The Power of the Dream- Ally Angula

Four years ago Ally Angula thought her life was pretty perfect. She was a partner at one of the big four finance companies and she was on a regular trip to Zimbabwe with her husband attending an event with a group of highly accomplished young Africans.

The event would end with them being marched to the police station, charged and arrested for loitering, prostitution and solicitation as they simply walked to their cars after dancing the night away.

Eventually, they were set free. ‘Bread money’ was exchanged and on the plane back to Namibia the next day, with the ordeal still fresh in her mind, Ally decided she wanted to understand Africa more. So she went to a bookshop at OR Tambo International Airport and bought all the books she could find about the continent, bar the tourism ones.

Her flight from Johannesburg to Namibia was spent visualising what Namibia would look like if she did nothing and our country’s citizens did nothing and, at that point, she decided she wanted to be a game-changer and an active part of the crowd driving change.

“I wanted to produce and manufacture something proudly Namibian. Something that would create sustainable jobs. The dream was partly selfish. I didn’t want my two young kids going through a similar experience where the system had failed its people.”

When Ally came back she shared her plans with friends, family and her partners at KPMG. They were stunned. They called her out, thought she was in shock after being arrested, burnt out or having a midlife crisis.

Nevertheless, in March 2013, Ally embarked on her journey.

She’d left her job and had stopped attending dinners where the topic of discussion was what the country is becoming and the things that are not working because she feels, if we choose, we can and should be part of the solution.

“I’ve always been a dreamer, I guess, but I think we all are. The difference comes in with following through on your dream and having the ability to make it reality…

I strongly believe that, as Africans, we need to dream. But we need to dream big.

And I don’t think we should let fear hold us back. It’s the only thing that will have a positive influence on the African child’s take on this continent’s potential and future.”

Just a year after its inception, Leap Agribusiness employs 51 people hard at work to produce local crops to be sold all over Namibia which will curb retailer reliance on imported fruits and vegetables.

In addition, Leap Investment Namibia Group is soon to launch the Dreamer’s Scholarship which will fund the education of a Namibian citizen who applies for a field of study that will help realise their dream.

To illustrate the power of the dream, Angula quotes Mark Twain.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.”