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“You don’t want to have a situation where when the founder dies, the business dies with the founder,” he said. “Business should be created so that it goes on for 100 years.”
For many people, retirement is a time to slow down. For Dr. Andrew Asamoah, it was the beginning of a much bigger mission.
The founder of A&C Mall says he walked away from a successful career with the United Nations despite having a comfortable pension because he wanted to build something that would outlive him.
“I had a very comfortable pension and there was no need for me to go into business,” he told Kafui Dey. “I just went into business because I wanted to create something for the family and to do something for my country.”
For Dr. Asamoah, A&C was never meant to be a personal achievement. It was designed as a family enterprise from the very beginning.
“When we say A&C, it is Andy and Cecilia,” he said, referring to himself and his late wife, Cecilia. “The two of us put this together. From the very beginning, the whole concept was that it was going to be family.”
He believes more African entrepreneurs should intentionally build businesses that survive beyond the lives of their founders.
“You don’t want to have a situation where when the founder dies, the business dies with the founder,” he said. “Business should be created so that it goes on for 100 years.”
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