Napoleon Hill’s works receive fresh attention

DECEMBER 9, 2014 BY GEOFF IYATSE LEAVE A COMMENT

   

 

 

 

Mr. Poly Emenike

Forty-four years after the death of Napoleon Hill, an author of motivational books, Mr. Poly Emenike, has been commissioned to write the African adaptation of Hill’s popular book – Think and Grow Rich.

Emenike, at the public presentation of his book – Entrepreneurial Spirits through the Seventeen Success Principles of Napoleon Hill – in Lagos, said he would commence work on Think and Grow Rich – African Choice early next year.

Following the original work published in 1937, there have beenThink and Grow Rich – Black Choice; Think and Grow Rich – A Latino Choice; and Think and Grow Rich – For Women.

Emenike said the African version became important due to the vantage position of the continent in the emerging global economy and the need to consolidate Africa’s private enterprise drive. He said the book would focus on the success story of the African enterprise to prove that no height was unattainable.

Think and Grow Rich was a major catalyst of Emenike’s financial goal when he encountered it as a young boy in 1978.

He said, “I first came in contact with Hill’s works in 1978 when I bought a copy of his Success through aPositive Mental Attitude, authored by Hill and Clemens Stone. I was greatly inspired by the book and I had to read it repeatedly for two years. But due to the numerous references to Think and Grow Rich I bought a copy in 1980.

“Reading the second book was timely and most rewarding for me. The success teachings, which are the famous ‘seventeen success principles’ and their application, constituted the catalyst to some of the greatest financial success stories in the world over.”

Emenike, said to be the only non-United States citizen decorated with the Napoleon Hill Foundation Humanitarian Gold Medal, has also been granted the sole franchise to publish and distribute books from the stable of the Foundation in Africa.

He said he had also been confirmed a licensed teacher of Napoleon Hill’s Positive Metal Attitude Science of Success Principles in the continent, an opportunity he said would be fully harnessed to contribute to the growth of entrepreneurship.

The book, Entrepreneurial Spirits, a joint work of Emenike and the Napoleon Hill Foundation, is a narrative of how the Anambra State-born industrialist built a successful business from the N300 seed capital he got from his uncle in 1975.

The 358-page literature captures, stage-by-state, the life journey of Emenike, who at a tender age, developed a mental fantasy to lead a life of financial freedom. It also highlights the challenges he faced as a teenager and the storm he weathered as an entrepreneur as well as the strategies adopted to build his business empire.

He listed positive mental attitude, cheerful spirit and personal hygiene as some of the strategies he applied in the course of growing his business.

The book reviewer, Professor Michael Isiekwe, said Emenike’s revisit to Hill’s works shows how essential the principles taught by the late legend were to entrepreneurship development.

He noted that the simplicity and conciseness of the book underscored the author’s desire to share his success story with all members of the society.

Professor Pat Utomi, the guest speaker, charged successful Nigerians to transfer their knowledge to others through writing. He said the country would only change when a larger percentage of the population got committed to knowledge acquisition.