Inspired by Churchill, overcoming petty ‘bureacrats’ – the Anglu Xuereb autobiography

Entrepreneur Angelo Xuereb launched his autobiography 'Angelo' at his hotel The Palace in Sliema, Friday evening, celebrating his 60 birthday with a selected audience, media guests and businesses associates.

The autobiography, whose proceeds go for charity, comes with the endorsement of the lateral thinker Edward de Bono, who describes the book as an interesting and fascinating account of Xuereb's life from its simple beginnings to its great success. Other endorsements come from former President Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, former Judge Joseph Galea Debono, Prof. J.J. Cremona, former Chief Justice and vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights, Hans Günter Huniar, and Joseph Vassallo, a Hollywood film actor and producer.

"The autobiography not only documents Angelo's successful career, but highlights the obstacles that a young entrepreneur was faced with in the post-war years in Malta. At a time when Malta's independence from the British should have prompted the government to encourage enterprise, it is ironic that many obstacles were deliberately put in place by various entities. However, petty bureaucrats were never able to keep Angelo down for long, and the tale of how he built his way to success will inspire and budding entrepreneur," a statement announcing the official book launch said.

Addressing his guests, Xuereb said his autobiography was inspired by three reasons: not knowing when he is ever going to retire, providing his experiences as an inspiration to buddying entrepreneurs, but also to recall the "facts about some of the most important experiences in his life still extremely vivid" - a reference to the harrowing murder of his son-in-law on the New Year's Day tragedy that also left his alleged aggressor dead.

"The overriding message in my autobiography is that one should not lose hope when faced with challenges. Without doubt, what spurred me on most in my career is the satisfaction of overcoming challenges, because I believe that the bigger the challenge, the stronger and the more satisfaction I got," Xuereb said.

"I have always cherished Winston Churchill's words of wisdom that 'kites fly highest against the wind not with it'. I have always believed that life is one big challenge and if you lose hope you will be neglected and forgotten. For this reason I have always tried to be creative, determined and full of perseverance.

"I have always looked at the cup half full rather than half empty. I always believed that 'action speaks louder than words' and 'to be a winner requires hard work and to be a loser requires no effort whatsoever'. Success is attained by that extra effort more than your competitor, similar to when an athlete beats his competitor with a fraction of a second."