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A Bahraini start-up founder hopes to build and inspire a community of entrepreneurially-minded individuals to act on their dreams with her latest book.
Science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEM/STEAM) educator and enthusiast Latifa Al Khalifa has launched her first book, The Late Bloomer’s Guide to Getting Started… (Finally!) and hopes to build a community around her motto, ‘Start before you are ready’ (SBYAR).
“In the last few years, I have jumped headfirst into education, technology and entrepreneurship – fields in which I had limited formal training,” the 33-year-old co-founder of Clever Play told GulfWeekly.
“I have been asked many times about my journey and I have been thinking about how best to share it with the world, so that we can build a community of creators and starters, who commit to acting on their dreams.”
Her own journey started when she was in the UK and was told by a complete stranger that she was overweight.
“I was active in school but I never paid much attention to my diet,” she explained. “But even though this hurt, it made me look in the mirror and change. I dived into exercise and fitness without really having much previous experience.
“I made a lot of mistakes but I was glad I started before I was ready. We are often told, with the best intentions, which we should wait until we are confident to start something new. But acting on my dreams is what gave me the confidence to keep going.”
Her journey into start-ups began with encouragement from her sister, Muneera, who was looking for a different approach to education for her son.
During her global education and journey, Latifa had witnessed the paradigm of ‘education as play’ and decided to create a space for it in Bahrain.
“To be honest, when I first came up with the idea, I felt quite inadequate, since I had little background in the subject or in business,” she admitted.
Yet, she dived in and, two years later, she now wants to inspire others to start on their own ‘passion projects’.
Her short 50-page book is divided into six chapters and is a practical guide to ‘cultivate discipline, build self-confidence and empower them to take inspired action’.
SBYAR is also an acronym for her success mantra
l Strive to be a better version of yourself
l Believe in your abilities
l Yes to every opportunity that takes you closer to your dreams,
l Act and
l Repeat.
Each chapter also includes ‘homework’ requiring readers to take concrete steps to designing their success plan.
“This book is for those of us in our late 20s and early 30s,” Latifa explained. “The ones who have settled or put aside their own dreams to care for those around them.
“I’d like to build a community of us who can inspire and push one another on our journeys towards being our best.”
The ebook is available for free and to get a copy, message
@_sbyar_ on Instagram
