Mr. Investor, Nana Kyia III and Me
The second half of last year was perhaps the most hectic of my life up until then. I was still a student as well as trying to set up a new business with an American, codename Mr. Investor; a young man with the vision, drive, discipline, energy and hunger that perfectly complemented my particular set of skills and talents. We had met previously a couple years before and he promised to come back to Ghana to invest and against all my expectations otherwise he did truly make it back with an open mind and understandably, a tightened fist around his purse strings. In the course of searching for accommodation for Mr. Investor, I had the honor to make the acquaintance of his landlord for the duration of his trip, Samuel Oscar Eskin, also known by his stool name, Nana Kyia III, Adontenhene of Ekumfi Ekumpoano. Nana Kyia is a rather energetic man for all of his 70+ years and he took an immediate liking to Mr. Investor and myself. Like most eminent septuagenarians, Nana Kyia could discuss any topic at length and he gave me so much to think about that I still ruminate over some of his wise words to this day. For example after I told him about being cheated several times in oil deals he said, “When someone cheats you, see it as being on a learning curve”, or another time when he said, “Failure is an opportunity to take a different path to success”. How apt!
Nana Kyia gave us an anecdote about his hey days running the local subsidiary of a British firm in Ghana in the 1970’s. He was always harking back on how the problems that existed in his youthful days, bribery, bureaucracy and inefficiency are still endemic in Ghana today. He noted the incongruity of the nation having more supervisors and managers than are needed instead of a trained caucus of highly efficient low-mid level functionaries, especially in the public sector. This has led to a serious deficiency in the effectiveness of many governmental organizations and this canker even permeates the private sector but to a lesser degree somewhat. He also noted how political regime after regime have essentially been, “Robbing Peter to save Paul”, Peter being the people, Paul being themselves. He was rather critical of the sorry nature of Ghana’s political system, “In Ghana, our priorities are misplaced”, but overall he sounded optimistic about the prospects for the future especially considering all the buzz about Ghana’s recent oil discovery. He encouraged us to persevere in our entrepreneurial ventures because, “Good projects take time to bear fruit”. Every minute of the time I spent with him was rather worth it, and I thank Mr. Investor for enabling me to encounter such a luminary mind.
Mr. Investor spent a lot more time with Nana Kyia and I was always getting even more information on the chief and his vast interests. Apparently, the chief was the person who brought computers into Ghana first, in the 1970’s, and he giggles with glee when he talks about ICT and how web cafes have now proliferated the country. He said, “ICT is the new frontier that can help bridge the gap between the third world countries and the developed world”. At his age, he is very tech savvy, he regularly conducts business via email, and knows pretty much all the new technology trends that abound. I mean, seriously, this old man followed Mr. Investor to the Afrodesiac Nightclub one night and from what I surmised he loved every minute of it; that’s the kind of man he is! After several discussions with him concerning our ambitious entrepreneurial plans, the chief decided to take us on a trip to his fiefdom near Mankesim to show us his idyllic seaside village. And so we set off, Mr. Investor and I, taking a bus from Kaneshie Station headed towards Cape Coast and I will never forget that bus ride; certainly one of the least comfortable I have ever had. Apart from the serious bone-shaking and constant scraping sounds of rusted metal that made it seem like the bus was going to fall apart any second, we faced a 2 hour delay because the driver pissed a police man off and everybody on the bus became judge, jury and chief enforcer! So we ended up in Mankesim several hours later than planned, tired and hungry but nonetheless continuing our almost constant banter on business in Ghana and Africa in general.
To Be Continued!
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