Almost everyone has a busy schedule nowadays. If you have a 9 to 5 job, a family, side hustles and a social life to maintain, 24 hours is barely enough. So when Raymond Chinyani, Head of Finance at Bensizwe Group, a multinational management consulting practise with operations in South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo agreed to talk to us we were gratified. Still in his early 30s he holds an executive position. He has come from far and is going far.
The first question is always tell me about yourself, who is Raymond?
I am male (chuckles), born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe and the first born in a family of five. I went to St Peters Primary School, right in the heart of Harare and later Cranborne Boys High School. After high school, I worked at OK Zimbabwe and later moved to South Africa going to University.
How did you get to where you are? Was finance always your first option getting into University?
I’ve always wanted to be in finance, specifically auditing, since I was about eight years old. I remember my father’s good friend was an auditor and I always admired how successful he was so after I completed high school I didn’t apply for anything else besides finance. I pushed through and here I am.
To answer the first question, my biggest secret is, to never give up on your dream. If you have something you want go for it, even if it doesn’t work, you get up and dust yourself and go at it again. Don’t listen to what people say, keep fighting, keep pushing and keep being the best that you can be. We all have one life to live just take your best shot at it.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement in life?
Staying truthful to myself and going for the things I have always wanted to go for. Despite all the negativity we sometimes go through as individuals and knowing how difficult it is to sacrifice the luxuries of the current moment for the things that you want to achieve in the long term, like the fancy phones and apartments, etc. I managed to sacrifice those things and now I look back and I’m so grateful for all those decisions that I made.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up? What kept you going?
If you know what you want in life, no matter how difficult the environment might be, you will always remain focused. So yes, there were times I felt like giving up. What’s critically important is to know and understand what you want in life and understand what it is going to cost you. In the process of going towards what you want and the process becomes strenuous you will continue on the right course because you understand the cost of it. Obviously there are times I felt like giving up and people discouraged me but because I knew what I wanted and I knew exactly how much it will cost me I remained focused.
Prayer is critically important. There are times you don’t quite understand what is going on but if you have God on your corner, fighting for you, telling you that it’s going to be okay, telling you never give up and keep focused on the cross. You will go far as an individual.
Being in the cooperate world do you ever intend to start a business, if yes, which area would you focus on?
Definitely, starting a business is my next move from here, something of my own. Which industry or business? That is quite tricky. I have learnt that business ideas come based on revelations that come into your mind. With the fast paced world we live in it’s difficult to predetermine to say I want to be in this particular space of business. I will use the example of Bill Gates, I think he never really intended on becoming a mega billionaire from IT, he saw something and grabbed the opportunity. Look at Jack Ma, look at Strive Masiyiwa, and look at Motsepe who never intended to be a mining mogul. He saw an opportunity and grabbed it. So I’m just open minded. If I see something and I see it makes sense then I will go with it.
How do you describe yourself in one word or three words that best describe you?
Resourceful
Quick-witted
Diligent
What is your favourite quote?
The ladder of success does not care who climbs it.
So whether you are short, tall, dark, white, black, Christian, Muslim… whatever background you come from you can still make it life, rich or poor.
About the Author
Ruth Sameke is an International Relations and Politics graduate with monumental love for simple words turned into a read. She writes her own blog, https://virtuousruth.wordpress.com and she loves spoken word poetry. She has dreams of becoming a seasoned and accomplished writer.