TEDxNottingHill - Sabirul Islam - 10/09/09
The speaker, Cyber Islam, asserts that the core of success for young people lies in the self-belief and visionary power inherent in Entrepreneurship, arguing that inspiration passed from one teenager to another is more potent than hearing from established billionaires. He illustrates his journey by detailing starting his own web design company at age 14, which led to significant early profit and the foundation of his mentorship platform, the Twer. ## Speakers & Context - **Cyber Islam:** Speaker; frames himself as "the face of... the future of Enterprises" for both young people and adults. - **B of Tire hamlets in East London:** Speaker's upbringing location, characterized by skepticism, and a search for crime, violence, drugs, and abuse among the youth. - **Nigeria:** Location where the speaker spoke at a summit attended by over 3,000 young people. - **UK:** Region where the speaker has spoken to over 40,000 young people. - **Lincoln University:** University where the speaker's book advertising material was discovered. ## Theses & Positions - Entrepreneurship and Enterprise is fundamentally about *"the belief the power to be able to see Vision in life and having that self-belief."* - Negative life atmospheres within young people have a profoundly detrimental effect. - Success is achieved through a linear process: Inspiration $\rightarrow$ Knowledge $\rightarrow$ Opportunity $\rightarrow$ Success. - The most effective inspiration source for youth is a peer passing knowledge to a peer, rather than a famous adult figure. - Every major setback, like being fired by family, ultimately leads to new opportunities and new roots. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Entrepreneurship and Enterprise:** Defined by the required belief and power to envision a life's vision. - **Teenage entrepreneur:** A descriptor for someone who is enterprising and capable of realizing success in life. - **Twer (or twer):** Name of an interactive program designed to guide young people through the entire entrepreneurial cycle. - **Twer's Den:** A concept/stage within the Twer program where young people can formally ask for investment. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Process for success:** Follows the equation: Inspiration $\rightarrow$ Knowledge $\rightarrow$ Opportunity $\rightarrow$ Success. - **Twer Program Process:** A structured path: (1) Get mentored online $\rightarrow$ (2) Set up own business $\rightarrow$ (3) Sell idea online $\rightarrow$ (4) Trade at retail level online $\rightarrow$ (5) Seek investment via the Twer's Den. - **Book Publishing Mechanism:** Approach Publishers $\rightarrow$ Get Rejected $\rightarrow$ Self-publish $\rightarrow$ Market and sell independently. ## Timeline & Sequence - **Early Life:** Growing up in B of Tire hamlets in East London. - **Age 13:** Employed by his cousin for computer work; received a letter stating, *"Dear Cyber Islam you're fired."* - **Age 14:** Set up his own web designing business, Veyron technology. - **Within two weeks (age 14):** Made over £2,000 profit through web design services. - **Age 16:** Maro Lynch provided an opportunity to go to New York to learn stock trading. - **Two years (Age 14-16):** Operated the web design company. - **Age 17:** Wrote first book, *The World At Your Feet*, after approaching 40 different publishers. - **Three months (Writing period):** Time spent drafting the first book. - **9 months (Sales period):** Time taken to sell the first book. - **2008:** Year the speaker spoke at 379 different events, including 333 in schools with teenagers. - **Year prior to global launch:** Gave a talk in Nigeria at a summit of 3,000+ young attendees. - **10 months:** Period until the book was contracted for global publication by Marshall Cavendish. - **June 18th:** Date the book and the T entrepreneur board game were launched. ## Named Entities - **The Royal Dragons:** Name of the company where the speaker was first employed. - **Veyron technology:** Web designing company set up by the speaker at age 14. - **Maro Lynch:** Client who was instrumental in the speaker's early success and later followed his journey. - **Marshall Cavendish:** Publisher that agreed to take the book on a global scale. - **Duncan Penthouse:** Comparison figure whose journey started at age '30ish'. ## Tools, Tech & Products - **Website design:** Service offered by Veyron technology. - **Board game (T entrepreneur):** Designed to provide young people experience in business, sales, marketing, and stock market operations. - **Twer program:** The interactive mentorship program mentioned in the process section. ## Numbers & Data - **14:** Age when the cousin set up his business. - **13:** Age when the cousin employed the speaker. - **60 pounds:** Amount earned by the cousin in one academic year, which felt like a windfall to the speaker. - **5 or 6:** Count of investment banking companies approached for web design work. - **£2,000:** Profit amount made in two weeks via web design. - **£2,60:** Profit amount noted (contextually linked to £2,000). - **16:** Age when Maro Lynch re-engaged with the speaker. - **2:** Years duration the speaker ran