If you had told me early in my career that I would one day leave the security of multinational corporations to start businesses of my own, I might not have believed you. Yet that is exactly the journey I’ve taken—from global investment banks and industrial giants to founding companies across Africa in sectors ranging from energy to real estate to consumer goods.
It has been a path filled with challenges, risks, and more than a few sleepless nights. But it has also been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Along the way, I’ve learned lessons about leadership, adaptability, and purpose that I’d like to share.
What Multinationals Teach You
Working at places like Merrill Lynch, UBS, and later General Electric gave me an incredible foundation. These are organizations with established systems, deep resources, and talent drawn from around the world. Inside a multinational, you are trained to think with discipline—whether it’s analyzing risk, managing large teams, or navigating complex projects.
At GE, I had the privilege of leading major businesses in Africa, overseeing over a billion dollars in investments across power, healthcare, aviation, and oil and gas. These roles taught me how to think big and how to manage complexity. They also gave me the confidence to operate across cultures and continents.
But multinationals also come with constraints. Decisions often take too long, and strategies are sometimes driven by global priorities rather than local realities. I often felt that Africa’s immense opportunities weren’t fully understood or pursued with the urgency they deserved. That realization planted the seed for entrepreneurship; the need to be more nimble.
Taking the Leap into Entrepreneurship
Starting your own business after years in a multinational feels like stepping off a cliff but emancipating in equal measure. Suddenly, there’s no global brand behind you, no big budget, and no established process to fall back on. Every decision is yours. Every mistake is yours.
The first thing I learned was that entrepreneurship requires a different type of resilience. There are no safety nets. Cash flow becomes a daily consideration. Hiring decisions carry outsized weight. Partnerships make or break you. But the flip side is the freedom and speed with which you can operate.
As an entrepreneur, I could design businesses specifically for African markets. Whether it was energy transition projects, real estate developments, or consumer ventures, I could build with local needs in mind, not just global strategies. That freedom was liberating.
Adapting Across Cultures and Markets
Doing business across continents taught me one of the most important lessons of all: context matters. In New York or London, deals are often structured around contracts and numbers. In Accra or Lagos, relationships and trust are the foundation.
This isn’t about right or wrong—it’s about understanding the rules of the environment you’re in. I’ve learned that the quickest way to fail is to assume what worked in one market will automatically work in another. The quickest way to succeed is to listen, respect local customs, and adapt.
That flexibility—knowing when to apply global best practices and when to lean into local knowledge—has been one of the keys to building successful businesses across borders.
The Power of People
If there is one constant across every chapter of my career, it’s that people matter more than anything else. At GE, I learned the impact of building diverse, high-performing teams. As an entrepreneur, I learned the importance of agility—finding people who could wear multiple hats and thrive in uncertainty.
Good leaders don’t try to do everything themselves. They empower others, create trust, and give their teams the tools to succeed. Whether in a multinational or a start-up, the principle is the same: invest in people, and the results will follow.
Balancing Profit with Purpose
One of the great lessons of building businesses in Africa is that success cannot be measured by profit alone. Infrastructure, energy, and consumer goods are not just industries—they are lifelines for communities.
As I continue to support communities in need through university tuition and mentorship, I saw firsthand how opportunity transforms lives. Similarly, when we brought reliable power to communities that had lived with outages for decades, I witnessed the ripple effects—students studying at night, clinics operating more safely, businesses extending hours.
That’s why I believe purpose and profit must go hand in hand. The businesses that last are the ones that solve real problems and improve people’s lives.
Lessons for the Next Generation
For those coming up in their careers, I often say: embrace both paths. Spend time in multinationals to learn discipline, structure, and global best practices. Then, when the moment feels right, don’t be afraid to take the entrepreneurial leap.
Understand that failure is part of the journey—it’s how you adapt that defines you. Seek partnerships, because no one succeeds alone. And above all, keep your purpose clear. Money is important, but meaning is what keeps you moving forward when the challenges mount.
Looking Forward
As I reflect on my own journey, what excites me most is not just the businesses I’ve built, but the opportunity to mentor others who are starting theirs. Africa’s future will be shaped by entrepreneurs who can bridge global perspectives with local realities, who understand both capital markets and community needs.
The journey from multinationals to entrepreneurship has shown me that the two worlds are not opposites. They are complementary. The discipline and scale of multinationals combined with the agility and creativity of entrepreneurship can create powerful, lasting impact.
For me, the greatest lesson has been this: success is not about choosing one path over the other. It’s about taking the best from both worlds and using it to build businesses that matter—not just across continents, but across generations.