The Narratives – Mohamed Miah

I used to see failure as an ending. A dead end. A sign that I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, or just plain lucky enough. But over the years, I’ve come to realise that failure—whether real or just the perception of it—is often the very thing that sets you up for something greater.

One of my biggest so-called failures was believing that I needed to follow the traditional path to success—good grades, university, a high-paying job. I didn’t go to university. I didn’t collect degrees like trophies. For a long time, that felt like a personal shortcoming, especially in a world that tells you education is the only way forward.

But instead of letting that hold me back, I threw myself into work. I learned on the job. I adapted, problem-solved, and figured things out for myself. Instead of sitting in a lecture hall, I was out in the real world, making mistakes, fixing them, and growing in ways no classroom could teach me.

Then there was my first real business—a takeaway I opened when I was 24. It felt like a dream at the time, my own place, my own rules, my chance to build something. But it didn’t last. I wasn’t a cutthroat businessman, and I wasn’t disciplined enough to work for myself. I could work hard, but I needed structure, a team, a system to thrive in.

The failure of that business stung, but it taught me something invaluable: I wasn’t meant to be the one at the top, calling the shots. I was meant to be the person who helps others succeed, the one who takes a vision and makes it work.

That realisation changed everything. Instead of trying to be something I wasn’t, I focused on what I was great at—working hard, leading a team, solving problems, making things run smoothly. I became someone who could step into any environment, figure things out, and help build something strong.

So that failure? It wasn’t really a failure at all. It was a lesson, a redirection. It taught me who I really am, and in the long run, it set me up for a kind of success I never saw coming.