Yeah man so um Kev thank you for joining us we appreciate it thank you for having me yes Merry Christmas to everyone yes thank you sir yes we we last time we saw you you was at invest Fest yeah and before that we was at uh Lake comoo yeah Lake comoo you're right yeah for sure so you know this the third time third time of charm so yeah first and foremost thank you thank you for Chang changing your travel schedule I know you was you was in Dubai but you came back home for us so we greatly appreciate that thank you thank you for having me I mean when your brothers call you got to show up so I put up that's a fact so all right so you you run you know extremely large oil and gas company um but how did you get started you know what's what's the backstory to actually how you got up and running cuz you're still you know young yourself so how did you get started into this business well um I don't know if you're aware but I actually went to college in the US Atlanta no no I was in I was in the DC area you you was in Atlanta though right I was in Atlanta yeah little bit shout out DC all the Africans live in Atlanta and DC that's where all the Africans live in America so um I went to George Mason University um and then when I finished I decided to move back to Ghana in the DC Virginia you know um area I'm sure there are some people from the area as as as they call it in the house uh and afterwards I decided to come back home to figure out how I can also contribute to um um to Ghana uh it was very challenging initially because I didn't have you know people always think people make moves with plans with business PL there was nothing like that I was down with college I had a great job as an accountant making $72,000 a long time ago and that was good money and I just picked my bags and I said I'm going to Africa friends are like what I'm like I'm going to Africa you know I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit and I knew that I wanted to do something on my own so I I decided to make the move back to Ghana I didn't start originally in oil and gas um I started with um uh with the Telecom sector but before um I I think a lot of people over here are always trying to figure out how do I how do I make the initial move you know in terms of like trying to do something whether it's business or whatever entrepreneurial um Journey you want to take and what I want to say is please don't always try to figure out the answers before you start if you want to go ahead to do stuff just do it just start just start something you will figure it out because I started I didn't have a plan um when I was in the US I worked and you know put myself through college um and the excess money that I had that's what I lived off when I came because the first couple of years I was in the learning phase um I work for free for my sister who was an entrepreneur and I come from entrepreneural background my father was a very successful entrepreneur and my my mom was an entrepreneur in her own right so it was just genetically I was exposed to that and that's what I wanted to do but it was really challenged it was really tough I had to work for free for um a long time I was my sister's driver and her PA at the same time learning the ropes of how things work in Ghana and stuff and um I didn't have any Capital cuz the money I had I needed to survive of that I also had a child and I needed to take care of my child in DC so it was very very challenging um but I had an idea in the Telecom sector as an entrepreneur persistence is so key and so fundamental to the success of whatever you doing when I had a telecom idea I went to a telecom company I used to go there every day for 6 months they used to tell me to leave I'm like no I'm not going to leave unless you give me this opportunity after about 6 7 months the CEO worked out one day called the the head of um I think contract or something his name was adly I'll never forget it he said she said adly give Kevin the opportunity because this guy would not stop showing up at our office literally I was just posting there every day just telling listen give me the opportunity and I'm going to create something which is going to bring wealth to both us like you know myself and and and the Telecom company and now I had this Telecom amazing contract I needed $100,000 I didn't have $5,000 to my name but I need $100,000 before I can start so what do I do I go into a bank um I didn't have any collateral I go into a bank I see the CEO of a bank at 5:00 p.m. I present what I have to him you know the man looks at me he tells me all right let's go downstairs so his offic is on the fifth floor we go to the banking Hall he tells the lead teller give him a bankdraft of $100,000 to the Telecom company and tomorrow Kevin come and fill the application forms for the loan we're giving you today for 6 months he believed in me because I believed in myself he could see that I believed in myself so he told me he said I have a limit of $100,000 and if you don't pay this money I'll be sacked literally you have 6 months to pay this money back the man believed in me because my story was very compelling and he could see that I really wanted to do well for myself and believed in my ideas so basically it was because of the idea now fortunately I was able to pay the money back within 2 months um so then that opened other doors for me and that's how I mooved from telecoms to oil and gas I mean bottom line that's how I started so I started in telecoms but I started with the idea of belief and persistence and just going for what you believe in so what's the first thing that you did in the oil and gas space ooo so oil and gas um the first