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31 year old Ashish Thakkar is Africa’s youngest billionaire. Born in Uganda, the young billionaire was just 13 when he and his family had to flee the continent to escape the Rwandan genocide. He started his entrepreneurial journey at age 15 after taking a $6,000 loan to start his first company.

The journey led him to found Mara Group which has become one of the largest information technology companies in Africa.


Wharton Business School recently interviewed the young business man about his foray into the business world and his remarkable success. Check out the interview below. Don’t forget to share it with your friends and associates online.

Knowledge@Wharton: You started making money at the age of 14 by selling your own computer at a profit to a family friend. After you sold it, you didn’t have a computer yourself. Why did you do it?

Ashish Thakkar: That’s how it all began. Basically my parents bought me a computer. My father’s friend came home for dinner that night. He saw it and he said, “How much did you get that for?” I told him the price but added on US$100 more than what we actually bought it for. And he said, “How many do you have?” I said, “I’ve got two.” And he asked, “What are you doing with the second one?” I said, “I’m selling it.”

He said, “OK great, could you deliver it tomorrow?” And I said, “I’ll do it after school.” So while they’re having dinner, I’m cleaning up my computer, deleting all the files, emptying the trash can, packing it up so I can deliver it. Obviously I didn’t have a second one. I delivered it the next day and I made a hundred dollars. I said, “Wow, this is doable.”

Knowledge@Wharton: What did your father say when you gave his friend a price that was a hundred dollars more than what he paid for it?

Thakkar: He was laughing. We didn’t discuss it much. We just kind of left it at that. I was a little scared that he would tell me off so I didn’t really discuss it. I just delivered it the next day and bought another computer. And I managed to sell my second one to the school.

Knowledge@Wharton: So from then on, you got into the IT business?

Thakkar: What happened was then my summer holidays came. I had two months of holidays. I was 15 and I said to my dad I would like to set up a small shop during my summer holidays and then I’ll shut down my shop and then go back to school. I did that. I set up a tiny, little shop with a US$6,000 loan. At that time, floppy disks were the hot thing. I was selling those. And then my summer holidays finished and I didn’t tell my parents immediately. After a week, they figured it out. We sat down and I said, “Look, if you want me to study, I’ll study but I’m going to end up doing this anyway. Why not let me do this now?”

My father is a pretty unconventional person and he said, “OK, fine. Go ahead and do this for a year. Do it on your own. If it doesn’t work out, you’ll have to go back to a year below your class.” I said, “Done.” So I still have that option available.

I didn’t have enough working capital to do cargoes and shipments. I would travel to Dubai every weekend. Fill my suitcase with IT stuff. Pay my taxes on Monday. Sell Tuesday through Friday. Get my cash on Friday. Go back to Dubai on Saturday and Sunday. Pay my taxes on Monday. That was my cycle for six months. And then I was thinking, “There are so many people coming to Dubai to do exactly the same thing. Why don’t I set up a base to help them? We then set up an office in Dubai when I was 15 in 1996 to actually supply IT hardware into African countries. And the rest is history.

Knowledge@Wharton: You had set up an office at 15?

Thakkar: In Dubai, you need a local sponsor. I found a local sponsor who was a senior guy in Dubai. We went to the court to register a company. They were speaking in Arabic and I didn’t understand what they were saying. And he goes to me, “There’s a mistake in the document.” And I said, “Why?” He said, “They’ve written your age as 15.” I said, “Well, I am 15.” He said, “You’re kidding. You can’t just set up a company when you’re 15.” And I said, “I am 15 and I want to set up a company.” And he said, “Oh my God. Well, your dad is going to have to fly in and sign as a guardian so he knows what you’re doing.” And I said, “That’s fine. He’ll fly in.” So the company registration got delayed by a week. So that’s how it all began and then we diversified.

Knowledge@Wharton: So now you’re in real estate, tourism, manufacturing, etc. Can you talk a bit more about the businesses you have?

Thakkar: Today, we’re in 24 countries, of which 19 are in African countries. We have about 7,000 employees in Africa. We’re in IT services. It’s the same IT company I started a few years ago and we merged it a few years ago. It’s been labeled as Africa’s largest IT company but I don’t know how true it is. We’ve got an IT company. We’ve got a call center business across Africa. We’ve got a telecom infrastructure company. We’ve got a corrugated packaging business in East and Central Africa. We’re building a paper mill in East Africa. We’ve got an agricultural project. We’re building an Intercontinental hotel, convention center, shopping mall and office park in Uganda. We’re building two hotels, shopping mall, office park and hospital in Tanzania. We’re pretty active on the real estate side. We’re building a glass manufacturing company in Nigeria. For agriculture, we’ve secured a large piece of land, about 26,000 acres in East Africa. We’re looking at potentially going into the power generation industry as well.

