- Sam Vidambu is the founder and CEO of Ambigen Group and the president of the Global Mentorship Program
- He mentors high school and college students
Many people resign from their job because of various reasons. For some, it could be due to a toxic work environment.
For others, it could be due to an insufficient salary, or perhaps they might have found better job prospects.
Then we have people like Sam Vidambu, who quit a well-paying job because he felt he was not making a sufficient impact on the world.
He is the founder and CEO of Ambigen Group and the president of the Global Mentorship Program, which offers mentorship programs to high school and college students.
Vidambu is also a public speaker, life coach, and an author.
This is his journey as told by WoK:
A risky leap of faith
In Kenya, it is not uncommon for graduates to tarmac for years without getting a job.
However, when Sam Vidambu graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dedan Kimathi University, he was lucky to land a lucrative job as a financial manager, earning a mouthwatering sh 65,000 per month.
In some jobs, it can take people as much as five years before they are promoted to a position where they can earn that much.
However, despite his success, Vidambu was not content.
“I was not really happy at my work even though I was making good money. Yes, I was getting my paycheck at the end of the month but I realized I was not really making an impact in the society,” he told Business Today.
From a young age, he had always felt a strong calling to mentor and help others improve their lives.
This sense of purpose led him to make a life-altering decision: he would resign from his comfortable job to follow his passion for mentorship.
This was a risky decision, considering the effort his parents had put into his education. He was raised in a poverty-stricken background. His father was a carpenter while his mother was a housewife.
So, you can imagine their shock when their son announced his plans of resigning from his well-paying job to become a mentor.
“My mother told me that I was mad to be contemplating such a thing,” Sam recounted in an interview on Y254.
However, he knew what he wanted.
The birth of a mentor
Following his resignation, Sam founded Ambigen Limited, a company that offered HR services and sales-cum marketing training.
However, his primary focus was on providing mentorship programs to college and university students.
He started the company to make life easier for the younger generation and to have a positive impact on society, particularly for those who, like himself, grew up in poverty-stricken families.
As he explained, the first few months after resigning were not tough, despite the fact that he was not drawing a salary.
“I was happy. I like mentoring people and helping people achieve their dreams. I was born to impact lives. I was doing what I wanted to do,” he said.
His other company, Global Mentorship Network, was an offshoot of Ambingen.
Through this initiative, he became a sought-after mentor and public speaker, inspiring students in numerous schools and colleges across Kenya.
His influence extended beyond borders as he took his message to Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Tanzania, becoming an international speaker.
He says he has made a career out of helping people achieve their dreams.
“To succeed in business, you must solve a problem. I identified a problem, which is that people need encouragement and the right guidance to achieve their dreams. I help people achieve their dreams. Then from there, I earn something,” he said.
However, he was quick to point out that he is not a motivational speaker but a mentor, pointing out the difference between the two.
“A motivational speaker is someone who comes and tells you to work hard and never give up. We are used to working hard. Why should you tell me these things? I know I should work hard,” he said.
In his words, if you motivate a fool, you get a motivated fool.
“For us, we don’t motivate students. Instead, we do one-on-one mentorships. Motivation is a short-term thing but mentorship is a long-term thing.”
As he explained, their mentorship programs run for a year, assessing the performance of students weekly.
He currently has 12 employees. He said he trains his employees to be leaders and mentors by themselves. Consequently, they work for him for 2-3 years, after which they go to launch their own companies.
He cites marketing his company as his biggest challenge, although social media platforms have made things easier.
For Sam Vidambu, leaving a well-paying job to follow his calling was a decision he does not regret.
