You go to YouTube to entertain yourself and bump into Engage Talk videos. The video that comes into play is Falling Forward by Edwin Dande.
It is not like you are in the mood, but it is there anyway. The universe has been trying to tell you something about investments. Before watching the video, you did not know who Dande was (pardon me).
However, his bald head attracts you more. I mean, bald men often have a point. Listen to them! Honestly, who in Sauti Sol do you relate to more? Bien? And Bien and Dande are bald and millionaires, I presume.
Dande, born and raised in Homabay County, Kenya, had a pretty normal childhood for a Kenyan child growing up in the village. His mother was a teacher, and his father worked in sugarcane factory.
He attended Mumias Boys Primary before proceeding to Alliance Boys for his secondary school education.
He was to study law after high school, but when he calculated the number of years law school take, he decided against it. He then wanted to pursue a computer-related course, but computers were not a big thing yet, so his father discouraged him.
That is how he ended up in Accounting. He holds an MBA, a Finance Major from the Wharton School-University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Monmouth University.
While in college, he would do side hustles to pay school fees and sustain himself—one of the hustles being doing tax returns for Kenyans in the United States.
One day, while returning the taxes, he came across one pay slip whose monthly earnings were more than his annual earnings.
That is how he started thinking of coming back to Kenya. Coming to Kenya, Dande got his first job as a manager in Britam Asset Managers. Though he fell out with his employer, I believe Britam was an opportunity that sharpened his skills and career trajectory.
Also, it laid the foundation that brought along four people alongside him who formed Cytonn. Brilliant! Maybe!
Anyway, I watched his Engage Talk video. Probably what stood out was his definition of success.
If I may quote, “Many a time, we associate success with available opportunities. We love defining our success from all those things that we have achieved; the tangible opportunities and the recognized achievements. However, for me, success is less about opportunities. Success is less about all those achievements and the recognitions. I believe that success is more about the challenges that we face and how we deal with them. Success is overcoming challenges. One should see themselves most successful when they get to go through a challenge, successfully.”
I am seated wondering what made him start defining success that way? He does not seem to have had a challenging childhood. I grew up knowing success as everything else but challenges.
What prompted Dande to start defining success that way? You know, maybe there is something beyond what we see. Maybe, the challenges have been so enoumous that when he starts counting them, he sees success.
I Google Cytonn Investments and read everything I can about it. I decided to go deeper. (The wound is fleshier when you dig). That is when I see it. I see why maybe his definition of success had to change. I see his view and I find it intriguing.
Immediately after forming Cytonn in 2014, the team got a lawsuit from Britam Asset Managers accusing them of stealing funds from the company (Britam) that they used as a capital fund for their company (Cytonn).
When four people from your company branch out to form another company, then you would probably want to go to court. Another major lawsuit came from CMA in 2019, ordering them to stop onboarding new clients to the money market fund since they are having new trustees.
The litigation process concerning this lawsuit is still on. Yet another major lawsuit also came from CMA ordering Cytonn to invest only 10% of the fund borrowed into a real estate project.
Some of the lawsuits that Cytonn has faced came from investors who have claimed that their money was not being refunded or they are not getting their profits.
All through, Dande has maintained that no single cent has been lost and that all investors who put their money in Cytonn will get back their investments.
But the claims have found their way into the news cycle as fraud, with the matter getting cited even in Parliament, tarnishing Cytonn’s name. The claims mounted, leading to another lawsuit that was a liquidation threat.
The legal battles have threatened to close down Cytonn after years of meteoric rise in the real estate market attributed to Dande’s wit and acumen. Though some observers might disagree with my observation.
Some of the legal challenges that the company has faced in the corridors of justice are normal suits that companies globally deal with. The fact that Cytonn is a big company makes it vulnerable to such challenges.
From where the company is now, how do they overcome the mounting legal and regulatory headaches and still manage to convince more and more investors? I mean Cytonn is still among the few companies that have redefined Kenya’s investment landscape, especially in the real estate sector.
Dande has also proven to be no push-over in a market where investors get bullied by unending court cases and regulators on the prowl. Are these the challenges that defined his opportunities? Are these the reasons why he now feels more successful?
I don’t think a twenty-year-old would define success as overcoming challenges. To most, it’s more of the recognized achievements.
What happens when you face these lawsuits and liquidation threats? What goes on Dandes’s mind when he thinks about all of this? Did he at any point want to call it quits? Did he at any point imagine these lawsuits as some sign to not soldier on?
But then again, if he did maybe we wouldn’t be writing about overcoming challenges right now.
The most intriguing part and inspiring is how he goes about all these accusations. Being accused is fine, overcoming and getting through the accusations is another thing.
I read through the decision that he made to branch out of his former company. Like they say, when high-minded people are brought together, there is the likelihood of differences in opinions.
Every opinion matters only that some matter more. No one is ever ready to let their opinion go. To me, I see this as a challenge – getting to disagree with the big boss. However, he overcomes this challenge by seeing it as a wake-up call (not the Grauchi type) and forms Cytonn Investments.
Who would have thought? Opportunistic challenges, should we call them that way? You see a challenge and overcome it by creating a bigger opportunity for yourself.
For the company to be where it is right now, I wonder how it managed to go through all these lawsuits, some are still stuck in court. What’s the secret?
How do you overcome this? How do you escape a billion-shilling lawsuit? How do you move forward? What exactly do you do? Going through his interviews and even some of the videos about his management and the Cytonn investments in particular, I got one answer.
You have to be deeply conversant with the law. You have to know the rules of law by your fingertip. It is giving me the Mike Ross from Suits vibe. Pardon me; it’s giving that “Kenyan Lawyer,” Brian Mwenda vibe.
Forget about the lawsuits then, because come on, this is an investment company, when you are not getting sued now and then, then probably you are doing something ordinary.
There is also this headline that highlights the liquidation threats.
Maybe liquidation threats are a big deal to us who think deeply about it. Better yet, to us who don’t know business law that much.
Sometimes, when you are slapped with threats and given ultimatums, you get more pressure from the investors. They won’t trust you with their money anymore.
However, you have to give things time to burn out; it might be making headlines today, but that is what the news is for, right?
The secret to owning and overcoming challenges is to go through everything – every judicial book regarding what you are doing. Also, embrace litigation as one of the ways to solve problems.
After reading through all these, I am left thinking, what goes through Dande’s mind when he wakes up. Does he wake up worried about getting to open the door and finding that there are police waiting to arrest him?
Does he wake up dreading the next lawsuit? Does he wake up feeling like maybe his life is under threat?
“Delivering to promise” is Cytonn’s mantra, so maybe the Cytonn community does not feel the weight of these lawsuits which we see as threats to their existence.
They have to put the interest of the people (investors) first before theirs.
The firm has remained afloat despite all the challenges, managing to be among the top homegrown investment companies in the country.
Overcoming challenges is all Cytonn is teaching me, besides encouragement to invest and its benefits. There is no success without challenges.
And in a litigious country like Kenya, you can find yourself in court now and then on your road to building a flourishing business.
