Words of Wisdom from James Mworia (CEO Centum Investment) – By Mwangi Ndegwa

On the 26th of May 2015, I was invited to join AfricaTalentbank.com Brand Ambassadors (BAs), for an...


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On the 26th of May 2015, I was invited to join AfricaTalentbank.com Brand Ambassadors (BAs), for an interactive session with Mr James Mworia, CEO of Centum Investment, one of East Africa’s largest Private Equity firms.

I must say, I would classify this as one of the best experiences I have had so far because what I learned from Mr Mworia in one hour, would have taken me an entire lifetime to learn. Mr Mworia rose from filing clerk to CEO of Centum.

Below I share some of the pointers I took away and I believe the ATB BAs each have their own lessons so this list is not exhaustive. Mr Mworia told us:

  •  Wherever you find yourself in life know that that’s an opportunity to shine so use it well.
  • Nobody will spend more time thinking about you but yourself so make sure you have good and positive thoughts about yourself.
  • Learn to be positive and believe that you are going to succeed no matter how long it takes.
  • Wherever you go, make sure you leave a mark or evidence to show that you were there and not just passing but doing something that had a positive impact in that particular place.
  • You cannot get out more than you put in and your attitude will determine where you end up.
  • You cannot substitute enthusiasm for competence. Remember competence brings results and for competence to bring results you have to work and work hard and be ready to make sacrifices.
  • Whatever you do, make sure you add value to it.
  • You can only have two outcomes in life: Results or Reasons. You will be remembered for Results not reasons so prepare to give results.
  • When you choose to do something give it your best and do more. Learn to go the extra mile because you never know which new destination this extra mile may land you in. It might get you to that dream job, financial breakthrough promotion or even a life time partner.
  • All of us have opportunities but the question we should always ask ourselves is “how prepared are we?
  • The measure of your character is what it takes to stop you once you have set yourself to do something.
  • You are the average of the five people that you spend time with so ask yourself whether you like the characters of the people that you spend time with if not, then it’s the high time you changed your friends.
  • The best place to make an investment is in you. This one investment that can never go bankrupt and the returns are assured so make sure that you keep improving yourself mentally, socially, spiritually and physically.
  • The most valuable asset and resource that you can ever have is time but it is quite scarce so make proper use of it.
  • Failing is not when you don’t succeed in the thing you were trying to do but it’s when you choose to give up on your dreams, visions and aspirations.
  • When you choose to do something, expect challenges but remain focused and keep track of your goals.
  • Life is like a race and we`ve all been sent out to compete but we should keep in mind that we were not sent out to start but to finish the race so keep on keeping on.

I hope you all get inspired and motivated as I did to continue pursuing your goals and inspirations in life and for those of us who had given up, I believe we all have gotten the impetus to revive and push them forward to completion.

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