We’re a pretty diverse group. We advise some of the heads of state in Africa. We’re pretty active on the African front. I’m on the Global Agenda Council on the World Economic Forum for Africa and quite a few others. We speak and we’re very passionate on the African platform.

Our model is we partner with international companies who want to come to Africa and become their local partners. We typically do 50-50 partnerships. We both put in capital. We both bring different expertise to the table. That’s the idea.

Knowledge@Wharton: What sorts of traits make a good entrepreneur?

Thakkar: You need to have that passion. You need to have that vision. And the most important thing is you need to have a very high moral ground. You need to be very ethical and transparent. I think as long as those three things fit together. Passion meaning loving what you do and really enjoying it, looking forward to waking up the next morning and getting back down to it is really important. That’s what’s going to keep you going. Vision is thinking big and starting small — that’s very important. Being very honest, transparent, open and ethical is very important. Never giving anybody the raw end of the deal is very important. Making US$100 on a margin on a computer is business. That’s fine. Everyone thinks profit in business or the world doesn’t go around. You don’t want to mess people around. It’s always better to under promise and over deliver and I think that’s how relationships should be held. My father always said, “Earn with your partners and not from your partners.” What goes around comes around. It’s important to be very transparent and clean.

Knowledge@Wharton: Africa doesn’t have a reputation as being very transparent. Is that quite hard to keep those ethics while doing business in Africa?

Thakkar: We’ve definitely lost business in the past because of that. We don’t entertain that kind of stuff. Genuinely speaking, a lot of our leaders have the right passion and vision. They’re really about transformation. In that respect, it’s just important to know how to go about it. So when you are put through that bureaucracy and people are trying to frustrate the process. We manage to reach out and scream. We make sure we get the right attention. We’re not just going to start entertaining other types of stuff because that’s just not something we agree with. Principally, it’s just not the right thing to do long term at all. We’re a case study in that sense because we’re absolutely transparent and we’ve succeeded in doing business. It is a generalization.

Forget North Africa but sub-Saharan Africa has 46 countries. Even if 10 or 15 are not great, the others are. Out of the 46, I’m only in 19. Not all 19 are clean either but we have more emphasis on the ones that are.

It is doable. Africa isn’t plug and play. It is a challenging environment but as long as you have the right intentions. We don’t do any sort of business that doesn’t have a social impact on people. We don’t want to go into mining and take out minerals from countries and export them to make a quick buck. We don’t do stuff like that. We want to do things that are sustainable for the continent that will benefit people and create some sort of local beneficiation that really help the communities we work in. In that respect, it’s important to have the right intentions. You’ve got to be a long-term player in Africa. You can’t come in with a short-term mentality.

Knowledge@Wharton: You also have the Mara Foundation that includes an incubator in Uganda for entrepreneurs. What sort of atmosphere will help support entrepreneurs in modern Africa?

Thakkar: After starting off as refugees in Rwanda, we lost everything. That’s when we started off with very little. I started off at the age of 15 with US$6,000. You understand what young entrepreneurs go through.

We have a huge issue in Africa with unemployment. Unfortunately, a lot of our governments think the answer is foreign direct investment. It’s not. That’s when we started a mentoring program a few years ago. We were trying to mentor young entrepreneurs. The first year, we mentored around 120 entrepreneurs but it’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. We wanted to make a much bigger impact and that’s when we set up an online mentoring platform that we launched in Silicon Valley about three months ago. Within three months, we’ve actually got 52,000 young entrepreneurs signed up. It’s been amazing. We’re relaunching the entire site to have more content and data and everything else.

At the same time, we’re realized it’s sexy to be working out of your bedroom in the West but in Africa, people just don’t respect you and trust you if you’re working from that kind of thing. In order to give credibility and visibility to businesses, we decided to set up business incubation centers. So now you’re guiding them, handholding them, teaching them, inspiring them and you’re giving them credibility and visibility.

Now the missing link was partners and capital. How do they get access to funding? Then we launched our own venture capital fund that basically invests in these companies. This entire project belongs to the Mara Foundation, which is a nonprofit social enterprise.

