WHATS NEXT AFTER FORM FOUR

I read somewhere that the 3rd week of January is where most suicides kick in, so let me try and engage those still struggling with their exam results before we get there. For those who passed, well done. You are future doctors, lawyers, architects, surgeons, rocket scientists etc. All those jobs require a certain skill set that only a good education – And intellect - brings. Embrace this moment and enjoy it. For those who did not fare so well, don’t despair. I have always said to my daughter: Work hard, put in your best effort but never let a piece of paper (or grade) define who you are. She always passes well – And I don’t underrate that - But I also encourage her to look beyond that. It’s very important because an A is not a guarantee of a great future. If we pull out the newspapers of the past, where are most of those featured kids today?

Granted a D or E is not ideal. But your skill set may be different. Perhaps you're meant to be a singer. An actress. An artist. An athlete. An entrepreneur. A comedian. A sculptor. A chef. The list is endless. If parents stopped pushing grades down your throat when you were kicking a football, they may have discovered you were the next Victor Wanyama. This is the point you don’t believe me and roll your eyes. Sawa. Why not check out the list below of the 10 richest people in the world (as per 2016).

1) Co-Founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates ($85.9 billion). He dropped out of University.

2) Founder & Chairman Inditex Fashion Group – (Behind global brand Zara), Amancio Ortega. ($75.8 billion). He dropped out of school at age 14.

3) CEO and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathway, Warren Buffet ($68.2 billion) – Joined the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. After two years of complaining that he knew more than his professors, he moved to the University of Nebraska and finished his BSc in Business Administration. He applied to Harvard for his Masters. They rejected him. Ended up at Columbia University. He earned a Master of Science in Economics in 1951. I bet Harvard wish he was alumnus today.

4) Founder Chairman and largest shareholder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos – ($63.1 billion) Princeton University. Graduated summa cum laude in 1986 with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering.

5) Co - Owner, CEO Koch Industries. Charles Koch ($55.2 billion) was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a BSc in General Engineering in 1957, a M.S in Mechanical Engineering in 1958, and a second M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1960.

6) Co-Owner, Vice President Koch Industries, David Koch ($55.2 billion), like his brother, went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning both a BSc (1962) and a Master's degree (1963) in Chemical Engineering.

7) Owner and CEO of Grupo Carso in Mexico, Carlos Slim ($51.4 billion) went to the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he studied civil engineering.

8) Founder and CEO Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg (49.7 billion) – He dropped out of University.

9) Co Founder and Chairman of Oracle, Larry Ellison ($43.4 billion) – He also dropped out of University.

10) Founder of IKEA, a Swedish retail company, Ingvar Kamprad ($42.5 billion) – No formal education at all. He started his business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbours. He found that he could buy them in bulk cheaply and turn a profit. He moved on to other commodities and the rest is history.

There you have it. 5 billionaires on the list did not graduate from University, some didn’t even make it to high school and yikes, worse, primary school! The other 5 meanwhile did a fantastic job in school and have accolades a mile long. The moral? You have a 50-50 chance of making it to the Rich/Wealthy list, regardless of education. So please, don’t kill yourself because of a bad grade. Ok?