Michael Agyekum, Ghanaian millionaire talks about the four principles of success in business

Many may not know him by his official name but might have heard about Kama Pharmaceuticals or Kama Group of Companies. Yes, he is the founder of this company that employs over 400 people in the industry. As a young boy who was born into a poverty stricken family, Dr. Agyekum is no stranger to facing seeming insurmountable challenges in life. At an early age of six years, he had taken up the responsibility of a trader because his then very ill mother could not work. Today, Kama as he is popularly referred to is one of the most successful entrepreneurs on the continent. What accounted for his success? Here are four key principles he has outlined for us;
1.    Reliability
2.    Hard work
3.    Savings and Investment Culture
4.    God Fearing

Reliability
In his book, The Seven Principles of Success and Wealth Creation, Dr. Agyekum summarized the importance of reliability when he wrote, “we profess to be honest but are we reliable? Are we reliable with our time? Time is money and we have no value for time. We call it “African Time” meanwhile we do not have an African watch.”
Dr. Agyekum who began his business with relatively nothing stressed that to achieve any feat of success in life, one must be reliable. To show reliability, we must be credible people, we must only say what we mean and mean what we say. After all, there is an adage which says, “a good name is better than riches,” he explained.
Dr. Agyekum went ahead to state that  he didn’t have any money, not even a cent, or a dollar when he began his business but was able to depend on people he knew because they knew he was a reliable person. Reliability according to Dr. Agyekum is the foundational principle for success in business.

Hard Work
“The extra mile you go each day plays a significant role in climbing the mountain of success. Hard work makes mastery. Working hard requires love for whatever you are doing,” Dr. Agyekum wrote in his book.
If there is anyone who really qualifies to educate us about the need for hard work, then Dr. Agyekum stands tall. Growing up, he did all sorts of menial work including; shoe polishing, selling food commodities, carrying sand and concrete as young as 10 years old to cater for his mother and two siblings. He sometimes had to skip school for over 3 months simply to work to make ends meet. Fortunately for him, hard work always pays.
He also further stated that to be a hard worker, one must be disciplined, focused, complain less and be a happy worker.

Savings and Investment Culture
The third principle that Dr. Agyekum spoke about was the culture of saving and investment. Here, he explained that it not prudent to live from paycheck to paycheck. He underscored the need for us to save a portion of our monthly income.
“We should have something to set aside that will be for us, that will grow us, that will be our roots.” According to Dr. Agyekum, people are like trees, without strong roots, we cannot enjoy the benefits of our fruits. When deciding to invest, try to do some research on the investment, invest no matter how small the amount, get some experience before making a high risk investment and seek advice when in doubt,” he wrote in his book.

God- Fearing
The last but not the final principle of business success Dr. Agyekum talks about in his book is the need to fear God. According to him, to achieve any significant any level of success in life devoid of the fear of God is simply a successful misfortune.
Dr. Agyekum, who is also a very deeply religious person stated that, “if you fear God, you should display the 3Fs; Fairness, Friendliness, and Firmness. These are the four principles of success as outlined by Dr. Agyekum, I shall encourage you to get his book and read the rest for yourself.

Author: G. K. Sarpong
Twitter: @gideonsarpong
Email: gideon.sarpong@gmail.com
www.amazon.com/author/gksarpong