There’s no doubt the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ernest Chemists Limited has had a colourful journey to creating his pharmaceutical empire. 

Taking after his father, Ernest Bediako Sampong had the opportunity to not only understudy his father but also took advantage of his access to learn the pharmacy trade.

He advises those who want to go far in their respective fields of endeavour to do the same, that is to become apprentices first if they want to build an empire in any industry.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, he said, “I advise that people should go through an apprenticeship to have that experience. If you graduate from that, you wouldn’t need a lot of money to build on your next move.”

The well-versed CEO added that there are a lot of people at the company’s headquarters in Kaneshie, who have come from nothing but have climbed the career ladder to acquire experience in the industry because they were willing to learn.

“These guys went through an apprenticeship working as a porter to acquire certain experience. I believe that opportunity abounds but it’s a matter of being patient, trying to be submissive wherever we find ourselves,” he said.

The pharmacist who founded his company in 1986, said that to build an empire people need to also think generationally and to learn how to identify opportunities.

This one formula he said is simple, “whatever industry you are in, learn from your environment”.