So far, we haven’t raised any external money. Everything has been 100 percent subsidized by the group. We’ve launched in Uganda. We’re launching in Tanzania by the end of the year. We’re signing partnership agreements in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. It’s quite an amazing thing and I spend about 30 to 40% of my time on the foundation.

Knowledge@Wharton: You met with a whole bunch of business leaders like Marissa Mayer, the new CEO of Yahoo, on a recent trip to Silicon Valley. Was it difficult to find top business leaders to partner with budding African entrepreneurs?

Thakkar: Everybody loves the idea of it. But it was the method. How do they go about it? Where do they start? That was the big question mark, which is why hopefully the platform answers the question. There was a lot of positive feedback. At that time, we literally had zero entrepreneurs on our network and now have 52,000. We’re launching on mobile now since we’re online. Hopefully we’ll be launching on Nokia and Blackberry apps. That should create a massive scale. When it does, we’ll probably come back to Silicon Valley and relaunch it. Everybody does want to play a role. Everybody wants to help out. Everybody loves the idea of it but doing it in a credible way, hopefully we’ll be one of the conduits for that and support the entrepreneurs.

Knowledge@Wharton: Any other future goals? You’ve accomplished so much at such a young age.

Thakkar: Frankly, I’m very passionate about Africa. I’m fourth-generation African in that sense. My parents and my grandparents were born in Africa. Helping entrepreneurs is one thing but helping entrepreneurs in Africa and slowly but surely, taking it to other emerging markets and other markets generally. We want to make a global platform because there’s nothing stopping them. The content’s the same.

Entrepreneurial advice is entrepreneurial advice. Once you have all that content online, it can be used anywhere. My aim is to impact a few million African entrepreneurs. We want to make the group global. At the same time, I’m very passionate about changing the image and perception of Africa.

Unfortunately right now, when people think about Africa, they think about a child with a bowl in his hands. That’s absolute rubbish because plenty in our continent has evolved. We’re really progressive. I think the right story needs to be told. We need to stop generalizing about a billion people in 54 different countries. It needs to stop.

I think changing the perception and hence my whole space trip is creating a positive buzz about the region, and making people realize that people in Africa have the vision and ability as well.

So I think focusing on young entrepreneurs, which is the immediate thing. Scaling it up in Africa and making it global one day. Also, next year, we’re launching something called Mara Women, which is focused on women entrepreneurs through the Mara Foundation. All our incubation centers and venture capital funds and mentoring will have an allocation fixed for women entrepreneurs. So young women entrepreneurs, going global and changing the perception of Africa are what we’re focused on.

Knowledge@Wharton: You have an interesting family background since you said your grandparents were born in Africa but you’ve also lived in the U.K.

Thakkar: Sure, in the 1890s, my father’s family left from India and went to Uganda. In 1920, my mother’s family left from India to go to Tanzania. After they got married, they lived in Kenya and moved to Uganda. And then in 1972, the Idi Amin saga took place and everybody was expelled. My parents left, lost everything and went to England. My parents worked in factories, built some capital, started up a business, built more capital and bought a home. In 1993, they decided they wanted to go back to Africa so they sold off the home, sold their business and took everything they had to Rwanda in Central Africa.

Nine months later, unfortunately, my parents, my sister and I were taken from our home and we were refugees for three weeks. I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie Hotel Rwanda. I was in that hotel. We were evacuated. Fortunately, we came out alive but unfortunately everything they built from 1972 to 1993, they lost in 1994.

So we literally started from scratch. My father took a US$11,000 loan and set up a business. And I took a US$6,000 loan and set up a business in 1996. And here we are today.

Knowledge@Wharton: That must’ve been terrifying as a refugee because you were so young at the time?

Thakkar: I was 13. It was crazy because you remember everything. It was extremely terrifying. You think back to my father, having my sister, my mother and me with us. He was still playing games and acting all chirpy acting as if everything was fine. When you think back, you think, “Wow, he’s something else.”

Knowledge@Wharton: You have been quoted as remembering U.N. convoys running over bodies to make sure everybody was dead.

Thakkar: What happened was we were in a truck being taken from the hotel and I was curious. I stuck my head out and saw that bodies were being loaded in trucks. I asked the U.N. guy. Basically, whichever army or rebels or whoever, are taking all the bodies and putting them in a truck and taking them to a place and blowing it up to make sure everybody was dead.

