Full Name: Adam Molai
Position: Chairperson of TRT Investments, a diversified investment company which operates in West and Southern Africa and has recently made forays into the US and European markets
Main Activity of the Company: Investment holding company
Date and Place of Birth: September 15, 1971, Harare, Zimbabwe
Education: First-class honours commerce degree, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
First Job: Articled clerk, Ernst & Young Chartered Accountants
Career History Prior to Current Position: I have been an entrepreneur since graduation
Size of First Pay Packet: $650 a month
First Job with Present Group: Chairperson
Value of Assets under Your Control: $125-million
Number of People under Your Leadership: More than 1 200
Management Style: Visionary and pacesetting
Personal Best Achievement: I graduated valedictorian, receiving two of Lakehead University’s top three awards, and was named Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Businessman of the Year before the age of 30
Professional Best Achievement: Leading the transformation of the Zimbabwe tobacco industry from under 5 000 farmers to spearhead a contract farming system which democratised the tobacco industry to over 15 000 farmers, creating a new middle class from former peasant farmers
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My mother, Betty Molai
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: My late father, Munosi Phillip Molai
Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Warren Buffett
Philosophy of Life: Your attitude determines your altitude; we are created as distribution systems – the more we distribute, the more we receive to distribute
Biggest Ever Opportunity: Leading the transformation of an entire national tobacco system
Biggest Ever Disappointment: Abandoning an 8 000-home development project in Zimbabwe owing to political insecurities
Hope for the Future: To see Africa sitting at the global economic table; currently, the continent is on the menu of those sitting at the global economic table
Favourite Reading: Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete against Brand Leaders, by Adam Morgan
Favourite TV Programme: Dallas, a TV series from my youth – I now barely watch TV other than news
Favourite Food/Drink: Peanut butter rice, hardbody chicken and green vegetables
Favourite Music: Redemption Song, by Bob Marley
Favourite Sport: Tennis
Favourite Website: None
Hobbies: My work is my hobby
Car: Sports-utility vehicles
Pets: Dogs
Miscellaneous Dislikes: Disharmony/disunity
Favourite Other South African Company: SABMiller – it grew from a South African company to a global behemoth
Favourite Foreign Company: Berkshire Hathaway
Married: To Sandra, since October 1998
Children: Thabiso, 20; Rafilwe, 17; Tshepo, 12
Clubs: Formerly Rotary, now nothing