thing I started doing oil and gas was in the tra I started with the trading sector so I I I looked at oil and gas and I went I was I find surprising how do people go deep in the ocean and find oil and gas so I was really interested in that and we tried in 2006 to apply for an acreage in the ocean I was 26 I didn't have any technical Financial Muscle to do that and the government of Ghana rejected our application and told us we don't have the financial or technical um capabilities which is true so what did I do I decided to invest my telecoms um profits that I've made to create and build the capacity both the financial and the technical capacity to get into the oil and gas so I reinvested the proes that I made so I could have gone out Balling on Lamborghinis and stuff but I believe in my dream so I made a transition from you know investing in myself investing in my business investing what I believe in that's how I made a transition from telecoms to oil and gas you real quick because I and I'm going let you go but you said that you had to apply to get acreage that's so foreign us so you you found a PE like water and said like we want this space how did this process go like you knew that was here like how did it go so it's quite interesting I mean uh currently I own an asset which is like the size of New York City so it's about 7 Make some noise for that man yo this is not an everyday thing what yeah I own an asset deep in the ocean it's about the size of New York City um it's about 70 kilometers you know in the ocean if you if you're on a chopper it will take about 45 minutes to get there on a chopper if you're in a boat maybe 8 hours but it's about the size of New York City it's very it's really huge and you literally got to use something this big to find oil now think about it it's very very tedious yeah deep in the ocean so what happens is you you on your own go to the government and say hey I think this area has potential of having oil or gas or whatever it is and you want to do a partnership with the government you're going to invest all your money you're going to take all the risk if you lose money money that's on you if you win money the government gets a good you know a percentage of it a part of it and you share the profits with the government and it took me literally I applied in 200 the first application 2006 they told me I didn't have the capability I went back built the capability and came back in 2012 and reapplied then they were like this was made this not made for ghanians I mean we we didn't even make the laws thinking someone from Ghana is going to do it now think about it even our brothers in Nigeria had not done it deep in the ocean you a ghanian want to do this are you out of your mind because you have to understand a lot of times people think of their own um challenges as your challenges right they don't see the your ambition is not as you know ambitious as their or whatever it is so um I reapplied it took 6 Years 2012 then it was it was in 20 it took four years of me basically knocking on the do of government to say listen just give me the opportunity to prove that we to can do it that's all I was trying to say I'm no so I just wanted to change the narrative because you know a lot of times we believe that we as minorities cannot cannot do things you know we cannot go to space we going to do other things because certain things are reserved for let me give you an example if you tell some of your friends you're thinking about building a spaceship to go to the Moon they're going to tell you what yeah you crazy exactly so they're looking at me telling them I'm going to go into the ocean to find oil and gas like you out of your damn mind really that's how they felt but you don't I I don't blame them because that's what we know we've only seen other people of color do it we all are put out of our surroundings you know so if you don't see people like you doing stuff sometimes you just think it's not possible for people like us to do stuff but I wanted to just basically change that and after being persistent for you know 4 years they were like okay you know what go ahead let's let's see what you can do you know we're going to wa you make a fool of yourself and um Lord and behold um we we we went ahead um we drilled we we we currently have over 2 billion barrels of oil and um a whole lot of gas we clap it up you know so um we we it just tells you that we are so capable of doing so much more than we think we can do absolutely we basically put self-limitations on ourselves I mean we put limitations on ourselves and I think we in competitions with ourselves we need to just push ourselves and have you know a lot of Believe in Us um to achieve whatever our goals are I'm sure somebody in the crowd has an amazing idea for 2024 can you talk to us about how to overcome that fear be relentless as hell and going after what we want to make that a reality there are there are a few things which um I a couple of things which I think is very important the first thing I want to talk about is people of color who are blessed with wealth and opportunity we tend to think that entrepreneurship and success is a zero some game meaning if you get a billion dollars then I cannot get a billion dollars so if I hear that you doing something great which has the potential for you getting a billion dollars but because I have half a billion no I no no no no no you can do that I'm going to do whatever I can or maybe I will not do anything to help you which will enable you to get to that goal so a lot of what I have noticed is a lot of wealthy black people don't want other people with potential to do well so I think that that