When you hear the word billionaire, the first thing that comes to mind is a person with lots of cash.
These people are always expected to walk around with lots of cash, but in most cases, many billionaires prefer living a life free of showing off.
While many billionaires choose to live a humble life and rarely show off, most of them always have some cash on them. However, the situation is different for Kenyan billionaire who never walks with any cash on him.
Speaking during an interview with Business Daily, Narendra Raval; Chairman, Devki Group of Companies who is popularly known as Guru divulged that he does not have M-Pesa, never walks with cash or bank cards.
According to the 58-year old business mogul estimated to be worth $500 million (Sh50 billion), he only walks around with his car keys.
“I don’t have M-Pesa…I don’t carry cash. Or cards. I only have my car key. Can I tell you something? If you took me now, with nothing on me, no cash, no phone, and you dropped me in arid land in Ethiopia or Somalia, I will build another Devki dynasty in no time without taking a penny from anywhere or knowing anybody,” he said.
Additionally, the business mogul noted that he does know how much money he has, arguing that “the day you start counting your money that is the end.”
Explaining why he does not count his money, Narendra noted that: “Because my money is not what I have in the bank. My money is the 6,500 people who work for me. My money is the oxygen that patients in hospitals are now breathing because we donated. My money is the food on plates of poor children. That is my wealth, not what I spend on myself or my company or my family.”
On what it takes to succeed and become a business mogul like him, Narendra noted that one needs to be courageous, be focused, and have a big dream.
“It’s not magic. I realised that many people who are cleverer than me never quite find the same success. Making money, lots of money is about courage. First, most successful people are courageous. They take risks. You can’t be a successful businessman if you don’t take risks…The second thing is focus. Have you watched big cats hunt on National Geographic? Once a lion has started chasing prey, it will focus on one animal even though many will run before him, many that look easy to catch, he will only go for this one animal.
“Third, you are only as big as your biggest dream. When I was very poor, I didn’t have a shoe on my foot. Do you know what I used to dream of? A helicopter. Can you believe how insane and unrealistic that was? Not a motorcycle, not a big shop…a helicopter. I didn’t even know how to spell helicopter but I worked for it and I never forgot that dream,” he said.
