“Work hard, build new dreams, create jobs and empower young people who are passionate about entrepreneurship.” Chekinah Olivier’s leitmotif is clear. The businessman knows what he is talking about. Barely a teenager, he set up his first business. “I started entrepreneurship at the age of 12, initially out of necessity for survival. Then it became a real passion, with the desire to do something productive for financial independence.” At the time, Chekinah Olivier harvested mangoes, avocados and even citrus fruits from fruit trees which he would sell in the street. He did not spend his income haphazardly. After two years of selling fruit on the side of the roads, the young teenager placed all his savings in a wood-fired oven to start making pastries, which he trained in. Before creating a business selling lamp oil, in a city where 95% of the population did not have access to electricity. Since then, Chekinah Olivier has never stopped doing business.
But always with one philosophy in mind: leaving a legacy for future generations. His experiences, he says, he wants to share with the next generation, who could well be inspired by him. Because after creating micro-enterprises according to the needs of the people around him, Chekinah Olivier launched into many other sectors. Going so far as to discover a mining sector in which he managed to establish himself. It was at the age of barely 16 that he began exploring the artisanal diamond mines in the villages. The young Chekinah Olivier then begins to sell small diamonds. This is undoubtedly what will give it this new stature. His know-how then took him to Asia, and more particularly to Thailand, where he discovered another sector, that of ready-to-wear. He travels back and forth between Asia and Africa to sell clothes, but he never forgets where he comes from.
Chekinah Olivier, entrepreneur, businessman, coach and mentor
As an adult, Chekinah Olivier creates several activities: companies in the consulting, mining, construction, logistics and even telecommunications sectors… The entrepreneur is never satisfied. Based on his experience, he sees the creation of businesses as “a leisurely journey”, especially since it takes him to several parts of the globe. But there is no question of only developing lucrative activities. Chekinah Olivier focuses above all on sharing. In addition to advice, he gives conferences and positions himself as a “coach and mentor”. Now based in Canada, where he notably founded OLC Project Management LLC, he has not forgotten his continent, for which he thinks big. “An integrated Africa will grow faster and become an important player in global economic development,” he says. When you look at the United States, you see that a state like New Mexico is known for its oil and petrochemical industry, even though it does not produce oil: it refines it. The whole country thus benefits from the oil economy, because in Texas we extract, while in New Mexico we refine. Some countries have great natural potential, others do not, but their development can be mutually beneficial, if it is thought of in a coherent and integrated way, moving away from a logic of conflict.
This desire for the development of Africa, Chekinah Olivier has made it an asset, with his company OL Mining Inc. According to him, the lack of information regarding the potential which the African subsoil abounds is an obstacle to development, and the African states themselves, due to ignorance, do not necessarily find what they are looking for. However, he asserts, we must “ensure perfect knowledge of the riches of the African subsoil, so that States are in a position of strength when they negotiate their exploitation with the major global mining groups”. Hence the idea of “unlocking and opening up the potential of Africa and developing countries by carrying out the most exhaustive inventory possible of what is available and can be exploited”. With a Spanish company, Chekinah Olivier worked on a map which identifies mineral resources and energy resources across the continent. Objective: “That governments have all the cards in hand to negotiate with mining or energy multinationals.”