Banking on God

CEO of uniCredit Samuel Sakyi-Hyde explains

the God factor in his success as a banker

Samuel Sakyi-Hyde is not just a banker with almost two decades of experience, but also a soulful man of God, a lecturer of repute, a father to three strong boys and a loving husband to a beautiful and understanding wife.

The newly appointed CEO of uniCredit, the savings and loans company, says he has been handling all duties efficiently and effectively “with the able grace of God Almighty”.

Recounting his humble beginnings from the streets of Accra Newtown through Bubuashie and then Adenta, all in the Greater Accra Region, Samuel says that since his school days in the University of Ghana, where he studied statistics and economics, he has always wanted to be a banker. Therefore, landing his national service job at Ga Rural Bank was no surprise to him.

Over there, he learnt the rudiments of banking – tellering, back-office operations, clearing, credit, and projects. After picking up the basics, he went to Amal Bank, now Bank of Africa, to continue the learning process.

It was at Amal Bank that he got more exposure due to its universal banking status. Employed as a credit analyst, he quickly rose through the ranks and several departments to head the SME banking unit, before he went to uniBank, the sister company of uniCredit, to transform their SME unit into a fully-fledged department.

“At Amal Bank, I gathered experience in back office and clearing. Then I was asked to join the Treasury department before I moved to the projects department. Then I headed operations, later a branch and then led business development. These areas are typical banking areas where you deal mainly with the lower segment of banking customers. So for seven years I was there and learnt a lot,” he told B&FT Weekend in an interview.

After joining uniBank as head of SME banking, Samuel went on to head the bank’s branch network until his recent appointment as CEO of uniCredit Savings and Loans Company.

Samuel’s ambition and vision is to build the uniCredit brand, which was born out of Kantamanto Savings and Loans Company around a decade ago, so quickly that it would be possible within a year to find eight out of 10 Ghanaians who say that they have heard about the company.

Beginning his new job just over a month ago, Samuel has tasked himself to not only make the company operate “effectively and efficiently” but to add nine branches to the existing 11 and go nationwide by the end of 2015.

In the journey to his current position, Samuel says he has learnt several virtues, among which are patience, dedication, hard work and commitment, that a banker needs to succeed. “Once you have the patience and you are committed and loyal to a cause, success will always smile at you,” he says.

Hard work is also part of it, he points out, but as a man of faith and a pastor of the Adenta branch of Harvest International Ministries, Samuel is of the view that it is not labour but favour that makes the difference.

“Sometimes you realise that your hard work does not get you the results if the God factor is not involved in what you are doing. The God factor always makes the difference in what you do. So hard work is great, but hard work without favour from God can’t get you there.”

A product of Accra Academy, he attended the University of Ghana before receiving his Executive MBA in International Business from Wisconsin University Ghana.

Samuel, who also teaches a course, Financial Services and Lending, at Regent University in Accra, says “when I started my career as a banker I wanted to be dynamic and an all-rounder, so in everything I did I ensured that I did it well so that I could pass the knowledge on to others.”

Samuel is 43 and has been married for 13 years to Cynthia, also a banker and manager at Societe Generale’s North Industrial Area branch. Together they have three boys.

He advises upcoming bankers to be committed, loyal and never forget the God factor in their lives. He worries that nowadays the banking industry is not producing bankers but marketers, and throws a challenge to his colleagues to stop the trend and get young graduates to learn the rudiments of proper banking operations.

“When a student completes the university and lands a job as a banker, he or she is tasked to chase deposits and bring in loan clients, which I am not against. But in addition to the sales, the young bankers should be made to learn banking operations and the principles and ethics of the trade, which will take them far.”

- By Bernard Yaw ASHIADEY