When you go through all that, it makes you think, “Wow.” This is the reason it gives you a completely, completely different perspective on life.

I’m 31 and have so many people around me, saying “Why are you spending 40% of your time on the foundation? There’s so much more in business.” Literally we have the ability to access anyone we want to, a whole specter. We can do some crazy stuff in the entrepreneurial space.

But I think God has been amazingly kind and given us so much. It’s given us a second or third chance. Why not give back and impact other people’s lives? We’ve been lucky that we’ve been able to make things happen but so many others haven’t. Why not help them and give them a second or third chance. It’s important to give back and genuinely that’s how I believe wealth should be measured.

Knowledge@Wharton: It sounds like the Rwandan genocide has really impacted the career you’ve taken on?

Thakkar: It has. Another major factor that has played a key role in my life is my spiritual leader Morari Bapu at moraribapu.org. He really is an amazing, amazing individual. He has three core teachings, which are truth, love and compassion. He has these nine-day functions every so often. I try to attend at least one or two a year.

Listening to him keeps me really grounded. Just listening to him makes you really realize there’s so much more to this world than just earning money. Since I was a child, I’ve been following him. That’s my one little secret. It freaks me out even thinking what I would do without him. He has been an amazing inspiration. He really teaches you truth, how to be honest, how to be a better person. Love – how to love everyone around you, regardless of religion and color and race, this, that and another, regardless of their position in society and all that rubbish. He teaches compassion, like how to give back, with no hidden agenda and no particular intention.

That’s why I hate the word “CSR.” [Corporate Social Responsibility] It’s such a useless word. Someone doing it for the sake of doing it so they’ll look good in society.

You have to go about creating social enterprises. That’s the way forward. You have to make sustainable wealth in a straightforward and simple manner. I set up my manufacturing plant ten years ago. At that time, I was producing 30 tons a month. Today I’m producing 30,000 tons a month. Why? Because there was a demand so I created this plant.

My foundation helped 120 entrepreneurs three years ago. Why can it not help a million entrepreneurs? There’s a demand. Why not create the platform?

I did it in packaging. I did it in all my other businesses. Why not do it in this? I looked at it as a real business. That’s where I think we need to switch our mindset. I’m hoping this will create a huge impact, and I’m hoping this will inspire the public sector to do more to support these young entrepreneurs. And also the private sector to do more. It’s not about the size of the check. It’s about the impact that you create.

When you’re putting up a business, your simple bottom line is what’s your IRR? How much are you making at the end of the day? It’s not a matter of what kind of investment you make, it’s the return you’re focused on. People need to look at this very differently. It’s time we changed that mindset.

Knowledge@Wharton: I want to talk about you being an astronaut. You talked about changing the image of East Africans and you’re the first East African to become an astronaut. You’ve signed up to be an astronaut on Virgin’s private space flight. What made you decide to sign up?

Thakkar: A few years ago, I was in China watching the news. And I saw the news and I thought, “Wow, that looks pretty funky, a bit crazy.” It pumped up my adrenaline and I was at the airport lounge. And I just logged onto their site and I just signed up. I didn’t take it that seriously. I hadn’t even watched Star Wars so it wasn’t like I was jumping up and down. I just kind of did this. When I was a child, I always thought about being an astronaut or a pilot. I didn’t take it that seriously and I didn’t take it that seriously when I signed up.

But then I got a phone call from Virgin. I was offered a Founder’s Position from Africa to represent the continent to become Africa’s second astronaut and East Africa’s first astronaut.

I just thought it can create an amazing political impact. So the heads of state officially handed over their flags to me and I officially represent the region. So it’s feeding that buzz that we have the vision in East Africa.

I did training in Philadelphia’s NASTAR Center when they put us through the centrifuge. They’re pushing you down 3.5-Gs [as in G-force] so it’s really intensive. You walk in thinking, “Oh yeah, I’m going into space” and then you walk out, thinking, “Oh no, I’m going into space.” It’s really cool though and very exciting. Virgin Galactic has been an awesome company to be associated with. The whole journey has been really fun. I met some amazing individuals.

Knowledge@Wharton: You’re based in Dubai now.

Thakkar: Our home office is in Dubai. It’s the perfect hub for Africa. It’s more centrally located than London or South Africa. We feel passionately about Dubai as a hub for Africa.

