• He advised business owners to make their kids part of the business operations
• He also emphasized the importance of respect in maintaining businesses
Kennedy Agyapong, the owner of Kencity Group of Company has proffered reasons why most Ghanaian businesses tend to struggle to stay aloft after the death of the original owners.
This phenomenon is quite prevalent in the country with most companies either collapsing or being sold after the death of the ones who brought them up.
Kennedy Agyapong happens to be one of many Ghanaians with a fleet of companies under his watch and has admitted that sometimes he gets worried by these things.
Speaking on his Net2 Television on Friday, July 2, 2021, Kennedy Agyapong said, “sometimes when some of these businesses get sold to me, I ask if the same will happen to my businesses when I die. I get worried a lot about this.”
Kennedy Agyapong then went on to explain the reason behind the collapse of the businesses and cited a few examples.
He disclosed that most Ghanaian business owners tend to insulate their kids from the operations of their businesses.
He said this leads to a lack of institutional knowledge as the children are not able to acquaint themselves with practical lessons on how to run the companies.
Respect for people is also a contributory factor to the death of Ghanaian businesses, Kennedy Agyapong noted.
The Assin Central lawmaker said that business owners are fond of pampering their children and not teaching them the virtues of hard work and respect.
Using his personal experience, Kennedy Agyapong narrated how he is training his kids to take after him in the event that he dies.
He explained, “most Ghanaian businesses collapse after the death of owners because the owners mostly send all their children to school abroad. There is nothing wrong with that but when they are done with school…
My strategy is to get the work ethic in America and bring it here because when you do that people tend to see you as intelligent and smart. When you have acquired this, you have to come home and learn from me. I train you as a Jew. When Kenneth completed his master's course, I asked him to come down and work here. Some of his sisters have also worked here before and through that, they’ve landed good jobs.”
Agyapong added, “Each of them has targets. After your first degree, you have only five years to live in America. You have to come back so you do your master and leave. When you come down you have to learn.
Again, most of the big people who died did not even sit with their children and tell them their stories. It should be a story to serve as a caution to them. I always tell them to respect anyone who comes to my house because you never know what could happen one day.
Just as at some point we were in the village and people did not respect us and now we are here, the same way the person who comes to me could end up being someone you’ll go to. You cannot disrespect anyone because of looks. I always inculcate that idea into my kids. Respect is reciprocal so you have to give respect to people who respect you.”
“Most people pamper their kids and not allow their kids to see their sweat but that shouldn’t be the case. The children should know your story and understand your hustle so that they will appreciate what you give them. It’s the upbringing,” Kennedy Agyapong stressed.
