In Zambia everyone has heard of Luckie Chiyowele, a business leader who seems to have success in every industry he touches. What is less known is that a Bermuda couple gave him his start.

Mr Chiyowele was working at the Zambia Sun hotel when he met Melvin and Sharol Simmons.

They were so taken with him that they offered to fund his college studies. The schooling led to a string of businesses that are now a part of Mr Chiyowele’s success story: advertising, television and more recently, construction and real estate development, superbikes and hospitality.

The work, however, kept him busy. Last week he was finally able to make a long-awaited trip to Bermuda with his nine-year-old son Tulani.

Waiting with open arms at LF Wade International Airport were “mum” and “dad”, the Sandys couple he had not seen in 20 years.

The Simmons’ trip through southern Africa in 2004 started with their nephew Warren Simmons’ graduation from college in what was then called Swaziland.

They visited South Africa and Zambia, where they met Mr Chiyowele, who took them on free tours of tourist attractions and showed them “how the locals live”.

Mr and Mrs Simmons, who have four children of their own, decided to make him part of their family. To them, that meant caring for him financially and emotionally; the bond has not broken in 20 years.

“Somehow the Holy Father asked me to help him and I helped him,” Mr Simmons said. “He went to school after we sponsored him and he has made, I think, quite a success out of his life.”

At the age of one, Mr Chiyowele was sent to live with his grandparents because his mother had not finished high school and could not support him.

He spent a lot of time out in the bush herding cattle barefoot with an axe in hand. By the time he was 12 his mother was working and able to care for Mr Chiyowele and his two-year-old sister. He went to live with them but within a short period, she lost her job.

For the next five years Mr Chiyowele rose at 4am to help with the buns and fritters his mother made and sold at the roadside. At 7am he would make his way to school and at the end of his lessons he would take over the stall so his mother could get some rest.

They lived on less than $1 a day until Mr Chiyowele began working at the hotel.

He had been at Zambezi Sun for a few months when Mr and Mrs Simmons arrived. As he had done with many other guests, he offered a free tour of Livingstone and its environs. The couple was astonished to find his art hanging on the walls of the national museum.

Questioned why he was working in hospitality instead of concentrating on his talent, Mr Chiyowele explained he was saving for school.

“The day they were checking out I received a call at reception: we’re leaving today and we have a gift for you,” he said.

“[They offered] to pay for me to go to school instead of me continuing with work. This was a dream for me. I still had maybe another year or two trying to raise enough money to pay for the first year of my school fees and stuff. And then here I'm being offered: find this school, write to us, we'd like to keep in touch. We'd like to keep you in our lives.”

Mr Chiyowele studied graphic design. Mr and Mrs Simmons sent the money directly to Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce and would receive his grades each semester. Mr Simmons was also in regular contact with the school’s director.

“Luckie was brilliant,” Mrs Simmons said. “He was a brilliant student, we never had to get on to him.”

They communicated multiple times each day even though Mr Chiyowele had no telephone and could only access his e-mail at internet cafés.

“I have one e-mail where dad was telling me about why it's very important to date a woman or a girl who thinks about the future; how they can help you grow or they can destroy you,” he said. “I got a lot of these e-mails with advice. We were so close.”

For his birth mother, the news that Mr Chiyowele’s education was to be paid for had the effect of “a big headache being lifted”.

“Mum was so happy. She felt part of the family. So we became a whole big family. They all write to her. I think the connection was instant.”

Although he had no problem finding a job after he graduated, the work never seemed to stick. Mr Chiyowele was fired five times before he realised he would make a better employer than an employee.

“It was not because I didn't know the job. It's because I think if I believe in something, I should do it. And sometimes that kind of quality is not good for someone who works for somebody else. They wanted me to do this and I'm saying, well, I could change this colour …

“I realised I love what I do but if I insist on working for someone else then I'm gonna be suffering for a long time. So I decided to be the boss.”

At 22, he started an advertising company, Power Media. Clients were slow to come until he was hired to lead the rebranding of the area’s biggest newspaper, the Zambia Daily Mail.

“And then the next thing, all their big clients insisted that I do their graphics. I wasn't the graphic designer in that business, I was more of a consultant then. And then, when I [completed the job], those clients wanted my touch. So they continued supporting my business instead of paying the Daily Mail for the work.”

The business went from strength to strength and then Mr Chiyowele decided to diversify. His idea was a version of the hit US show, American Idol.

“We called it Dreams, because dreams are free. No one is going to restrict you from dreaming big,” he said.

He approached corporations for sponsorship. No one was interested because he had no experience in television or music.

“But I knew what I wanted,” said the 38-year-old, who called on business acquaintances and their associates to get the job done.

“I had to assemble a team of people who believed in this but didn't want the headache of organising it,” he said.

Then came a challenge: another man who already had “big projects” under his belt was pursuing something similar and warned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation against getting involved with Mr Chiyowele.

To counter, he got on a plane to South Africa and paid a cold call to Samsung Electronics offices. Mr Chiyowele walked away with $50,000 and a promotion agreement.

“Out of their budget they could put on their billboards that they were sponsoring Dreams. That alone gave confidence to local businesses. I received calls from Absa, from Barclays: we want to come on board. And that's how my first show ended up being a big success. The other show by the big guy, it failed.”

Mr Chiyowele is no longer involved in television or advertising. Real estate is his current love although he opened his first restaurant about a month ago to showcase the superbikes he sells. On the walls are his original works of art.

Asked whether it had all brought financial success, Mr Chiyowele said: “I should say so, yes. Every day I count my blessings because I’m just a regular guy that God has decided to bless.”

Mr and Mrs Simmons are both “happily retired” from busy work lives. Mr Simmons was a senior probation officer and supervisor at the Ridgeway Home for Girls. His wife worked in private practice as a clinical social worker and was director of Medical & Psychiatric Social Work Departments before becoming director of the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality.

They saw that Mr Chiyowele was “something special” long before he built his empire.

“You were a great kid,” Mrs Simmons said. “We thought you were smart. You were warm and friendly.”

Mr Chiyowele spent his time here meeting family and sightseeing. Cup Match was on the agenda.

“I’ve been meaning to come here for a while now. And they’ve also been trying to come back. But life’s challenges have ways of teaching us patience,” he said. “For me it was important because my parents are growing [older]. They looked after me. We need to look after them now in terms of emotionally, financially, whichever way we can.”