There have been a lot of historical routes between this region and Africa. I think more and more, there’s an active role being played and it’s increasing further and further. Obviously, India and China have invested in Africa pretty aggressively. Europe has inroads from the colonial times. I think the Middle East is getting to grips with it now. They’ve done so much in Africa. But I can see the momentum is increasing. I don’t think the U.S. understands its story as well but I think that will slowly change. You can see the transformation taking place in people’s mindset. Still, there’s a huge lack of understanding.

People still need to understand sub-Saharan Africa or take even East Africa. Each of these countries is an independent case study. You can’t copy and paste anything. You have to localize it. The culture is different. The vision is different. The leadership is different. The jurisdiction and laws are different. Policy is different. The mindset is different. You have to plug into each country being very local. And that’s very important. Unfortunately right now, we really generalize the continent and that’s very wrong.

Knowledge@Wharton: So because of these generalizations, people in the U.S. and the Middle East have been hesitant about investing in Africa?

Thakkar: I think it’s more than hesitancy. It’s a lack of understanding. You can see the eagerness and there are historical ties. There’s a lot of warmth here for Africa but translating into more trade between the two regions. It’s been happening but I think it’s been increasing. But with the U.S., I’m not sure. I still haven’t seen any huge movements in that respect. In the past, the U.S. has been a little bit more conservative and moved a little slower but I’m sure in time, the U.S. will come into play quite a bit more, which is a good thing.

Knowledge@Wharton: So where in the Middle East have people been more interested in investing in Africa?

Thakkar: The United Arab Emirates [UAE] has been more active. The UAE is the one I understand the most. I haven’t seen too many Qatari groups come in. I haven’t seen any Bahraini groups come in. I haven’t seen too many Saudi groups come in. The UAE seems the most active in that respect. But you can see everyone else bubbling up as well. Hopefully, we’ll see a lot more now.

http://www.cp-africa.com/2013/01/22/meet-31-year-old-ashish-thakkar-africas-youngest-billionaire/

If they don't die, the young won't grow..( Young shall grow)..

Me: Mr. Banky, what could have caused your rant with wizzy on twitter?
Mr: Banky, don't mind the yeye surulere boy, I told him I want 70% cut from the last concert we both did.

Me turn to wizzy:
Me: Wizzy, why all the rant my guy?
Mr: Wizzy, mtcheew, you want to know the secret, he was toasting my boo on BBM...

Me: Aaaaah oga banky, why you con do that now...

Mr: Banky, No bi me, na our village spiritualist cause am, he said if I fit give the girl belly, he go born me another wizzy.

Gbam

I believe a lot will be wondering who is she but believe me. This is mariam Abacha with one of her daughter(name withheld) . Still find it hard that she was once a first lady of this country..

Seewealth: things have really changed. even the internet, i remember i paid somebody to open email address for me. he charged me about N100, i think. chaii.. i fall mugu

So funny, you paid 100 naira just to get email address... Makes me wonder where on earth are you when I open my first email address way back in 1998... Onebox and toast.com and co... Am sure yahoo boys are still running in pants...

delors: I remember when I was at schol then - secondary school and all man don broke die and mumsy never show up for visiting, I would compose a very long letter and send it to my mum in Lagos from Ibadan through the post office...I swear, after 3 months, na me dey always receive the letter for house because school self go don go on vacation...na wah o...I just wonder how I survived then...God noni anyway.

Hope nobi GCI chairman?? I remember we have to trek from apata to odo-ona to make call at Nitel phone boot with empty stomach just to inform them at home that money have been exhuasted and all you get in return as pocket money was 300 naira for the remain term... Hell sufferness

And yet, money is spent on monthly basis to patch roads which were supposed to be a long term usuage!! Who is deceiving who?? Tuale baba 70(seriously. You've said it all, our goverment tell the whitemen, my people are senseless, my people are useless and my people are indicipline) and seriously, the educated one are advocating such... Naija, na fools una go for ever be.. Na last we dey carry nobi first...

I read the comment of people on here and I shake my head!!! Are we these daft that we don't even know what is right anymore!! After 20 years of collapse of the railway which was revive again by another thief in goverment and yet, you guys are happy that you could travel from kano to lagos for 30 hours and still comment that rome was not built in a day!!! You will get there one day Tell me, that one day, is it a curse or what, for you Nigerians? Abeg, no wonder Fela said, your goverment have told the whitemen that my people are useless... And yet we continue to act like useless insect...mtcheew.. The fourth generation of all your unborn children will suffer it.. Wake up from your slumber and stop shouting rome was not built in a day.. The slaves of the past are enjoying than you slaves of this modern life.. Fools

Mumu set of people!! Don't work hard and except God to grant you success, maybe burkinafaso don't pray as well! Either you like it not, we are going down....

