Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Ghana, Lucy Quist
Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Ghana, Lucy Quist has challenged people who glory themselves as entrepreneurs to establish businesses that will continue to exist even long after their departure from earth.
According to the first Ghanaian female to have been appointed as CEO of a telecom company, most entrepreneurs may fail in setting up their business but the few that succeed must make sure their business exist in several generations.
“The business we need in Africa are businesses that are bigger than entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs should extend their businesses to other jurisdiction. The business that we need in Africa has to outlive its owners. One of the reasons why we don’t have enough wealth in our continent is because we have businesses that don’t cross boundaries and generations.”
Speaking at an entrepreneurship workshop organised by JA Global at the Accra International Conference Centre, Mrs. Quist charged young entrepreneurs not to give up on their dreams, adding, strong and surviving businesses took a lot of effort and resources to build.
According to the Chartered Electrical and Electronic Engineer, entrepreneurs are innovative people who come up with their own products or solutions to human challenges, not traders or people into buy and sell businesses.
“Being self-employed and entrepreneur are two different things in my mind. Entrepreneurship seems to be the word people use a lot. The kind of entrepreneur I’m talking about is not one that buys and sells. I’m talking about people who are innovative and come up with their own products. Some who creates something new is an entrepreneur.”
