It was fun galore at the 2007 Graduands' Dinner held at The Stanley Hotel ballroom on Tuesday, 27th March 2007. The food was good, the company wonderful and the speeches superb. The chief guest at the event was Mr. Sunny Bindra, himself a Strathmore alumnus and a renowned management consultant whose column in the Sunday Nation is read by thousands of Kenyans.

Bindra's speech was the icing on the cake. As he began he observed that he was starting at the exact time indicated on the programme - for him this was evidence of how Strathmore manages and values time. "When I received the invitation to speak, I was asked to inspire you. So let me start by asking you, 'In addition to your course work, what has SU taught you?'" The first response by acclamation from the graduands was ethics, followed by discipline, dress code and philosophy.

"I left Strathmore School in 1983 and it is only many years later I realized how valuable the lessons of life I had received from Strathmore were. You cannot appreciate them now. But you will later in life," he said.

"Bill Gates once said, 'Be nice to nerds. Chances are you will end up working for one.' In Strathmore School, we were regarded as 'nerds', and the guys at St Mary's across the Nairobi River were the 'cool' guys."

Every Life is Different

"What would I say today? Every life is different. You can't be a photocopy of anyone's life because we are all given unique talents and aptitudes. Your task is to uncover your talents and aptitudes. And they may be not what you want them to be.

"There is a mentality that the only people who make it in life are those who pursue one of three or four high-level prestigious careers. That is WRONG. All careers are great careers – if you let them be – because the scope of human endeavour is immense. Swami Vivekanand, an Asian mystic once said, 'A man should NOT be judged by the nature of his duties, but by the manner in which he does them…. A shoemaker who can turn out a strong, nice pair of shoes in the shortest possible time is a better man … than a professor who talks nonsense every day of his life."

This resonates with the theology of work taught by St Josemaria Escriva, the inspiration behind Strathmore. St Josemaria once said, "You cannot tell me so-and-so is a good son of mine if he does a shoddy job - a job well done is a job done with love."

Life is Inherently Unplannable

"We all imagine life is about careful planning, and that things generally click into place. But life doesn't unravel according to plan. As John Lennon said, 'Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.' Every boxer has a plan until he takes the first punch in the face. Warning: there are many turns and twists ahead. Expect the unexpected!"

"Life is not fair and for a reason – to wake you up.  Go with the ebbs and flows of life. Don't resist or try to impose artificial order. Your achievement lies in how you deal with the disorder and unpredictability. You will be down on the floor many times, your greatness will come from the way you pick yourself up. But avoiding mistakes is like avoiding life itself."

No Shortcuts in Life

"There are no shortcuts in life. You need to be skilled in something. Set yourself the goal of being extremely good at whatever you do – that is the way to achieve greatness in life. And there are absolutely NO substitutes for hardwork and sheer determination. A dollar earned is worth 50 stolen. The 50 stolen will burn a hole in your pocket and will eat away the fabric of your soul."

Work is Love

"Work is love made visible. 'If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better you leave work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms from those who work with joy. When you work with love, you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another and to God', said Khalil Gibran. When you are doing what you are meant to do, your soul gets uplifted and you tap into a deeper current within you and time flies."

"Learning is a life long endeavour because the spirit of enquiry is essential to human life. You should improve yourself up to the day you die. You start dying the day you cease learning."

Yearn for Wealth

"Strive to be wealthy. Let the desire to be wealthy drive you. But measure your wealth in big ways. Mere material wealth is destructive to the person. A truly wealthy person has time to do things he really likes. I work with many CEOs who, unfortunately, don't have time for anything else but their companies' bottom line. They report to the office at 6.30 am and leave at 10 pm. They make money and spend it on medical bills. Health is wealth. So is a big heart. Be big-hearted."

"Be open to all possibilities. Be prepared to work hard, ready to learn and re-learn right up to the day your life ends. Be dogged, be principled, be true to yourself, and be anything you like."

Earlier in the evening, before Bindra spoke, Robin Aswani, the Bachelor of Business Information Technology (BBIT) class representative, with a tinge of nostalgia, described SU as a challenging place and told his fellow graduands: "People think highly of SU. It is a strong brand. Represent it well."

Martin Maina, the Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) class representative hailed his classmates for being elegantly dressed which was true. He also cheerily reminded them they were officially jobless. Martin had some words of advice for SU. Noting that nobody is perfect, he observed SU's website has improved but more can still be done. He suggested it needed to be more interactive with a feature where alumni can interact online. He also noted the university administration could improve its interaction with the students, saying it's about time to put the University Student Council in place.

Tom Pyle, the Executive Director of Strathmore University Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation based in Princeton, New Jersey, USA, said SU is playing a vanguard role in the socio-economic development of Kenya and Africa. "What does Kenya expect of SU?", he asked. "Kenya looks to SU to be an agent of change and progress," he rejoined.

Pyle, an alumnus of Princeton University and Harvard Business School, said SU is a unique and noble university and told the graduands that they were privileged to have passed through Strathmore. "It is better than any university I have known," he said in earnest.

Laura Temesi, the best student in the graduating class of 2005 closed the function with a passionate testimony. In two short years, Laura has moved from being a graduate trainee to the the position of Manager, Technology & Security Risk Services, at Ernst & Young.

She attributed her rise to hard work and observed there are no mass promotions in life - promotions are on merit," she said. Laura stressed the need for job seekers to prepare CVs that sell them. "The CV is very important because it says things about you that you can't say yourself. Job seekers need to tailor their CVs to the job requirements so that the CV can interest the selectors. CVs also need to be concise. A good CV is not repetitive."

Laura observed that SU graduates continue to be competitive. She noted that out of 5 recruits in her Department early this year, 3 were SU graduates.