The Managing Director of FBNBank Ghana, Mr Victor Yaw Asante, has indicated that the career of Azumah Nelson, the former WBC Super-Featherweight champion, holds very useful lessons, life skills and themes for success which everyone, in all fields of endeavour, will find useful and must do well to adopt.

Mr Asante said this at FBNBank’s 2021 staff engagement event which also had the retired boxing legend as the guest speaker.

According to the MD of FBNBank Ghana, “the career of Professor Azumah Nelson is literally filled with a lot of lessons, life skills and themes which everyone who intends to be successful in his or her career, business or in life generally, should adopt.”

“Not many people can travel through the various phases of his life and rise to the top of his division, and most importantly stay there for about 10 years. Azumah’s life offers key lessons for all of us today and brings to the fore the realisation that mere ambition cannot get us to the top.

“What is obvious after listening to his story is that what is most important is being able to stay at the top for a decent stretch of time, not just being able to get there. One can pick up themes such as ‘focus’, ‘discipline’, ‘overcoming adversity’, ‘resilience’ and ‘teamwork’.

He added: “There are a thousand and one stories of people from humble beginnings climbing to the top. However, what makes us pay attention are those few stories of those who are able to stay at the top long enough to make a difference.”

“ And we at FBNBank are happy and humbled to learn from the story of this home-grown talent who rose to be a world-beater and received global recognition for his resilience, humility and durability.”

Engagement

The FBNBank Staff Engagement event is a platform for management and staff to evaluate performance and discuss measures to deliver on the bank’s brand promise to all stakeholders even as they strive to achieve business expectations.

It is also a team building platform which largely fosters unity and teamwork, aiming to do away with working in silos and any slack in service quality.

Azumah Nelson shared his life’s story, highlighting key areas which brought out his main themes.

According to the former world boxing champion, “in life you need focus, determination, discipline and teamwork in all that you do.”

Team work

“No matter what you do for a living, you cannot do without these, most importantly teamwork. As a boxer I went into the ring alone but my team, those you used to see in my corner, all had very serious things they did for me to win.

“If my cut-man, for example, fails to do his work well when I get a cut, the referee can stop the fight and we will all go home empty-handed. If I do not listen to my trainer’s instructions during the break and also in our preparations for the fight, it will surely not go well with us, so you see everyone is important. Focus, determination and discipline are also important.”

Determination

He added: “I remember when I was a child. I saw a young boy about my age who was a boxer and I concluded that I could whip him so I threw a challenge at his gym and his trainer allowed us to fight. Even though he gave me a good beating, I never gave up. I went there three more times to fight him, each time working on my tactics until I won a fight against him. You need to learn to pick yourself up anytime you fall and you should not be afraid of falling.”

About 250 employees of the bank, representing all levels of staff drawn from across the bank’s network in Ghana, took part in the session.

The event, which was held at the Ga Mashie Hall of the Trust Sports Emporium in Accra, was largely successful, with all participants committed to ending FBNBank’s year on a high note both in terms of their personal effectiveness and service delivery.

FBNBank Ghana has 20 branches and two agencies across the country with over 400 staff.