LWA #1: The Wise Uncle of Botswana - Ramarea Tumisang
Ramarea Tumisang on his journey to 2 degrees from Stanford University, Strategies for success and the importance of remembering who believes in you
In this very special first episode of the Learn With Avthar podcast, I talk with my good friend and fellow African, Ramarea Tumisang.
Ramarea (aka Tumi) was born and raised in the village of Kanye, Botswana. He's a graduate of the international school United World College Costa Rica and holds a bachelor's degree in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, where he's also completing his Master's in Decision and Risk Analysis. All this, along with his mentorship and efforts to support rational decision making with high impact organizations, have earned him the title of "The Wise Uncle of Botswana".
You can listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts (coming soon) and Spotify, or right here using the player below:
Episode Contents
In the episode, we discuss:
Our experience studying at the international school United World College (UWC)
Our journey's to from South Africa and Botswana, to Princeton and Stanford Universities, respectively
How Ramarea settled on Decision and Risk Analysis at Stanford
Avthar's journey to found, run and quit his startup, Afari.
When should International students return to their home countries?
3 Strategies for Success in school and life
Mistakes which brought the greatest lessons
Remembering who believes in you
About Ramarea Tumisang
Ramarea was born and raised in Kanye, Botswana. In 2013 he hopped onto his first flight, in pursuit of adventure and an education. He studied the International Baccalaureate Diploma at the United World College of Costa Rica. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, where he attended as a MasterCard Foundation Scholar. Ramarea currently studies Decision and Risk Analysis in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford.
He believes he is in this world to love and to be loved. One of the ways he hopes to love, is through catalyzing the impact of initiatives and projects aimed at ending economic poverty. He plans to do this primarily by applying his engineering education to support rational and intelligent decision-making within high-impact organizations.
Born and raised in Botswana, Ramarea has a bias towards organizations that work in or on Emerging Markets. He also hopes to help end economic poverty by investing in youth-owned businesses in Botswana and providing mentorship to academically gifted students from marginalized backgrounds.
At a personal level, Ramarea has devoted his life to nurturing his love more than his violence, as his contribution towards the collective healing from patriarchal trauma. He remains active in the UWC movement; serving on the UWC National Committee of Botswana and volunteering as an adult mentor in the annual retreat on the Constructive Engagement of Conflict at UWC USA. In his spare time, Ramarea enjoys cooking, journaling, and spending time with loved ones.
You can follow Ramarea on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ramareabw/ and on his website www.ramarea.com
Episode Highlights
I've also pulled the best highlights from the podcast for you to listen to here:
Clip 1: 6 Strategies for Success from Princeton and Stanford Grads
Guest Ramarea Tumisang shares how being open to feedback, setting smart goals and remembering that he's human, helped him on his journey from a village in Botswana to graduating Stanford University. Avthar also shares how having a growth mindset, internal scorecard and learning how to learn, helped him on his journey from small-town South Africa to graduating Princeton University and succeeding in the technology industry.
Clip 2: When to return to Africa?
When should international students who've studied abroad return to their home countries? In this clip from LWA #1, Avthar and guest Ramarea Tumisang discuss their experiences being Africans studying abroad in Costa Rica and the USA and when they're thinking about return back home to South Africa and Botswana respectively.
Clip 3: Why Avthar quit his Startup: Objectives vs Tactics
When should you quit? Why quit something that you've poured time and money into? Avthar details why he decided to leave the startup he founded and gives you a framework to help you decide when to quit: Objectives vs Tactics.
Clip 4: Remember who believes in you
"If people who don't know me can believe in me that much... I should be able to believe in myself even more"
Guest Ramarea Tumisang shares how remembering the people who believe in him helped him take risks beyond his personal fears and go from Botswana to graduating Stanford University in the USA.
Clip 5: What mistake taught you the greatest lesson in life?
"The lesson is to realize that I can be a well intentioned person, but still have a violent impact in the experiences of others. That has also made me really critical of my actions recognize that as man in this world there's a lot of privilege that the structure of society affords me."
Guest Ramarea Tumisang and Avthar go DEEP on unpacking how good intentions can still lead to harmful outcomes, as well as how uncovering your previous conditioning toward things can help you see the world more clearly and prevent perpetuating the cycle of trauma.
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