Relationships Mean Everything To Your Entrepreneurial Success, Says This Young CEO

As an entrepreneur, Derrydean Dadzie has experienced the type of success that makes him a model for all young businessmen and women. Having started his company DreamOval Limited in 2007 at the age of 24 with a few friends, Dadzie now heads a staff of 25 that serves the financial sector, among other industries, with his software. One of his most prominent clients is Ghana Commercial Bank, the country's biggest.

Dadzie may inspire others to follow in his footsteps as a youthful CEO, and the entrepreneur emphasizes that regardless of a person's age, building connections will always be key to one's success.

"Entrepreneurship [comes from] within," Dadzie said in a recent interview. "Your challenges and how you perceive them determine how you take opportunities around you. There's no specific age, but to succeed as an entrepreneur you need to know people. So your life should be built around building good relationships with people."

Dadzie, who admitted in a television interview he "didn't care" about relationships when he first started his company, says that his core agenda as head of DreamOval is to improve technological efficiency in Ghana, mainly through the improvement of e-commerce. The result of his work in this area has facilitated the use of millions of bank accounts in a mobile fashion.

No matter how important the creation of good products becomes to DreamOval, though, Dadzie insists on that strengthening relationships is a primary factor associated with  an entrepreneur's growth.

"You need to let people trust you and it can only happen through the way you talk, approach people and the way you show them what you know," he said. "That process should be started from a very tender age and that forms the basis of becoming a good entrepreneur. You don't build a successful business around products. A successful business thrives on good relationships."

If there is any example to confirm that Dadzie's words provide a legitimate piece of advice, it is the businessman's own success story, as his company had to rely on the help of others during its earliest days.

"Funds came from friends and family and personal savings of the co-founders," said Dadzie when asked how he supported his business early on. "We didn't spend a lot of money on ourselves… A classmate of ours donated money to us and we bought our own wood and with a carpenter's help, made our own furniture. A colleague's uncle gave us money to rent a small office. The passion was there and that was what drove us."

As he moves forward, the CEO, who says he prefers describing himself as chief doer, aims to help not only himself, but others as well. Dadzie plans to strengthen his network even further, looking to make DreamOval more successful, backed by various partnerships that simultaneously propel the careers of other young entrepreneurs.

"We want to go global by expanding our territories and partner network. We have partners in Singapore and Kenya, plus relationships in USA that contribute immensely to our bottom-line. We also want to set up a technology campus called “Dreamville” to train and raise technology entrepreneurs. We have already acquired the land, and are working on it."

Via: HowWeMadeItInAfrica.com, Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Google+