Akon was in the UAE this week and and instead of singing his famous tunes, he delivered a keynote address at the Sharjah Entrepreneurial Festival.
He spoke about his journey from being a car thief to becoming one of the biggest pop stars but said that his social entrepreneurship is what gives him the most satisfaction.
Originally from Senegal, Akon is a Grammy award winning singer and has now launched a solar-powered energy project of his own. He says that his decisions are based on his faith and there is a spiritual side to business that entrepreneurs ignore.
“It makes you ask the question: what is success? Is it fame or fortune? Does that measure what success means to you? Or is it faith?” he asked, “For me, real success is faith. If God is not smiling upon me I am not successful. I don’t care even if I have a billion dollars in the bank. And what good am I if have a billion dollars sitting in the bank in the first place?”
Akon had spoken to The National, a UAE based newspaper and said that he was born a Muslim and in some places of Senegal it was considered haram. But he said that the intention has to be good and even in daily prayers, “we pray in melody.”
He also added that he would not judge anyone because, “at the end of the day, Allah is watching and he knows what is in your heart.”
Akon was going to visit Pakistan in April of this year but was not able to. In January he had uploaded this message for PM Khan,
