end of the day, um, So my next one for you, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

Yeah, I mean, the most valuable piece of information I think everyone should know is to start looking at Africa and the North, Southeast, looking at Latin America, looking at, um, you know, um, possibly You know, getting involved in things happening across the emerging markets, like in Haiti or in Jamaica or in Ghana and in Rwanda and Ethiopia. And not many people are looking at it. People are overthinking how to get involved in it, but you can. And if you do get involved in it, there's a lot of partners and networks available who want to get involved. We had Jack Dorsey, Ben Horowitz, Tim Draper all come and join us in, in Haiti and in Ghana at different times. And I think if I'd done a program in the US or in London, where I grew up, it's the metrics are a little bit different. You know, they approach, they'll approach in a much more serious capacity, whereas in the emerging markets, just open to the possibilities of it. So I'd say people should really start looking at whether it's spreading your audiences to that, to those markets, spreading your products to those markets or just touching base there and seeing what it has to offer you. And there's a lot to be gained. We may gain most of our gain. We've gained most of our profits and revenues from these emerging markets that people traditionally think there's nothing to be gained from.

And then what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.

The best piece of overall business advice is, It's quite a few to gather. I would say it goes back to just approaching things in a unique way. Right now we live in a world where with social media, with the internet, with everything we have right now, it's— there's so much sort of like saturation of almost everything, but we can still approach things in a unique way, and that comes across leveraging your interest and your background and your skill set, right? So I know even for yourself, even with, you know, being an author and looking at conference and having that skill set, leveraging that. I mean, who would have thought writing a book about navigating conference would achieve so much, right? But you just leverage something that you traditionally were kind of into, right? For me, I leveraged my background in like, in even I grew up, you know, grew up in the UK, that background I had in Ghana, I leveraged that quite well. Coming to, just leveraging things that are unique to you, whether it's your sport, sports interest, and approaching whatever you're trying to do in a unique manner. And if you leverage your backgrounds and your unique insights, really will help you to navigate that a little bit much, much better in many ways.

And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

I would say I'd give probably two in many ways. I grew up in London. I got involved in rugby. I was one of the— you know, I was a bit of a hulking, as in, I was a big guy, pretty strong, pretty smart. So I was one of those kind of guys that thought I could do everything by myself and thought I knew it all, that type of thing. Groups, and you'd be surprised what you can get. I mean, my first investment, you know, um, for my business just came from me reaching out to somebody and asking for help. And for me, I was surprised when it came through what it did. Um, and things— but if you start even in a small way you'd be surprised what you can achieve. So we have long-term game, but also just starting a very, very small capacity. When I was 19, when I stopped playing rugby, when I stopped— I could have stopped and so I probably would have reached the point I'm at probably a little bit sooner. I just learned so much more in the journey in many ways.

And then, so kind of going a little bit down a different path, in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?

The key, the key to happiness for me, I would say, is just sort of tapping into what's uniquely you and just growing within that, right? Sometimes, I mean, they say that self-esteem comes from— I love this message— self-esteem comes from just if you're walking across the street, in the city or town, wherever it is, and you met you, would you be keen to say hello to you, right? Or as in, would you be proud to say hello to you? You know how you, you know, you're walking through, uh, train station or whatever it is and you meet like an old friend or someone. Sometimes you see somebody you knew but you try to like avoid it or try to avoid it because you never know what the issue is. Yeah. But if you saw you, would you genuinely love to talk to you? You know, you got, you know, you got that friend, I don't know if you, those kind of friends where you just saw you like, oh my gosh, like I 'How you doing? It's so good to see you.' Like, self-esteem comes from, you know, having that for yourself. Would you love to have seen you? Love to. And that also goes back to looking at you and what makes you uniquely you, right? Whether it's your skill or your interest in the past or your background, there's some— there's many things that, like, you know, encompass who you are as an individual, and you can tap into any one of those things, and that could, you know, help you to— and build within that, and that would help you gain enormous self-esteem and enormous self-pride, self-respect, and self-confidence. And that'll stay— starve away any kind of feelings of anxiety, depression, bipolar issues, or— I mean, there's serious cases there, but starve— stay away from the dark point. Just having joy within that moment, it's really, it's really powerful to happen.

And then I'm excited for your answer on this one because I, I take you as someone who reads a lot. So, uh, next one is what's the best book that you've read and what's the number one thing you learned from it?

Um, the best book I've read, uh, it's, uh, it's— I cannot— can I give more than one?

Yeah, go for it.

Um, it's— I'll give two, right? So the first book I read was, um, I think one of them was The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. I think everybody knows about that one. It's very easy to kind of get overwhelmed and look at all the tools and things Tim Ferriss recommended, but just overall, achieve the 8% results and then giving yourself sort of like timeline and boundaries, giving yourself a deadline is very important. If you have too much time, you probably won't achieve and make it happen. So, and get started. So that book was very, very important for me to helped gain that— like, start whilst doing my first business and gain that financial independence to, you know, go for bigger, bigger, bigger and better things. And the second one is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It's about this man who was a Holocaust survivor, and it's a beautiful book about gaining meaning. And I think when it comes to what we do and who we are, if you can figure out the meaning within that or find some method of meaning, it will kind of, you know, help you gain that unique motivation, unique drive, and start with any kind of—

and I agree, those two books are amazing. The 4-Hour Workweek is actually the book that got me to drop out of school. After I read that, I was like, yeah, I don't need school anymore. So I'm with you. So next one, what's your favorite quote and why?

Oh wow, my favorite quote, uh, let me— what comes to mind? I, um, my favorite quote, um, it's, I don't know, it's a quote that I, I probably— like, it's my own quote that I wrote, right? And it's, it's called, um, "Tech is just a tool, innovation is the goal," right? And the reason why it's my favorite quote right now as I'm you know, doing all these programs and summits around these emerging markets is that oftentimes we get caught up in, um, these technologies, right? So I did a program in NASA Ames, um, by Singularity University, and to talk to us about AI, blockchain, um, nanotech, and all these incredible technologies out there. And sometimes we get really caught up in these tools and these technologies and these things to try and make things work, and not forgetting that there's a goal behind it all. Everything else that's helped, everything else is even very important, is also helping support to achieve that goal. So right now, if you're starting a business or you're starting any kind of project, you have to leverage technology. If you're not doing so, you're already behind. You have to leverage exponential technology like AI and blockchain and the like in Spanish. And the like, but recognize that those are just still the tools and that's not the goal necessarily. All right.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

No, I actually love that quote, man. Um, so last one I got for you, where can our audience best find you online?

Um, my, my point, the best point is I, I'm very, very responsive on LinkedIn. Just type in Einstein in Tim. I'm probably the only Einstein in Tim. En for Nancy, t for Tango, i for India, and m for Mike. And just go to meventum.com, like m-eventum, so m-e-v-e-t-u-m.com, and you find all the stuff that we're doing around the world. We got programs in Ghana, in Rwanda, in Haiti, in New York, in San Francisco, in China. So just join in. We have a huge make a huge difference in many ways.

Absolutely, man. Dude, thank you again for coming on.

Thank you very much. How people can navigate these event ecosystems. Thanks.

Thank you, man.

All right.

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