50 Years Old…...and counting

I had a cup of coffee with an old colleague this weekend. Neil and I worked together 12 years ago for GTV, a satellite Pay-TV business that operated across 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. I was the Africa CFO, he ran Operations and we often travelled together visiting subsidiaries and fixing various problems.

Neil is the newly appointed CFO for a company that runs schools in Africa. He lives in South Africa but has come to Nairobi, Kenya during the pandemic to be closer to his team and get to know the business better. For those of us in the international finance sector in Africa, there seems little unusual in that. When I say old colleague, I can tell you that Neil looks fit, slim, remains the owner of his own hair and is full of energy. Landing the CFO job wasn’t so easy because Neil tells me that he is 68 years old. When he told me that I admit I was taken aback, at least momentarily. He has all the qualifications needed for the role but his age meant that he was not eligible for the holding company’s pension scheme. He doesn’t care but that makes up part of the package and so created lots of opportunities for him not to get the job. Thankfully for him and the business, sense prevailed and they have recruited a talented, knowledgeable and experienced finance professional into their team. It was sobering to read in today’s Telegraph that amidst the job-losses around the world, “the number of people over the age of 50 who are unemployed has increased by a third over the past year. The rise is greater than any other age group according to an analysis of official data by Rest Less, which offers support for older people.”

This week I am reaching an age-related milestone of my own. I wrote last month about my 30 years in business finance and now am navel-gazing once again, contemplating my half-century due on Thursday this week. I don’t quite feel as nervous as a cricketer on the cusp of reaching his first 50 but COVID-19 has undoubtedly made the final furlong a more nervous ride. Such milestones tend to be mirrors into the past, full of multiple reflections.

In the end seeing Neil has been a great tonic. Talking to him about the inevitable challenges of a new role when he is 18 years older than I am about to be, has given me a welcome stretch to my perspective. Instead of looking back and inevitably wondering what might have been, his example spurs me to look forward and start dreaming of what I might achieve in the next 20 years, from the broad base foundation that I have pieced together over the past 5 decades.

To the company that employed Neil this year, I raise my hat. To those that find themselves shelved by age, I share this story to give you inspiration. To my age-mates I hope this little ditty stretches your outlook as much as it does mine.

Experience counts for a lot in life and I am enjoying planning how I am going to most effectively share what I have accumulated, using the latest cutting-edge tools to execute strategies that I also realise are as old as the hills. If you want to engage in this conversation then please register your participation with the Like | Comment buttons below this post. If you want to join me on the journey then subscribe below. I welcome you to join the others who have already signed up to my musings.