I am graduating on Tuesday. 4 and a half years spent at UCT and I walk away with so much more than a degree. So why did it take me that long to finish a 3-year degree?

I arrived on campus in 2016, at the height of FMF, registered for Business Science, Finance and Accounting. Didn't really know what I wanted to do after varsity so it was a safe option. As the year went by, that's when the entrepreneurial bug bit me.

Joined a program called UCT Upstarts where I was fortunate enough to interact with some really cool people. After that, what I paid attention to really changed. At least at that moment, one thing I knew was that I no longer wanted to be an accountant.

The beauty of varsity lies in the fact that you can really grow into the individual that you are innately. I realised my purpose towards the end of that year and frankly speaking, I was going to go full-force into this entrepreneurship thing.

Applied to @draper_u and got in (in my mind I had to do the whole Silicon Valley thing - I was reading too much on Elon and the Valley at the time) but as things would go I decided to stay.

There was a lot I still wanted to do in SA and there is a whole lot more I want to do in the rest of the continent.

I changed degrees to a BCom Politics, Philosophy and Economics - thanks to FMF I found a keen interest in policy setting which I'll definitely be getting into some day - which is the degree I'm attending a virtual grad for!

Anyway, I tried and failed at a few things since then; Pop Print, a low cost printing medium to distribute learning material in under privileged schools, Rydwith, a safety-tech business and a few others. One of them didn't quite fail but I left to pursue other interests.

This business went on to raise R2 million in funding from RMB and the core team continues to drive the vision forward. People would be surprised how many startups from the Cape Town ecosystem I had the privilege of sharing my views in in their early days. I digress.

It wasn't until late 2017 where I really found what I want to be building and working on every single day. Started as a conversation at the cafeteria, what is now called Zaio, was built. We lived the typical startup story:

College kids starting a tech business in their dorm rooms, moving in together, having newspaper articles written about them, awards, prizes and the rest of it. It was cool. We were rockstars but all of those things were just features of the journey.

No one speaks about the founder disputes, having cash flow issues, failing courses as we bring our vision to life and extending degrees just to buy time to get our baby on its feet.

It's really difficult to build a business and I take my hat off to anyone doing it while studying or holding down a full-time job. You're a hero!

Yes, I grew a really powerful network and support system around me which helped us raise over R1 million in funding and opened up opportunities for us to make over double that in revenue all while jumping in and out of tutorials.

I had to pretty much stop going to most lectures. I mean it was really difficult to with everything going on. Shout out to UCT for recorded lectures.

Oh yes, back to what I was getting at. I mean I felt pretty bad about seeing many of my peers leaving varsity while I had I full year to go and more so when I repeated literally one course at the beginning of this 2020.

But looking back at it all now as I am about to officially call myself a graduate, I look at my journey and think "no man, its really not the same."

The fact that I built a thriving business; one that even survived 2020, employed 5 people full-time, trained over 350 people in coding education, gave 56 youth unemployed black youth 12-month paid employment with another 15 starting this coming Monday,

heck, even paid my own rent and paid off my school fees, this 3 year degree I got in 4 and a half years is something I'm damn proud of.

I'm looking forward to Tuesday. Am I going to cry? Of course. I deserve to. All the efforts of those around me; my family, team, friends, mentors etc., helped me get to this point.

As I watch my name flash across the screen and tears roll down my face, the only thing that I will be feeling is gratitude.