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