It is difficult to imagine anyone with more enthusiasm than Basil Mienie. Those familiar with the TV series The Armstrongs will remember him as the expert brought in to motivate the workforce at U-Fit double glazing Coventry's third biggest double glazing company.' Viewers will have seen him struggling to generate enthusiasm in the staff before he memorably declared to colourful company owner John Armstrong that his employees were "dead they just haven't fallen over yet."

But typically, Mr Mienie, who is based in Grove, has thrived on the experience, using it as a source of material for speaking engagements.

He said: "John Armstrong had spent a lot of money putting together a really good software system all he needed was a motivated team to use it.

"I went along and did some goal setting and motivation work with them. The process was to look at these guys and decide whether it was worth spending money with them."

Most of the individuals concerned were sacked. But such was the surreal nature of the programme, it was difficult to discern what was fact and what was being played out for the benefit of the cameras.

Mr Mienie added: "I had a lot of people contact me asking if the series was real.

"But I was able to use the experience to consider how individuals edit their lives.

"We can take whatever we want and edit the result we want to achieve. At the same time we can also edit out our goals in life."

Mr Mienie works with individuals and companies using motivational skills that he has nurtured over the last 30 years.

Born in Zimbabwe, he arrived in this country four years ago with his English-born wife Lorraine to escape the Mugabe regime.

He has run several successful businesses and spent 14 years in South Africa running an insurance brokerage.

His last job was as an executive director with Nashua, a re-seller of Ricoh photocopiers, until the political situation deteriorated to the point that he and his family sold everything despite the local currency being hugely devalued and ended up in Oxfordshire.

He was 50, in a new country, facing a fresh start. It was then that he needed to apply his motivational skills to himself.

"People said to me that I was too old but I was determined not to claim social security. I had to work and did all sorts to get myself established."

This ranged from selling insurance to working in a call centre but, at the same time, he did a lot of networking, joining the Missing Link group, which gave him the chance to put his motivational talents to good use.

It was through networking that he came to work with several companies and that led him to the national exposure on The Armstrongs.

Last November he set up Basil Mienie and Associates and is now working with fellow motivational expert Ayd Instone.

The pair are running workshops and weekly breakfast meetings in Newbury and at the Longwall Premier Travel Inn on Oxford Business Park, every Wednesday.

His website also carries audio testimonials of people he has helped and the improvements they claim he has brought to their lives not just professionally or financially but in other areas, such as work/life balance and weight loss.

He said: "It's all about self-development changing how you see yourself on the inside."

Mr Mienie is even working with teenagers to help them focus on what they want from life at an early age.

Motivational gurus such as Mr Mienie are becoming more common, although the profession is still regarded with some cynicism and distrust. This was an attitude that Mr Mienie found surprising.

"Motivation and self-help is a big industry in Africa. People have to do it themselves because they can't rely on governments to do it for them.

"If you don't work, you don't eat."

Mr Mienie admits he could do nothing for the workforce at U-Fit, because they were not prepared to listen and act accordingly.

But he claims the results can be tangible, once people start to help themselves.

He added: "Self-belief is vital. I am not saying things won't still go wrong, but you will be better equipped to handle them when they do and you will also have more good days than bad."

Meanwhile, TV companies are talking once more to Mr Mienie.

Expect to see a lot more of this man on a television screen near you soon.

Contact: www.basil-mienie.com