When Otabil thought Banking was just addition and subtraction (VIDEO)

One of the numerous past motivational messages by Pastor Mensa Otabil, where he expressed fears about going to make a mess of himself, by accepting to chair a banking board without a background in finance has gone into circulation.

It is unclear when this message which has been re-shared this week was recorded, but indications are that, it was recorded whilst Pastor Mensa Otabil, who is also the General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) was still chairman of the defunct Capital Bank.

“I didn’t have banking training but I’m a chairman of a bank and I was intimidated the first time, I said wow!, what am I going to do, I’m going to make a mess of myself,” Pastor Otabil acknowledged.

“But you know, money is so easy to understand, just find where it is coming from and where it is going and that is it," he added.

"Where is the money coming from, and where is it going, track it, and you know, I sit down there and I have all these bankers and people who have all kinds of banking degrees and I ask very simple questions, what about this, what about that, ah! We haven’t thought about that, its just common sense, you look at facts, you query the facts, you demand answers from the facts and you get the answers, it's not just hard.

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“If I can do it, and I was horrible with mathematics, still horrible with mathematics but I realise that, really, in finance, you don’t need serious mathematics, it’s just addition and subtraction, that’s all.

“Income, cost, expenditure, net [Voila] and I could do addition, I could do subtraction, I could do some multiplication, some division, if it goes beyond that ,.. I’m just blank. But I just realized that all you need to do is just add up, add up the numbers, subtract and be detailed and be logical and you will understand it, it’s not that tough really.”

Below is a video and transcript of the message

“I don’t need time, too much time to do a lot of things I do, I’m a Pastor of a local church. I’m an overseer of a big church denomination, I’m a Chancellor of a university, I’m a chairman of a bank, I’m a chairman of a pharmaceutical company, I work with an ICT company, I sit on various boards, I run my private consultancy, I sit on think tanks and advisory boards, I do so many of these things and I still jog, I lift weights and I still love my wife, alright. [applause]

How are you able to do all of these things? I don’t need eternity, it’s just efficient work habits and the skills you develop along the way to help you to make decisions very quickly, to manage your time more efficiently and to be able to think through the solutions that people struggle with.

And I just realise I could do that, I mean, I didn’t have banking training but I’m a chairman of a bank and I was intimidated the first time, I said wow!, what am I going to do, I’m going to make a mess of myself.

But you know, money is so easy to understand, just find where it is coming from and where it is going and that is it, that's it.

Where is the money coming from, and where is it going, track it.

And you know, I sit down there and I have all these bankers and people who have all kinds of banking degrees and I ask very simple questions, what about this, what about that, ah! We haven’t thought about that, its just common sense, you look at facts, you query the facts, you demand answers from the facts and you get the answers, its not just hard.

If I can do it, and I was horrible with mathematics, still horrible with mathematics but I realise that, really in finance, you don’t need serious mathematics, it’s just addition and subtraction, that’s all. Income, cost, expenditure, net [Voila] and I could do addition, I could do subtraction, I could do some multiplication, some division, if it goes beyond that ,.. I’m just blank. But I just realized that all you need to do is just add up, add up the numbers, subtract and be detailed and be logical and you will understand it, it’s not that tough really.