As young boys growing up in mathare slums they dreamed of becoming owners of a design company where they could create their own designs . It has taken them two years of training and experimentation to reach their goal, as they worked their way from nothing to something.
Today, Xposs designs is a registered company and a partnership of thee maji mazuri youth group members, who include Victor Kebane, Joseph Karani and Jackson Muyeki.
When did they first know they wanted to have a company?
When an opportunity come to maji mazuri to train young people in mathare on web designing they new this was their chance. They had never touched a computer before. This was their very first time...
I recall when they come to maji mazuri office for the interview different times. Luckily they all qualified to start the course along with other youth. It did not take them a lot of time to get the basic computer skills and knowledge. In this particular level they spent two months before they graduated.
After graduating from the first level they moved to the second level which is called course 2 & 3 in another centre away from maji mazuri training centre, where they were trained on how to use and make software for six months. In this stage they nearly gave up with the training because of ups and downs that happened on the way. There were days they didnt have bus fare, lunch and money to pay their fees.
The days were long. There were times they wondered when they would be able to move to the final stage. But whenever they got fed up, they would remember why they chose the web designing course in the first place: this made them tough, and today they are able to empathize with their workers.
After moving to the final level (media lab) it took them another six month and they graduated with a diploma in web designing. One of them was chosen the best overall. From here they all got internships in different web design companies.
After being introduced in the world job market they come together and thought of starting their own design company. Their first job was to design IDs for youth group members which was done very well, now they are working together as a company and the little they get they do something in the community.
