Riding the storm out to succeed - The story of Percy Dickson Boamah
On Christmas day four years ago, Mr Percy Dickson Boamah woke up from sleep with many things on his mind as usual, but the most pressing was to reach his site at Osu, Accra where he was putting up a hotel and apartments, to ensure that a job he had began was completed on schedule.
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As part of his plans for the day, he was to hold a Christmas party for his staff, something which had become an annual ritual for him. That zeal to complete the piece of job that day didn’t go well; he was covered in blood, with a chunk of flesh from his left arm deeply cut off by a grinding machine he was using to trim some wood near the poolside as he supported the workers on the site.
Doctors at the 37 Military Hospital wasted no time; they rushed him into the theatre for surgery, “to mend” his arm. In an interview with The Mirror in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Boamah, a businessman and owner of Mansah Plus Hotel and apartments and other businesses, said “recovery was quite slow, painful and included many sessions of physiotherapy”.
“I am happy that I was still able to make arrangements for my staff party that day though I could not be there physically, of course. I don’t like my problems to take away the joy of others,” he said with a smile.
Today, the scar only reminds him of a job he had to do which he did and says he would still do same if that day were today. “I would still get off my bed and head for work even on holidays once there is work to be done,” he maintained.
Mr Boamah with his wife Akua and son, Baruch
One thing he is grateful for is that even though there were doubts as to how much recovery his arm could make to regain its function like before the accident, “I have come very close to full recovery, I sometimes feel pain but the most important thing to me is that I am still able to work and I have God and the doctors and nurses to thank for this. Life goes on,” he said.
Life for Mr Boamah has not been a smooth one. At age 21, when he had just completed secondary education at Accra Academy, he lost his mum to breast cancer. He was devastated but it was an end to watching a strong woman he loved so much suffer. His father who had not been in his life since childhood, had taken the lead to the other world much earlier.
Fortunately, his maternal uncle, Mr Alfred Agyeman, who works with the Customs Excise and Preventive Service, who he calls “Wofa Agyeman” took up the mantle of caring for him.
Other family members also supported him when they could.
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“Wofa Agyeman was doing his best for me, but I was also aware of his other responsibilities and commitments and so after some time when he proposed joining the police service, travelling outside the country or furthering my education, which he was prepared to fund, I chose the police service,” Mr Boamah said.
“At the back of my mind, I knew I could still pursue further education as a policeman if I wanted to but deeper inside me was the desire to do business,” he added. So in 1996, Mr Boamah started his journey to become a policeman at the Ghana Police Training Academy at Tesano in Accra.
Some of his family members and friends thought that was the right profession for him looking at his height and physique. However, at the rank of sergeant and after 11 years and six months of being a police man, Mr Boamah’s passion for what was deeply planted in him by his mother, Madam Mary Sarfo, who was a businesswoman, sprouted.
That desire saw him leaving the service to use the little savings he had accrued from little side hustles, including proceeds from working outside the country, for his own business.
Mr Boamah told The Mirror that starting was tough and rough but two things kept him going: determination and the strong belief that God wanted him to succeed. He worked from the boot of his small car because he could not afford to rent office space.
He sold vehicles, was a money lender, and did other little things to get by as he set his eyes on establishing a debt recovery agency, a private investigation bureau and a microfinance company.
Mother ‘s luck seems to have finally smiled at him after many challenges when he found someone with whom he went into partnership to take his business to another level and make his dreams come true. They established the Tiger Force Consult.
Mr Boamah at the 37 Military Hospital after surgery on his arm
With time, he was able to establish an office at Osu, Accra and other businesses and even employed staff as the business expanded. He describes his staff as part of the reason for his success.
As a private investigator and member of the Association of British Investigators (ABI), Mr Boamah told The Mirror that insurance fraud constituted most of the cases he had dealt with.
He said, “Some of the things I find during my investigations are quite revealing and surprising but of course you know I can’t go into details because confidentiality is key to what I do.”
The company also conducts due diligence, background checks missing persons searches, employee profiling and fraud detection. Touching on some experiences in life, Mr Boamah said: “I have come to believe that there is truly a supreme being, but God will not do for man what man has to do for himself.”
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He recounted an experience in Kosovo where he was on a peacekeeping mission as a policeman and was the head of the Alfa Unit and lead investigator of a police station and where he almost had an accident as the tyre of the vehicle he was driving hung on the thin edge of a mountain.
“I would have been dead by now. How I escaped can only be a miracle, but I also reckon that if I do not work hard, I won’t have food on my table,” he said. On his regrets in life, the businessman said “I often put others first. I wish I were not like that because that has sometimes caused some hurt”.
Mr Boamah says he intends to go into large-scale farming, at Ofoase in the Ashanti Region where he hails, with the view to create more employment opportunities for the youth and of course generate some revenue.
Recently, he opened the Mansah Plus hotel and apartments at Osu in Accra, a facility he named after his mother and has a cleaning company too but Mr Boamah says he is not done.
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“Hmm, I think it is my mother’s nature; she was hardly idle. I am always thinking of how I can make things better because today I am well and can work. I have to prepare for a rainy day.
I want to extend more help to others. I wish I could take care of more vulnerable people in society. I just pray that I can do this; so I go on,” he added. On his routine for the day, the businessman said it definitely had to feature training at the gym most mornings, “but in fact I don’t have strict working hours”.
“I know the importance of exercising. I want to keep fit. In fact, training helps relax my mind and keeps me going. I meet some very good friends there who I would rather call my brothers now.
Yes, that’s how strong our bond has become over the years. We look out for each other, network, share ideas and have a little fun sometimes,” he explained. One of the wishes Mr Boamah has now is to know whether his late mother can see how far he has come in life.
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“She made a lot of sacrifices to take care of me. She was strict and that sometimes frustrated me. Today, I see the benefits of that uncompromising stance. Unfortunately, she isn’t here to enjoy just a little of what I have now. I wish she could see that her toil has not been in vain,” he said.
He also wants to be more active in his year group at Accra Academy, which he holds dear. Mr Boamah is married to Mrs Akua Boamah who he is grateful to for her support over the years. They have a son, Baruch and many other children he caters for who are not their biological children.
Writer’s e-mail: doreen.hammond@graphic.com.gh/aamakai@rocketmail.com