While some people may enjoy curling up under a blanket with a good book, others are more drawn to the pleasures of visual media, like films and TV series. Kioo financial controller Dipen Patel, Bamburi Cement group CFO Eugene Antera, and Dolphin Professional Services CFO Noel Ngonyani speak to CFO East Africa about the films they have drawn life lessons from.
Dipen calls himself a “bad reader”, as he often falls asleep in the middle of reading a novel. But one film in particular has captured his attention over and over.
“I was inspired by Life of Pi. It shows how a person can be resilient and not give up in a tough situation, whatever circumstances you are in. I think that that little boy did a great job in that movie,” he says.
Life of Pi is based on the 2001 novel of the same name written by Canadian author Yann Martel. In the film, Suraj Sharma plays Pi Patel, who is left stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean after a shipwreck that drowns his entire family. With him is Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger that previously lived at the family zoo. The film follows Pi on his 200-day journey across the sea as he tries to domesticate the tiger and keep himself and the beast alive. As he retells his story to a writer, the line between reality and fiction begins to blur, and an allegory starts to take shape.
“I am inspired because, yes, difficulties will come. Problems will be there. But are you focused on facing and resolving them? Of course, everybody can face problems. But whether you are able to resolve them is another thing. Sometimes it might be in your favour, and sometimes it might not be. But whether you are able to handle that negative impact and move on is what’s important,” Dipen adds.
For Eugene, a viewing of The Last Dance, a 2020 miniseries that chronicles the career of retired American basketball player Michael Jordan, was revelatory. The show tracks his career journey, paying special attention to the 1997-1998 NBA season - his final rodeo with the Chicago Bulls. Having played rugby in his youth, Eugene connected with the show’s portrayal of team spirit.
“I think my son was watching it one day, and he told me, ‘Dad, there's something I want you to watch’. From the moment Michael Jordan was in school, how he built himself, got dedicated to the sport, focused on his team, pulled his team together, always achieved, even when he failed, always did it again, made himself the best of players, and was disciplined through everything, the movie was so inspiring to me,” he says.
The docuseries struck an especially strong chord with Eugene, as he identifies discipline as one of his personal values.
“It also tells you that when you have a team together, you really have to make them believe that you’re going to deliver together. Michael Jordan is someone I have always admired as a person, even the way he handles his things,” Eugene explains.
Noel’s favourite film mirrors a challenging time in his life. In 2015, a year before he took up the role of recovery officer at Amana Bank, he had a child. But he was struggling to make ends meet, so he took on a second job as a part-time accountant at a restaurant in Dar es Salaam’s Msasani Peninsula. For the next three years, he worked seven days a week, going to the restaurant on weekday evenings and weekends. During this time, he saw himself in Chris Gardner, the homeless salesman in the 2006 biographical film The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith and his son, Jaden Smith.
“I saw how the guy was fighting for his dream, and the level of passion he had. I had a kid when I was still struggling financially, and I was weighed down in life. So, I worked extra hours to make more money. I understood my accounting skills, and I knew they were needed in the market. In my Gmail bio, I put The Pursuit of Happyness. That is a movie I cannot forget,” he says.
