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From being born in a refugee camp, not knowing English coming to Australia, facing bullying and eventually getting sent away from his school to being recognised by and representing Australia at the United Nations Headquarter, studying a double degree of Law and Business and being one of the youngest speakers in the world, Fred Duku Silver has a strong dedication to imbuing inspiration to the greater community and demonstrates this through his enthusiasm for community activism. Currently Fred is the President of The Shining Snowflake Initiative which was developed with the vision of providing homeless and vulnerable individuals with a long-lasting solution. Fred is also a speaker. He is occasionally invited to several schools, events and or conferences to inspire and empower individuals to see a different perspective on life.
City where you’re from: Born in Uganda, currently live in Brisbane, Australia
Hobbies: Reading – my doctor told me I had a rare condition known as bibliophilism
favourite quote: We don’t have to be great to start but we have to start to be great
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DukuSilver
Why did you decide to become a speaker?
I decided to become a speaker because back in High School, my teachers always told me that I talked too much. I was that kid who the teachers couldn’t get to shut up because they knew that if they moved me away from one student to the other side of the room, I’ll still be talking because I knew and interacted with everyone. I believe speaking is my passion and my teachers found it before me. But instead of listening to them, I used it as a drive to inspire my little siblings and later it turned to inspiring the greater community.
Was there a defining moment in your speaking which you would like to share with everyone?
Actually, yeah, there was. It’s funny last year I had the opportunity to go back to my old school and address the students, teachers and parents. After I was done, I received a standing ovation. Afterwards, I went at the back and one of the teachers that told me I talked too much came up, looked me in the eye and said, “you still talk too much!” I said “I know” paused for a while and continued “but I’m getting paid now.”
What are you working on? How did you come up with this idea?
Currently my team and I are working on The Shining Snowflake which we develop to help give those most vulnerable in our society the chance to make their own change.
How is your product/service different and unique? What’s the vision?
The Shining Snowflake is different because we believe most companies, charities and ventures focus on the short term of homelessness, thus in the long term, these people remain homeless. For example, traditional charities have been operating for how long and how much change have they made?
That’s where The Shining Snowflake comes in, we aim to provide a long lasting and replicable solution to successfully get these individuals out of their current circumstance. To view our work and learn more about us or to get in contact, visit our website www.theshiningsnowflake.com
Value-add questions
Give the readers the best entrepreneurship advice you have.
The best advice which I have come across is from Tendayi Viki who said that success is not about how much an individual has but how far they have come. If you have 900k in your bank and you become a millionaire, you are not as successful as the kid who was born in a disadvantage background with nothing but manages to start a business and make 500k.
Where do you see yourself and your product in a couple years?
In the upcoming years, we don’t have big things plan to be honest. Just global domination.
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