Sam Jim Mwanyasi is the Chairman at Spectrum Group of Companies, a conglomeration of various businesses in Micro-Finance, Risk Management and Business Intelligence, Civil and Building Construction and Events Organization.
You will know your business is on the right track if investors of good reputation are willing to partner and grow with you. This is one of my greatest milestones. It is a very sincere hallmark of confidence in our brand. In addition, the businesses have managed to achieve multiple partnerships across the world. This has made it possible to establish partnerships and branches outside the country with local presence in specific targeted countries. Out of these, I have managed to improve a personal wholesome improvement in professional development, besides the spillover effect to enhance customer experience and shareholder value in the group.
I am not a believer in saving. Every coin I make somehow slips between the fingers and goes back to business. So rather than saving in the traditional way, I do investments which have an element of saving. Rather than put money in a fixed savings account, I prefer putting it into an insurance or pension scheme for the future when I’ll not be as productive as I am today. My wife is a better saver than me and most often than not, I ride on her saving culture for that rainy day.
It is better to make hay while the sun shines. I would have started some of my businesses earlier than I did, especially the microfinance one. I would have taken more time to study and further my education instead of doing music and other pursuits which never paid as I’d have wanted. I now find it difficult to enroll in any formal courses because of time constraints. I am engaged in day to day running of the companies. Nonetheless, I still consider myself a student of the universe. Always open to be taught, ever ready to learn!
You must know when to terminate a bad business. I have over the years found myself winding down or closing small companies I started because they were making losses, did not return the projected profits, or because of partners who did not honour their part of the deal. These kinds of business decisions are inevitable in the pursuit for success. You just need to know why and when to make them. It is very important to do due diligence before you spend any coin in business. I once invested in a mining business. I got a preposition where I would make a good Sh. 5 million in a deal and ended up losing over Sh. 2 million instead. It later learnt that the whole deal was concocted to defraud me.
Life is more precious than money. If I had to choose between life and money, I would choose life. It is possible to live a life without money but not to live on money without life. The journey of entrepreneurship has twists and turns. Start from where you are, with what you have, with whom you have around you. You don’t have to be great to get started. Many people let the sheer lack of capital deter their dreams. It should not be so. A good idea without capital is better than good capital without an idea.
There is no silver bullet when it comes to building a career, business or wealth. But the traditional core values of honesty, integrity, accountability, and diligence are highly valued by clients. One very invaluable asset we have is our customer experience. I always remind my team that clients don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. My personal experience has taught me that nothing comes easy or overnight especially in the world of business. Even the most innovative and brilliant of ideas were painstakingly created and nurtured over time. Persistence and tenacity are key. Many Kenyans, especially the youth, do not have the patience of the farmer, they are typical hunters. Be like a farmer; till the land, plant and wait for germination, nurture the plant and wait till it yields.
This profile feature on Sam Jim Mwanyasi was first published in the Saturday Magazine. The Saturday Magazine is a publication of the Nation Media Group.
