JOSHUA OIGARA: The school you went to should not hinder your success

KCB CEO Joshua Oigara. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Do not listen to the noises around you. For me, it has been a journey of relentless determination, discipline, consistency and believing in myself.

You need to define your purpose in life. This means that you need to decide about what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it.

The various problems you face in life should not hinder you from achieving your desired dreams because success only comes to those who are prepared. It’s not what others say about you, it’s what you do.

There’s no short-cut to success. One must be willing to put in more effort than everyone else to be better. I have always believed in working hard to get what I want. Inside me, I knew I

wanted to become a CEO of a blue chip company by the time I hit 40. I have now set new targets for myself.

Forge your own path. Do not listen to the noises around you. For me, it has been a journey of relentless determination, discipline, consistency and believing in myself.

Always strive for excellence since it is the only key to your progress. You need to stand out and be identified from the crowd, show the world that you are the best. If I were to hinge my chances

of success on the schools I went to, then I wouldn’t be where I am now. 

Listen, talk less and do more. That is how most successful leaders made it in this world.

 FAUVORITE BOOK

As a captain of industry, this reading widely is key

Good to Great by Jim Collins. The book shows how great companies triumph over time, and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning.

It helped me understand a number of issues around how good companies, mediocre companies and even bad companies achieve enduring greatness. For many years, like Jim Collins, I asked

myself whether there are companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority. As a captain of an industry, reading widely is key, since there are

many factors beyond this industry that concern my sector.  I owe my success to the fact that such books have continued to inspire me to be a better leader in my areas of jurisdiction.

ONE QUESTION

What were you doing at 25 years?

I was working at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). When I left college, I had four job offers -I opted for PwC. As a young man in his 20s, this was exciting. I was also happy that my career path

was forming itself. I would say things happened fast, but I was working hard at it.

I had a motto that kept proding me on, “Doing my best is the only thing I have got.”

I see life as a marathon. When you are racing in the Olympics, you run knowing it is the only race you have got, that you won’t get a second chance in that particular race.