Have decide to write something simple and short for that special lady...she knows her self, so its not about the competition.

I awoke and saw a most lovely place
Surely this is a dream
Its Beauty as far as eye can view
None like I’ve ever seen

The gardens well kept and all ablaze
With light that shines so true
Reality and warmth encompass me
It fills me through and through

I race from space to glorious space
To drink up the joy I’ve found
Oh God don’t let this ever end
A prayer now heaven bound

I know now, my place was meant to be
Right here, a brand new start
God’s promise has now come true to me
A home in Papaya's heart

Peace out

football Europol announcement on #matchfixing investigations incl 425 match officials under investigation + 380 matches incl WC qualis"

The beautiful game's ugly underside was exposed on Monday as one of Europe's senior crime fighters revealed hundreds of games are under investigation in what he described as "a sad day for European football."

Recent match-fixing scandals have centered on South Korea and South Africa, but Europol believes the highest levels of the game are now no longer safe with alleged corruption in two Champions League matches discovered, including one played in England, with 680 games in all being probed across the globe.

"This is the work of a suspected organized crime syndicate based in Asia and operated with criminal networks around Europe," Rob Wainwright, director of European law enforcement agency Europol, told reporters, following its 18-month probe.

see for http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/04/sport/football/match-fixing-champions-league-football/

Brings on defenders when we need forwards. Brings on forwards when we need defenders. To be fair, Brentford and Reading are the new City and United

All the mumu people shouting propaganda on here, have you ever heard of any okemachukwu and son importing from this so called country north Korea..Mbanu!! A lot of folish plenty people full here.. Don't say what you don't know, the suffering of North Korea is far worst than Somalia..

Peace out

Chelsea Football Club: Ensure that Rafael Benitez is not considered beyond his interim title.

The supporters are the lifeblood and soul of any football club. As supporters, we had made it abundantly clear that Rafael Benitez was not wanted at Chelsea Football Club but the board rode roughshod over supporter's wishes, sacking a Chelsea legend who had delivered us the European Cup and the FA Cup just months before in the process.

Let's look at the FACTS -

- We lost the World Club Cup to a Corinthians team that we could and should have beaten.

- We went out of the Capital One Cup with barely a whimper.

- We are 9 points further down in the Premier League than we were when Rafael Benitez was employed. Our league form (including losing at home to QPR and away to West Ham) is worse than the blip that got Di Matteo sacked.

- Baffling tactics including like for like swaps for defenders when we are losing and a complete inability to change the game has become the hallmark of our interim manager.

- Rafael Benitez's win % record so far is one of the worst in the Abramovich era, worse than managers who have previously been sacked by the club.

- More importantly than any of the above, the unity has been lost at the football club. A number of our supporters feel disconnected and disenfranchised from the club that they love to the extent that some have stopped going, whilst the atmosphere at home games has declined.

 

Roman Abramovich has done a number of fantastic things for this football club and has demonstrated his commitment to the supporters from freezing ticket price, changing to the traditional badge, subsidising away travel right through to the obvious on-field investment, resulting in the most successful period in our history. This petition is not to be taken as a sign of ingratitude for the incredible contribution that he has made to our football club. We just want to work with him to get the club that we all love moving together once more in the right direction.

Chelsea FC, end these rumours that there is a possibility that these substandard results and this mutinous atmosphere can continue past the end of this season at the very latest and concentrate your efforts on getting a popular and successful manager who the fans, players and board can all unite behind once again. Every supporter wants the club to be pulling in the same direction, to achieve the success and harmony that we all wish for and that is impossible under a manager who it is clear will never be accepted by the supporters of Chelsea Football Club.

This country is just a fk... 6.23am, reading this total rubbish as headline... The governor is a big clown

Since Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea FC in the summer of 2003, with reports claiming the club was just days away from bankruptcy, he has enjoyed the virtually uncritical adoration of the Stamford Bridge faithful. That’s not to say that there haven’t been periodic rumblings of discontent. Jose Mourinho’s departure in September 2007 was the subject of some, albeit muted, criticism. Before, during and since the infamous CPO EGM in October 2011, a number of voices have expressed concern about exactly what Roman Abramovich has in mind for the club in the years ahead.