is the first thing that we need to focus on how to accept the fact that we all can be successful all of us there's no reason why no one here shouldn't be you know it's perfectly fine that we all can be successful uccessful and the second thing that I want us to go into 2024 with is that you can do it too you can do it to what's the difference between you and Elon Musk does he have two heads until you show me someone that has two heads don't tell me I can't do it you don't know what I'm capable of yes I understand you know so you should believe in yourself because that self-doubt is what is really killing us so these are the two main things I want us to really go in 2024 with you know let's see how we can help each other and let's have some faith in ourselves and believe we can do it as a as a followup real quick where does that belief in yourself come from cuz not everyone has that and the most important thing that I want everyone to leave with here is that they can do it but where does that undying belief from yourself come from I mean as I said I think we are all a product of our surroundings um you know I I I as I said I moved back to Ghana I didn't have a plan even it was very difficult I used to run out of gas I didn't have money to buy gas I want out the gas but not once did I feel like I was poor psychologically I felt like my money was coming it's just a matter of time so I've always had that feeling if you sit there thinking it ain't going to work out it ain't going to work probably ain't going to work out but if you believe it's going to work out failures are going to come through your way however these failures are actually lessons to get you to where you need to get to so that's that's where I get that that's where I get that from man I love that quick followup to that oil and gas is a competitive space right and so as you're breaking new ground especially for the country what is it like from the competition what kind of challenges are you facing I'm sure there's people are like no we can't let him win wo yeah it was a tough one um because I'm I'm the first of our kind to really break through it was really challenging so a lot of entities try their best to ensure that I will not be able to achieve that now let me give you an example I I was in a meeting with um a company in Houston oil and gas company so you know we all doing well we having a chat so it's like so how did you start I'm like well I took the profits that I made in my Downstream which is the trading business reinvested all my profit in the Upstream because you know when you drill one well it's about $100 million one well $100 million and I didn't have no bank loan okay no bank is going to give me a loan no local bank was has the ability to help and no foreign bank because I'm black you're crazy you're not going to give you any money so the guy was looking at me and I'm like I reinvested my profits he said you did what he said when I set up my company I resigned from an organization I set up a company and Blackstone gave me $400 million that's how I started I didn't even have an asset they gave me $400 million and said go figure out you know which oil asset you can acquire so he looked at me like you did what you Ed your own what so it's it's very challenging but out of all those challenges comes the blessings and comes the sources so if you believe in your yourself if you believe in what you're doing you put your own money in think about what what the next person is going to do or what the bank so now I have people like you know running around me following me with money say you know just we want to invest in you or we want to give you a loan or whatever it is but I basically use my own um profits I have no debts no nothing like that to this day I still have no loans that I have I have no loans that I've drawn down on I have have lines but have not drawn down on anything so sometimes if you believe in your stuff you got to put in your own money and don't always expect because they they don't want us to win you have to understand they don't want you to win you know you got to take it you got to believe in that you got to keep it going you know I'm going to give nothing for free fact stay away from they but let me ask you this we was talking backstage there's a lot of Americans here and we talking about people you know opportunities in Africa and where in Africa and different things and you were saying like there's just so many opportunities right so can you speak on that for the for the Americans that may want to start businesses or have some Investments you know what what perspective can you can you give them okay so first of all I think that when people look at investment opportunities the first thing that they think about is capital I don't agree I think the first thing you got to think about is an idea what it is that you want to do the way I see Africa is this so I see America or the West as a farm a very sophisticated Farm they have all kinds of things planted of the farm and if you want to be successful you need to find a niche and you have to work at it very hard before you can plant something for it to grow and be successful that's how I see it and I see Ghana and Africa as a bare land you just have to find a spot get some cow manure put it there plant something that you think you can really sell sprinkle with some water and then it will work out so I feel like there's so much opportunity here however we don't think of any ideas and sometimes you just you figure it out on the ground I my background is accounting and finance I didn't know nothing about Telecom I don't know nothing about oiling gas but I figured out you