the web design company. - **100,000:** Fantasy money given to trade with in New York. - **2:** Duration of time spent working with professional Traders in New York. - **16:** Age when the speaker became a part-time Trader in the London Stock Exchange. - **17:** Age when the speaker wrote his first book. - **3:** Duration spent writing the first book. - **40:** Number of publishers approached for the first book. - **9:** Duration in months to sell the first book. - **42,200:** Number of copies of the first book sold. - **2008:** Year the speaker spoke at 379 events. - **379:** Total count of events the speaker addressed in 2008. - **333:** Number of those 379 events held in schools with teenagers. - **40,000:** Count of young people inspired across the UK. - **3,000:** Count of young people who attended the summit in Nigeria. - **10:** Duration in months for the book's global publication contract. - **18th (June 18th):** Launch date for the book and board game. - **11 to 15:** Age range of the young teenagers who developed the board game concept. - **600s:** Amount of money paid to advertise in a magazine in 2008. ## Examples & Cases - **Initial Struggle:** Growing up in B of Tire hamlets in East London, where youth were focused on negative outlets like crime and violence. - **Cousin's Success:** Cousin set up his own business and functioned as a managing director at age 14. - **Early Contract Work:** Speaker was employed by his cousin at age 13 to do computer work. - **Business Pivot:** The shift in focus from selling to teachers to targeting large corporate entities like AB, Emerald, and JP Morgans. - **International Opportunity:** Being invited to New York to train in stock trading following his initial web design success. - **Publishing Rejection:** Facing rejection from 40 different publishers because they did not believe a 17-year-old could write or sell a book. - **Board Game Development:** Developing *T entrepreneur* with help from six young teenagers aged 11 to 15. - **Global Validation:** The wife of Nigeria's first president contacting the speaker after reading about his journey in a magazine. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - **Publishing Route:** The choice between accepting publisher deals versus self-publishing and controlling the narrative. - **Business Focus:** The trade-off between the initial web design business (seen as common) and evolving toward trading and publishing. - **Comparison Model:** The self-comparison to Duncan Penthouse, arguing his early start (age 13) is more advantageous than the comparison figure's start at '30ish'. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - Publishers' belief: They assumed a 17-year-old lacked the capability to write or find a market for the book. - Confidence Misjudgment: The warning not to get "pride and arrogance wrong in life" and knowing when to accept necessary help. - Education Skepticism: The observation that "they read a book most of them don't even read books." ## Methodology - **Twer Program Creation:** Designed as an interactive framework to guide youth step-by-step: business idea $\rightarrow$ online mentorship $\rightarrow$ setting up the business $\rightarrow$ online sales $\rightarrow$ retail trading $\rightarrow$ investment through the Twer's Den. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - Young people should aim to *"bring the world at your feet"* by embracing the full cycle of opportunity. - Continually cycle through the process: Inspiration $\rightarrow$ Knowledge $\rightarrow$ Opportunity. - The speaker explicitly recommends that every individual should feel empowered to achieve success comparable to his journey. ## Implications & Consequences - The initial firing by his cousin served as a crucial turning point that redirected his life path. - Being able to generate inspiration for a young person, which leads them to change their perception of life from struggle to success, is the most rewarding achievement. ## Verbatim Moments - *"I've always followed life through like a through like an equation inspiration knowledge opportunity brings success."* - *"Dear Cyber Islam you're fired."* - *"I thought wow if I earned that 60 you know the world is my oyster."* - *"To for a young person to experience such a negative factor in life is how you see that inspiration how you turn it around and make it positive."* - *"Dear Cyber Islam you're fired."* (Repeated impact) - *"I can't help you but then sense came back into me because I wanted to to follow an an equation in life that inspiration inspiration is very very big."* - *"Wow 14y olds have just come up to us and said they would want us to to design websites."* - *"The most special thank you for providing the inspiration was me."* - *"I hope I've inspired you all to bring the world at your feet."* - *"Don't get pride and arrogance wrong in life never get them wrong."* - *"I've stepped in and they think it's a 25y old given a talk a 30-y old given a talk and once I reveal my age when I was 17 they thought what you're not 17."* - *"Anything you achieve within that 17-year period you can call yourself a more successful more more enterprising entrepreneur than he is now."*