Theocharis was not just another entrepreneur. He was a continent-scale builder of energy systems, tech-enabled farms and AI-powered construction diagnostics.
The kind of mind investors called visionary, and his peers simply referred to as “The Architect”. At 41, he had projects running across five countries; from off-grid Solar grids in Northern Ghana to drone-powered irrigation in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. His days were a blur of pitch decks, prototype testing, late-night investor calls and early morning team huddles. But these were not the deals that shook him.
It was a voicemail. “Daddy, I looked for you… I saved a seat.” His daughter had just finished her school recital. And he had missed it. Again. That night, Theocharis sat on his living room floor, staring intently at her crayon drawing taped to the fridge.Everyone gets 24 hours. From presidents to plumbers, billionaires to bus drivers.
Time is the only currency distributed equally and the only one that depreciates instantly. “I raised $2.4 million last quarter,” he reflected soberly, “but I couldn’t raise a single hour to be there for her.” He was not broke in ideas; He was bankrupt in time.
The Engineering Mindset: Can You Build Time?
In the sleepless nights that followed, Theocharis did what engineers do; he framed time as a problem of design. He mapped his waking hours: 16-hour workdays, 6 hours of sleep, zero margin for life. Then he reframed the question: “What if I stopped trying to stretch time, and started to scale it?” And just like that, his thinking shifted from hustle to leverage.
Theocharis began aggressively delegating.
- He hired a junior engineer. 8 hours a day.
- He outsourced his app’s backend. 40 hours of global development work weekly.
- He brought in a part-time CFO. 10 hours of strategy freed.
- He promoted a COO. Headspace reclaimed.
Within 2 months, Theocharis had scaled his effective time to over 150 hours a day, not by cloning himself, but by buying other people’s time. “Hiring was not a cost,” he said. “It was purchasing time to win back my life and hers.”
The Universal Truth: Everyone is Selling Time
Every worker on earth is in the time trade.
- A carpenter does not sell wood. He sells 8 hours of craftsmanship.
- A coder is not selling apps. He’s selling time infused with skill.
Your degree, experience and exposure only raise your hourly value. But time remains the product. Theocharis had been selling his at a high price but at the expense of what mattered most.
In capital budgeting, we reject projects with negative Net Present Value (NPV). Theocharis began treating life tasks the same way.
- Does this Zoom call advance strategy? If no — delegate.
- Can someone else do this 80% as well? If yes — outsource.
- Is this task tied to legacy, joy or exponential return? If no — eliminate.
“Time is a wasting asset,” he said. “Every second that passes is a unit you can never repurchase.”
The Moment of Clarity: Legacy Lives in the Seconds We Show Up
Weeks after his systems shift, Theocharis made it to her class play. She ran into his arms, her costume crinkled, her voice proud. “You came.” He had invested millions. But that moment was the highest return he’d ever received.
Theocharis’ story is not just about entrepreneurship. It’s about personal capital management — treating time like your most valuable, non-renewable asset.
Entrepreneurs: Hire to multiply time. Not everything requires you.
Employees: Upskill to raise the value of your hours.
Investors: Back founders who can scale time, not hoard tasks.
Humans: Audit your time the way you audit your accounts. Be ruthless and intentional.
In the end, your calendar is your balance sheet. And your true wealth is not in savings or shares: it’s in the seconds you still control. So the next time you whisper, “I don’t have time,” remember: The world’s most valuable resource is not gold, oil nor capital. It is time; Yours, Mine and Hers. And it is running out.
Theocharis’ 5 Time Multipliers
- Delegate Like a Strategist
Theocharis builds teams around trusted lieutenants, not just employees. Tasks that do not require his unique judgment are handed off. His rule: “If someone can do it 80% as well as I can, they should do it.”
- Automate the Routine
From real-time dashboards to robotic process automation in back-office operations, Theocharis champions technology that eliminates manual steps. Every second saved through automation adds up to hours reclaimed across the organization.
- Buy Expertise, Not Just Hands
He hires based on thinking power per hour. Consultants, advisors and specialists are brought in not for execution alone, but for compressing decision cycles through expert insight.
- Time Audit Every Quarter
Theocharis personally reviews how his time is spent every three months, tracking low-return meetings, tasks and distractions. He ruthlessly cuts or redesigns anything that does not produce strategic value.
- Align People With Purpose
His leadership mantra: “People do not just need tasks — they need targets.” Every team member knows how their daily time investment contributes to the bank’s long-term goals, increasing ownership and reducing wasted hours.
Discussion Questions:
- In financial terms, how can time be modeled as a finite capital resource within a business?
- What are the risks of over-centralization of time around a single leader? How does this affect succession planning?
- How do concepts like delegation, outsourcing, and automation reflect time investment vs return?
- If you were Theocharis’s COO, what additional strategies would you implement to multiply executive capacity?
- From a corporate finance lens, can human time be valued using NPV concepts? If so, what factors affect that valuation?
The author is a Strategy, Leadership & Finance Enthusiast, an Mphil Finance graduate of the University of Ghana Business School, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, and a part-time lecturer at the UGBS.
Email: [email protected]
The post Cases in Finance with Enock YEBOAH-MENSAH: EPISODE 1: You raised $2.4M but missed the play appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.
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