know being around just being in Ghana so please don't always think of oh I need to find $500,000 so I need to find $100,000 so I need to no just there are so much opportunity here there are people that came here with n to nothing you gave us a great example of the porter potties yeah tell us about that like you were saying like so many things that you don't even think about and then it's like by the time you actually figure it out it's already done like the Porta party situation for yeah yeah so because I mean what people want to is people want to follow the train they want to they want to go where they hear you know oh this line of business is really Successful by the time you hear this a really good line of business it's over too L I mean I mean people have made the most out of it and you know the entry barrier will be higher the returns are going to be lower and stuff and like I said it it could be as simple as you know creating any brand anything at all from here you know so it could be real estate it could be you you name it I mean real estate back 10 years ago 15 years ago was way better than I guess than it is today today and the people that got involved back then you know I think I gave an example people that jumped on Tesla back in the day are way better up than people that are trying to jump on Tesla now but there are a lot of opportunities you have to just figure it out I don't want to really direct anyone into any particular space but it's just so Broad and just think about it this way it's bare land you basically figure out what you want to plant you know and have a successful Harvest so it's it's your call you have to figure it out your business plans that you did in college and stuff is not going to work over here I'm going to let you know that you know forget that business plan and this that no you know SWAT what was it SW SWAT forget all that all that no this is the real deal this the jungle this this this your um um most people have their college degree this is your Masters your PhD this is the real deal yeah and what I want to let you know is there's so much opportunity and the returns here the kind of returns you can make here is very difficult to make it in the west a lot of times don't sleep on Africa do not sleep on Africa one thing I will tell you is that the wealthiest black man who look like us is from where Africa where did he make the money Africa so why are we slacking I think there's opportunity here for all of us what kind of returns are we looking at as an American Business person if we come here plant what kind of returns are you expecting and also from all your successes and failures what are like the three biggest lessons that you've gained from them in terms of returns I think each and everyone have a different expectations but one thing that I can tell you is that the returns that I have seen in Africa I don't think I would have seen that elsewhere I'm going to talk about myself um I have an opportunity that I've invested let's say I've invested maybe $150 million in an opportunity and the returns Maybe billion so I don't know what multiples that is you know so a lot it's a lot it's a lot right if you do the ma it's a lot a whole lot but there are some you know someone may like I said I started with I didn't have any Capital so you don't don't don't look at it as what am I going to really get out of this don't look at it from that side look at it as how do I get over this challenge so this is a challenge I want to be able to get over it because if you're able to get over the challenge the sucess will come after that you know you don't don't try and figure out the money part the money part will come you know the returns might be like I didn't think I mean I knew I was going to be successful I didn't think I was going to be this successful I ain't going to lie you know sometimes I got to pinch myself is this real like so you may think maybe you may be coming to Ghana you're like oh I want to make a million dollars that's what that's what you may think but the the things that you are doing the opportunity could actually make you $20 million but because in your mind you want to make a million bucks as soon as you make a million bucks o you're comfortable yeah the Lamborghini is about to come out so you know you know instead of you maybe focusing on you know improving the business and you know working smart and stuff like that you you put you set limitations so I don't really like that part I think that the opportunities here are really really unlimited in terms of the rewards so I don't like it to be that way I mean some banks used to give like 10% fixed deposit interest rates you put your money in the bank you don't do nothing they give you 10% pay you know so I'm just saying this there are real opportunities over here you just have to figure it out you spoke about the the wealthiest man black man in the world he comes from Africa uh comes from Nigeria I wonder at this level are are there mentors are there people that inspire you right because what you're doing in oil and gas I know in Nigeria that was a project that they were working on rather than being the one of the biggest Imports of oil trying to now become one of the biggest exports of it are you guys leaning on each other or are we just watching success happen and saying that's inspiring or is there a connection here um I I've never really had a mentor um but which is okay it's fine some people you know have mentors um but I've never really have a mentor however I think as I said we are all a product of our surroundings you learn you know subconsciously from people I've been blessed to have you know a mother