I’m from Sudan, and my parents have deep roots in Egypt. I come from intergenerational trauma. As a result, I struggled a lot through life in my early days as a youth. In hindsight, I was running away. I was running from mental, physical, and verbal abuse. It came from my father. However, I love him to death, and today, we have a great relationship. But my desire as a youngster was to be independent.
I didn’t want anyone to control me or tell me what to do; I just wanted peace and freedom. And this is my story, from struggle to success.
The Struggles of a Young Man
I have always desired self-reliance and personal resilience. I didn’t want anyone to control me or tell me what to do; I just wanted peace and freedom in my life. Unfortunately, it would be a while before I could reach that ambition. As a young man, I got caught up in the music industry as a promoter. As a result, I got caught up in the wrong crowd, which led to traumatic experiences.
I witnessed someone get shot, and I got beaten up pretty badly. However, as horrible as those events were, they helped me to become the man I am today.
Where My Heart Is Today
I serve as the president and CEO of Struggle Is Your Success (SIYS), an organization geared toward struggling or incarcerated youth in the justice system. My mission is to give them a sense of belonging and hope outside of traditional employment and schooling. There were two reasons why I started this non-profit:
- I wanted to help youth who struggled like I did when I was younger. I wanted to be a light for youth who had difficulties at home, in their academic lives, etc.
- I wanted to teach them how to have confidence and hope for the future and provide them with a safe community to connect with others.
We help BIPOC (Black Indigenous People Of Color) youth overcome their personal challenges. The term BIPOC comes from a racialized, marginalized community that doesn’t have a sense of hope and also lacks resources.
The Struggle of Marginalized and Underrepresented Communities
There is a lack of resources within our city and country, especially given the increasing number of immigrants coming to Canada. So, our mission is to serve that underrepresented community. Many immigrants often have difficulty adapting to the Canadian way of life when they arrive. They experience culture shock from the North American culture.
These people must adapt in many ways, from learning English as a second language to integrating into their new community. People often arrive from war-torn countries with their children without knowing English.
The parents then enter the workforce to provide for their families, and because of this, no one is around to watch and take care of the children. The problem is that those kids are lost if the household has no strong parenting foundation.
As a result, they often drop out of high school, get involved in the wrong crowds, and become integrated into the world of drugs and violence.
The Desire to Create an Impact
Struggle Is Your Success is an early intervention program. It’s an opportunity for youth entrepreneurship, and that’s who we’re here to serve—at-risk youth. In my journey, I ended up leaving Canada for a period and returning home to Sudan. This allowed me to travel to numerous cities and countries (Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, etc.) where I mentored over 1000 youth.
Then, I decided to bring the idea back to Canada. After seeing how so many people were starving from lack of food, water, resources, and opportunity, I realized how privileged I was to be Canadian. So, when I returned, I asked myself, “How can I create impact?”
Dream It. Plan It. Build It
I knew that focusing on making an impact in the lives of others would create opportunities for me to thrive. For this reason, SIYS offers a very innovative program geared toward youth entrepreneurship. It’s called “Dream It. Plan It. Build It.” It’s a five-week program in which, once a week for an hour and a half, we take these youth through a journey where they uncover who they are. We help facilitate their ability to dream, take those dreams, and turn them into realities.
So far, we’ve impacted about 250 kids, about 35 of whom were incarcerated in the justice system. However, now they are on the path of pursuing the entrepreneurship journey. We are the first organization to introduce youth entrepreneurship to the justice system. Our philosophy shows them that there’s another (better) way. As a result, many of our youth have gone on to start their own businesses.
We had a youth start a cleaning service, an apparel start-up, and even a waste management company. The craziest success stories are the ones of young entrepreneurs who simply believed in themselves.
Final Thoughts
Your success is only limited by what you believe is possible for yourself. There are endless possibilities that—if you take advantage of them—will help you grow into all you have the potential to become. If this message resonates with you, we’d like you to join us. At Certified Flourishing Coach, we help entrepreneurs, coaches, and organizational leaders thrive in business and life. So, if you’re ready to flourish, contact us today to learn more.
About the Author
Musap “Moose” Abdel was an “at-risk” youth in his early days. His upbringing eventually led him to become a promoter in the music industry; he got caught up with the wrong crowd and witnessed fights and shootings. These experiences changed the course of his life, compelling him to create Struggle Is Your Success (SIYS), an organization that helps youth explore