They are the richest five persons in the world and the richest person in Africa, in that order. They were not bitten by Famelitis (the biggest bug currently afflicting some people) when they began their journeys to the top. They were simply interested in making practical, tangible efforts in solving problems. They knew that work was not some quick dash but a marathon. That required thought, effort and patience.

Derived from the word, fame, Famelitis, is the condition where an individual is smitten by love for fame; where the individual sets fame as the primary goal against everything else; where the individual believes that the only way to ‘blow’ or ‘hammer,’ as we say downtown, is by being famous, especially in these days of instant celebrity and sensation.

There have been exceptions to the rule of work being a marathon requiring thought, effort and patience, personalized by the leading billionaires in the world, in the sense that there have been occasions where some individuals truly ‘blew’ and ‘hammered’ through their popularity. But make no mistake about it, exceptions do not make the rule. It is the other way round. That is the verdict of history, the governor of time.