However, he is now facing open rebellion in some quarters and accusations that the club is being badly run. That said, no-one seems very sure whether the decision to sack Roberto Di Matteo in November, which was not only unpopular, but has materially damaged Chelsea’s season, was solely made by Abramovich, or following consultation with the ‘football board’.
Ah yes. The football board. Chelsea’s ‘Technical Director’ is Michael Emenalo. A man with no playing career to speak of, and very little track record in management. Whilst lack of a stellar career in football isn’t everything (just look at Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho), it at least gives fans some ground on which to build a rapport. We know about as much about Emenalo as we did about former Aunt Sally figure, Henk Ten Cate, and have about as much affection for him.
Former Chelsea manager, Bobby Campbell, has wriggled his way back into the club, and gave a right-wing rag an ill-advised interview in December 2012 which carried the headline ‘If I told you any more, I would have to kill you…’. Despite leading Chelsea to the Second Division Championship in 1989, and a 5th place in the First Division a year later, Mr Campbell subsequently had an undistinguished tenure at Stamford Bridge, and was booted upstairs to become Ken Bates’ personal assistant following the arrival of Ian Porterfield. He met Roman Abramovich through Eugene Tenembaum, Abramovich’s shadowy right-hand man, with whom he became acquainted through his membership of the exclusive – and allegedly loss-making – Chelsea Club. Despite Mr Campbell having spent most of his life in football, it is very difficult to see how a man who has not managed in the English game for something like 20 years can offer any real assistance, given the changes that the game has undergone during that time.
And then there’s yesterday article in the same right-wing rag, carrying previously-embargoed comments from Rafael Benitez’s press conference on Friday. There’s a little paragraph in the middle which reads:-
“But Benitez believes his side are making progress and the key figures at the club – Abramovich, his assistant, Marina Granovskaia, and technical director Michael Emenalo – are said to be impressed with his approach to training and tactics.”
What do we know about Marina Granovskaia, other than the fact that she’s Mr Abramovich’s P.A.? And what experience and qualifications does she have for running one off the world’s biggest football clubs, that the manager seems to think she has any influence on events at Stamford Bridge?
That takes us on to those that we do know something about. Bruce Buck became Chairman of Chelsea in 2003, following the Abramovich takeover. He was seen as a reasonably safe pair of hands until the ill-fated CPO EGM in 2011, since which time his appearances in the public eye have become less frequent, the most recent being a joint interview with Ron Gourlay on TalkSport following conclusion of the FA’s investigation into the allegations of racism made against John Terry after the QPR game in October 2011. Which of course leads us to the man who is responsible for the day to day running of Chelsea.

Peter Kenyon was the Chief Executive at Chelsea from 2004 to 2009, and oversaw an unprecedented period of commercial growth. In spite of the fact that he was disliked by many of the supporters for his close links with Manchester United, he overhauled the ticket pricing structure, bringing in reduced-priced tickets for cup and Champions League group games, and instituted the Fans Forum, work for which Chelsea fans do in fact owe him a debt of gratitude. His replacement was of course Ron Gourlay, who had followed a similar career trajectory to Kenyon. It’s fair to say that Mr Gourlay isn’t exactly popular with the match-going, UK-based fanbase, due in large part to his chasing the global market. Last Summer’s club tour of the US saw the European Cup taken from city to city and local kids given coaching sessions with the players. There is, of course, absolutely nothing wrong with this, but it was noted with some protests that no such perks seemed to be on offer to the indigenous fanbase, and this would seem to have been the catalyst for the offer of free pictures with the Cup for season-ticket holders and members.
Mr Gourlay’s determination to court the overseas fans is, of course, based purely on economics. Let’s meet Bob and Aguri, a couple of fictional Chelsea fans.
Bob lives in Battersea and is a season-ticket holder. He walks to games, stopping off at The Imperial on the King’s Road for a couple of drinks and leaves about 2.30pm. He goes straight to his seat in the Matthew Harding Lower, not buying a programme. At half-time, he goes down to the concourse to have a chat with mates seated elsewhere in the stand, but doesn’t buy any food or drink from the refreshment outlets. At the end of the game, Bob goes back to the Imperial for another couple of drinks and then he goes home.
Aguri lives in Tokyo. He flew into Heathrow on Wednesday not only to see London’s historic sights and attractions, but also to see Chelsea, who he has never seen live before, although he has supported them since they won the Premier League in 2005. Naturally, he booked a room at the Copthorne Hotel at Stamford Bridge, where he will stay for five nights, using it as a base due to its excellent transport links to the West End. On the day before the game, Aguri does the stadium tour and visits the museum. He then goes to the Megastore and spends £250. On the day of the game he has lunch in Frankie’s Restaurant before making his way to his West Upper seat, buying a programme on the way. At half-time, he buys a soft drink and a hot dog. After the game he goes back to the hotel, gets changed, and then goes to have dinner in Marco’s. He regretfully leaves London on Monday, hoping that he will be able to make the same visit next year.
The above is fictional, of course, but it basically it forms a large part of Chelsea FC’s business plan. In real terms, the overseas fans are the target market because whilst they may only be afford to come to a game once a year, they generally spend a lot more money than UK-based, non-corporate fans. There is of course a flaw in this argument. It’s all very well whilst Chelsea are winning trophies, but failure on the pitch has much more serious repercussions than the trophy cabinet being empty for a couple of seasons. Whilst a couple of unsuccessful years won’t deter the (generally) UK-based, long term fans, given the global coverage of not only the Premier League, but other major European Leagues,it is only too easy for those who are fickle to desert ‘their’ team once the going gets tough. Today’s Chelsea fan could well become tomorrow’s Barcelona or Bayern fan

