My failures make me wiser and better — Mike Nyinaku
This is the concluding part of an exclusive interview, Mr Mike Nyinaku (MN), the Chief Executive Officer of the BEIGE Group, granted Samuel Doe Ablordeppey of the Graphic Business (GB).
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In the first part which was published in the Graphic Business of Tuesday, September 6,the astute business executive and serial entrepreneur shared some thoughts about the economy, the banking industry and entrepreneurship. But what are some of his experiences and personal life story? Here are excerpts.
GB: Tell us about yourself, your upbringing and the principles that have shaped you till now.
MN: I come from a very humble family. I grew up primarily with my mother and my siblings who came thereafter. I had my basic education at New Era Preparatory School at Tudu then I got the opportunity to join PRESEC, Legon. I also charted my finance career starting from the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), then known as the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS).One thing that has run through my experiences over the years is the reality of having to make do with what I have at any time. It was hardly sufficient but I always had to find ways to brighten my corner. I also grew up in an environment that threw lots of responsibility at me. I was always at a junction where going back was not an option. So in my story, moving forward, whether I was going to come out bruised or scathed, was the option. It’s always been forward ever and that is what has shaped me?
GB: Did you always know you would become a finance person?
MN: No. I started doing things for myself at a fairly young age. At that time the intention was not building a business; it was all about surviving. I was in a survival mode, doing several things to finance the next day and then I started to save enough for the next two days. This went on till I started building surpluses that could make me save for the next three months and because of my background, I had a phobia for lack which kept me saving more, making me channel the resources into other productive ventures.
I have not stopped. I have failed in many and have also had reasonable success in a few. More importantly, I believe that all of those failures have made me better
and wiser. I still have energy to build, so I am pushing myself till I am unable to push further.
GB: What were these that you were building?
MN: I first started with book keeping consultancy when I was still at UPSA. I go out to prospect for people interested in my service. You sometimes visit 20 shops and out of your visit only one will ask you to come back. Meaning that out of about 25 trials you get only one deal. I did that for a while and got bigger businesses asking me to do their accounts for them. I got engaged with Deloitte and Touche where I had practical training in professional accounting services. While there, I had my moon shining, with lots of clients.
Then I had someone introduce meto land banking, I also got introduced to stocks by a very good friend. I also was an active investor on the stock market in the early
2000s.I also started real estate on the side. I ensured that at any time my resources must work. I had an interesting experience building and selling houses and through that, I grew my private wealth. I admired persons at the leadership of banking and finance then. I recall Ken Ofori Atta and fondly remember Edward Effah. So I said, ‘let me start something in microfinance.’ I put a business plan together, secured a licence, started off with a branch and the rest is history. Along the line, I had to temporarily suspend my real estate ventures to allow me focus on my investments in banking and finance. My story is fraught with a lot of setbacks but in all I’m happy with where we are. God has been faithful.
GB: How is your business structured?
MN: As an investment firm, The BEIGE Group which is the parent company of BEIGE Capital has structured its investments into sectors. Our banking and finance portfolio, which is our main focus for now, has service channels that deliver banking finance, insurance, asset management, pensions and private equity services. That portfolio comprises five active independent companies, including BEIGE Capital Savings and Loans, BEIGE Capital Asset Management, Legacy Pensions, BEIGE Assure and a recently acquired Life Assurance company whose details we would disclose later.
Our alternative investments portfolio, driven by our private equity arm has investments spread across various sectors. These include real estate assets such as BEIGE Village Golf Resort & Spa and others. All our investments combined provide direct employment to about 4,000 individuals.
GB: Do you have a mentor, and what motivates you?
MN: I have been asked this question several times and I always have maintained that it is difficult to identify one person as a mentor. I see myself as a student of life and I believe that no one person has total mastery of life. I observe a lot and have picked traits from several many people. I’m proud to say that my mentors are the combined group of senior leaders we have in our country, because from each of them, especially those with whom I have relations with, I’ve acquired some lessons. I also belong to the school of thought that believes that progress is generational. You are here to freely conduct this interview with me because several years ago some people fought for press freedom.
Similarly, if I’m able to express my aspirations on the ground and create employment for people, it is because some people once dared to scratch the surface to pave the way for me and my peers to build on. They may not have done it all but they opened the eyes to the reality that some feats are possible. Thus every generation builds on the successes and the platforms that are passed on to them by previous generations. I’m motivated by the successes that senior entrepreneurs we’ve in the country have achieved and I think that if we don’t build on their platform, considering the pace that this world is moving, then by the time the next generation after us is picking on, the gap between them and the rest of the world would be so wide that they would just cow into submission.
GB: What is your message to other young entrepreneurs out there?
MN: There is no shortcut to success and depending on the kind of entrepreneurship aspiration you have, you would have to invest in a proper foundation that would stay and last. I would encourage them to read the book Built to Last (By Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras).
GB: What advice do you want to give to managers of the economy?
MN: I’m not big enough to advise them. But the thoughts I’ve gathered out of my short period of experience in life are what I’d share. I’ve seen that entrepreneurship, be it social entrepreneurship or economic entrepreneurship, is a way of life and also a streak that runs through only a few people. When you sample 1,000 people you will be lucky to find it in one. Here, I’m not talking about that entrepreneurship that achieves personal subsistence for an individual or nuclear family but rather that type that creates jobs, wealth and transforms the lives of a mass of people. That character is a streak and it runs through a few people. One of my senior men describes people who demonstrate this character as AD-NORMAL, meaning positively abnormal. That streak is what makes someone decide to say
‘I’m going to face it, no matter what happens. Then when I finish I will bring the spoil so we manage it. ’In a developing society such as ours, people who are able to demonstrate such qualities should be protected; they must be encouraged and whatever they produce must be preserved. Reason is if only one emerges out of a population of 2,000 then a failure to protect that person would mean we would not only lose the opportunity to realise the benefits that would emerge from their enterprise but would also lose the opportunity of having them pass on the trait unto another.
Remember that this streak is not entirely genetic and therefore not automatically hereditary. Thus it’s not given that ‘my father was, so I’ll be’.
It’s innate. Thus if the trait emerges in some people and it’s not preserved, it’s difficult for another generation to even pick it up. Even if another generation picks it up, the milestones they achieve will be small because they didn’t have a proper handshake to build on. By crashing the entrepreneurship drive in one generation, you’ve slowed down the effect of the entrepreneurship capacities of subsequent generations for life. In the psychology of human and societal development, one should be able to identify the individuals whose actions are driving the rest.
Hypothetically, we should be able to identify and protect that group of about 500 or less individuals whose enterprise is driving the entire population of Ghana.
GB: How do you spend your past-time?
MN: I’m sure I’d disappoint you. (laughter). I’m either resting, working or thinking about work. Quite boring, I know but it’s the truth. I’m either doing or thinking of what to do. When I started, I used to have a fun life but as this journey got more involving and my responsibilities got bigger, I sort of got more withdrawn.
It’s either I’m at home, at the office or driving around inspecting my projects. If I have more time, I spend it with my kids.