and father who were entrepreneur entrepreneurs I think looking back now I've learned a lot from them without even knowing I was learning from them um I have a sister who was an entrepreneur and I feel I've learned from her without necessarily knowing I think that you know you see people do things um and you might even be in college or it might be in high school you might learn from some professors or you know so so that's what that's how it worked out for me I didn't have the opportunity to sit down with anyone who um had experience because first of all most people didn't want you to get in the business they they saw me as a young guy who's a threat they didn't want me to get involved so I didn't have the opportunity um if you have the opportunity to have a mentor I think that's a very good thing I just never had had that experience and it's fine it's okay because uh if you are serious and you are Focus you running 100 me you know 100 m race or a th000 m race you you're serious about a Finish Line it doesn't matter if someone is giving you a word of encouragement or stuff however like I said I've had people who have given me advice on various things on person life and other things which all play a role in in your business life but I've never had uh a mentor um um to steered me um to to avoid you know mistakes that have been made by them or whatever it is but it's fine it's okay to have it's great to have and it's okay if you don't have as well we talked about some opportunities what are some challenges that you know the continent faces we were at uh Davos last year we at the Africa house and they spoke about you know U not being able to travel from a variety of different countries for African citiz cens and the trade process and that was a major um concern and I see you know countries now starting to lift travel bands and make it easier and not have so from your perspective as an African on the continent what are some challenges that you know you think could be improved across the continent as far as business is concerned I I think the biggest issue that we need to overcome is US ourselves and how we deal with each other um that's the most important thing how we deal with each other is the most important thing because see divide and conquer is really is real so think about it this way if you are from let's say Kenya and you have the capacity to operate a mining field and you are a bank in Kenya and you can give him money to mine the the gold or whatever mining field it is you are cutting out the International Banks you are cutting out all those people so the issue that we have here is this whole thing of we cannot do it by ourselves we need Aid we need foreign assistance and stuff like that so that is really ingrained in us and if we are able to figure it out that listen let's give us people of color the opportunity to try certain things you know yes we're going to make mistakes but believing in ourselves and trying to you know help each other I think is the only way forward CU by so doing all these visa restrictions all these other things you know a lot of some countries give foreign like Europeans visa on arrival pmit but an African need a visa how about that you know what I mean so but if we are really you know working together as um for the sucess of the continent we will let we will let lose all those um barriers that that we put up so I think it's more about as as dealing with ourselves very well and and and you stop the hypocrisy if you were starting a new business in 2024 what would be the five things you were focus on each stay to grow that business like 1,000% in one or two years um no we need the real answer yeah well I mean I I leave I breathe I sleep oil and gas I I know it inside out um uh if someone to ask me would you do it all over again I'll do it all over again and know again and again so if if I'm to start another business it's going to be in the oil and gas industry oil and gas industry um uh is look nothing nothing comes easy and you simply don't even know the ANW sometimes you just fig like I said you just figure it out on the job you know like you you started you said you want to make a th% returns uh sorry look I just lost um I just lost a friend um right before I got on stage literally a few minutes ago very good friend of mine childhood friend um I'm sure she had plans uh you know sometimes you may have all these plans but things don't work out the way it's supposed to work out which is fine so you may want to make 1,000% maybe if you get into the business you may make 10% you may make 20% it is fine like I said earlier you can start a water bottle business it may last only 2 3 years but you may make some money out of that and you may learn some experiences out of that out of that you going into making microphones which work business a needed business yeah you know and and so sometimes it's okay to start from somewhere it may not turn out to be what you expected to be and you transition to something else but all that is part of you know you being built to something greater you know what I mean so yeah so sometimes yeah you might want 2,000% I mean I think everyone here wants 10,000% returns but more importantly what are the habits that you're doing every if you can only pick five things that I'm doing these tasks in my business what are some of those to help them going into 24 I mean so persistence like you need to be persistent you can't you know you can't just give up because they said no you can't just give up because you started a new field you need to be persistent very very important you you need to you need to do your best to be very honest with yourself um if you know