And of course, in addition to the potential rammifications for the global support, any slump on the pitch will also result in reduced corporate take-up, another crucial part of the club’s business model.
Since the turn of the year, with four consecutive midweek league or cup games against mediocre to poor opposition failing to yield more than a draw, it has become increasingly clear that the interim manager, Rafael Benitez, is totally ill-equipped to manage Chelsea FC. So who sacked Di Matteo and appointed the Spaniard? Was it, as has been suggested, solely Abramovich’s  decision, or was it on the advice of the motley army he seems to have surrounded himself with? Failed managers, corporate lawyers, marketing men, unsuccessful players, and P.A.s. Are these the people who the fans are supposed to trust with running our club? Abramovich’s return from his now-annual lavish Christmas and New Year festvities looked as if it might signal a change, with the almost-immediate offer of a contract extension to Ashley Cole. Did he finally realise that the lunatics had taken over the asylum?
Whilst Benitez is currently (and deservedly) taking the majority of the abuse from the fans, with the exception of sporadic episodes such as Buck’s unfortunate pitch appearance the other week, is it only a matter of time since the fans turn the ire upon the top man? If he is being badly advised, can he break free of the shackles of the likes of Emenalo, Campbell, Buck and Gourlay and ensure that the next manager of Chelsea is the right man for the job, and not Mr Right Now?
If you’re a supporter, the great thing about the 21st century is that if you have a beef with the club, social media is a great help. The media are certainly aware of the strength of feeling amongst fans right now, so you can be assured that the Chelsea hierarchy are too. But as is always the case, it remains to be seen if they listen, rather than simply hear.

Peace out

Was able to google search their name today! Invested 300k back in 2007 and still haven't got anything up till now, maybe some more insight will do on this case.

Have said this times without number, not every woman are meant to co-exist with men! After having four kids! Selfish woman.. That man needs to visit cele church. Rip of his balls. Lord have mercy. The woman don chop kolanut wella..

S.hi.t happen! Burst the bubble before the bubble burst on ur face..

Hate the fact that I open these thread.

They buy s.hi.t players, started as s.hi.t and end up been dumped out!! S.hi.t manager, s.hi.t players and s.hi.t club...

Why me rooney

It was we chelski first, now gun people are getting gun down by just one man( incredible michu)

Stu.p.I'd bani maybe na bene tez... Borin game.. A draw in liverpool is regard to win, this is chelsea.. Get the hell out of our stamford bridge.. Mad man

ll collapse like isolo crash site..

How can a manager Chelsea fans HATE be appointed as an interim manager. I thought the fans were more important....The last 24 hours seem like a massive blur! Lose to Juve 3-0, RDM sacked and now Benitez appointed!

Paolo Di Canio for Chelsea manager...mess off Benitez. You are not wanted here

PREGNANT GIRL GETS ON THE BUS* BUS DRIVER:EXCUSE ME SIR COULD U GIVE HER UR SEAT MAN:NOOO SHE SHOULDA bleeped SOMEONE WITH A CAR.. Simple answer, she should let the guy know what's up before she end up single

Juventus 2 Chelsea 0 What's the Mata Chelsea fans? Did you Cech the score? I know, it is a Hazard. You must be Terryfied now!