you don't have the ability to put together a team to help you build a rocket and you don't have the ability to raise a funding to help you build a rocket don't don't don't be going around saying you're going to go to the moon like no one's we're going to take it serious you need to be honest with yourself if you really want to be successful um uh the other thing that I person believe in this prayer so I don't know about you everyone might have something different but I believe in prayer prayer works for me so you know I I go for the twopiece prayer and persistence I've always worked for me um you need to really you know some people are very good with analyzing situations you know I have a friend he's very smart but he's not entrepreneur but he's a good manager you know if you want to jump into the pool he will go and time by the pool and dip his toe come back analyze all these things 2 hours he still hasn't jumped in the pool as an entrepreneur if you really believe in what you are doing you just sometimes just got to go to go for you just got to go for it just do it you know don't don't be don't be trying and overthink it you you overthinking it bro you're going to win you're going to lose two options what else is there so you know so a lot of times we keep on hesitating I think we just got to go just just do it so these are the things that I believe that should be the basics and the fundamentals to whatever it is that we are trying to achieving business I love it you spoke about coming here to Ghana obviously oil and gas was on the Forefront of your mind are there other countries no it wasn't I didn't even know about o gas before you came you still doing Telecom that became the business are there other countries on the continent there 54 that people should be looking at that there's opportunities inside of them as well right because we know Ghana and for America it feels like this is the first place we got to come talk about some of some of the pros and cons of of some of the countries and where are those countries uh on the the continent great question Nigeria is the biggest you know um country in uh in this region I mean I think is the big biggest economy in Africa right now um definitely um West in terms of West Africa uh Nigeria is is is a big dog um it has a lot of opportunity it has some cons um which I think uh they are working on some security issues but um Nigeria Nigeria Nigeria has has opportunities um a lot of African countries have opportunities I think we need to stop watching Discovery Channel so much with kids with C Co and you know flies and stuff there are real opportunities in Africa look GE is here Microsoft they all on the continent all these Blue Chip companies are on the continent so I don't want to limit any country I mean we have operations in other African countries as well some in the um uh French speaking countries Bina Mali all over so you know you just have to figure out what it is um that works for you if it doesn't work for you in Ghana it doesn't mean it will not work for you in um in Nigeria it will't work for you in Congo you know Angola Rwanda Kenya I mean it's it's it's it's huge it's massive so you have to figure out your Niche and what works I just believe Ghana is a gateway to Africa and then through the Gateway you can go yeah yeah you can go wherever else you want to go so that's that's my opinion Africa is open I mean Ghana is open for business but Africa is also open for business so we want to thank you generous with your time my last question is um in 10 years what's what's your plan how do where do you see yourself you know in 10 years from now this this hits a bit hard because like I just said you know I I I I I lost the send condolences too far that's fine I've lost two close people to me within the last five six weeks um and what I've learned from this is that a lot of times we focus so much on the past and the future and we don't enjoy you know you know the the moment that we are in I think we need to start enjoying the moment that we are in we need to start and what do I mean by that if there's something that I can do today I'm going to get it done today I love that if there's someone that I can help today I'm going to help you today I am not going to wait next week because you know what this moment is guaranteed 2 hours from now is not guaranteed so 10 hour 10 10 years from now is not guaranteed so I think uh my perspective have kind of changed a little bit from losing friends who were close to me who I was with a few hours before they passed and what I'm saying to myself is I'm going to make the best out of my life on The Daily Business every minute that I'm blessed with I'm going to make the best out of it I'm going to work as hard as I can I'm going to do as much as I can and I'll try to enjoy life as much as I can because all the plans that we make are not guaranteed when we leave here nothing is guaranteed so my my my kind of new um approach is yes I have plans you know we have we want to take over Africa we we want to be able to touch so much lives you know we support um about 10,000 underprivileged children we want to move it to about a million you know under privil children we want to make sure that we are we are we are we are we are the go-to company in Africa all those things yes they're all well and good but I want to enjoy the moments I want to enjoy now I want to enjoy all the people that are here um in Ghana you know and wish everyone the best of luck or whatever it is they doing now I'm not going to wait and wish the best of luck whatever they doing in the next 5 years so that's how I see life right now make some Ladi brother thank
