(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Columbia Credit owner Doug Duncan.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born in Columbia May 26, 1962.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I graduated from Columbia Academy then went to William Carey and got my bachelor’s degree. My master’s work was at Mississippi College.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I am the owner of Columbia Credit. It’s a finance company that is basically a second-chance lending company. We do personal loans for people who have had difficulties with their finances. I took a chance to open this up. I have been in finance for about 20 years. I spent about 20 years on staff for the Baptist Children’s Village and churches doing family counseling before deciding to get into finance to help people out that need it. I moved back to Columbia five years ago after being in the Clinton/Jackson area for about 35 years. I decided to open up an office here so I can help out my hometown folks.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: It’s similar to what I did helping families helping out. A friend of mine had a finance company and needed some help. He offered me a great opportunity to go into business with him. We have a different philosophy here; we want to help folks out unlike some of other competitors. A lot of big corporations want to make a lot of money, but we’re here to help people out and make sure they get the help they need. We’re not here to drive loans out.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: I enjoy the relationships with people. I enjoy helping folks, and they become a part of my family. That’s the most fun part, getting to know people.
Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
A: The most challenging part is to get them to understand that we’re not like every finance company. We want to love you and help you. We want to make sure we’re doing our part to help you get the things you need in life. As Zig Ziglar said, if you help people get the things they want in life you’ll get what you want in life. That’s kind of my philosophy. I want people to become successful and feel good about themselves financially.
Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?
A: Treat people the same way I want to be treated. I had a professor in college that always said, “There but for the grace of God, go I.” Every class he said that, and I never understood why until I got older. I could be sitting on the other side of my office desk real easily. It only takes one hiccup in the road, and we’re all sitting on the side needing some financial help. I want to treat people the same way I’d like to be treated if I was on the other side.
Q: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: My ambition was to go to Mississippi State to become a forester. Things changed in high school, and I felt God had other plans for me.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I worked at the Marion County Co-op working for Mr. Ben Sullivan. That was a fun time. I bagged seed and feed and anything they needed.
Q: Who are the people who have been most influential in your life?
A: The two most important would be my dad, Huey, and my wife, Teresa. My dad taught me that if you do something to put everything into it. Give it everything you got and go full-fledged into it. He just passed away a few weeks ago. My wife is the most genuine person you’ll ever come across. She’s taught me to love people no matter where they come from. She showed me that through her ability to do it. She was in banking for 30 years, and she works for Beacon Supply now.
Q: Do you have children?
A: I have two children. Jessica Simmons will be 35 next month, and she’s married to Wes Simmons, who is a major in the Air Force. My son, Corey, is 29 and is a school teacher in inner city Jackson at a charter school.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: Salmon balls that my wife makes with oven-baked zucchini strips and coleslaw.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I’d want to do an Alaskan cruise. That’s on the bucket list for my wife and I.
Q: What hobbies do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I love sports — watching sports and collecting sports items. I like woodworking that my dad taught me. I enjoy that and fishing.
Q: What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?
A: After being gone so long, we made a choice to come back because of the people here. We enjoy the people, and we have our family and friends here. When we came back here we picked up right where we left off. The people are just so genuine and good.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: My wife. She’s my best friend. We try to go to lunch almost every day together. Even when she worked in Hattiesburg, we scheduled lunch at least once a week. We enjoy each other’s company.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on who you are today?
A: In college there was a time I didn’t take college so serious. I got in a little trouble in college and my grades weren’t great, and Dr. Harry Porter picked me up by my bootstraps so to speak and pointed me in the right direction. He showed me what compassion was to help other people and how to help. That really impacted to where I knew that’s what I needed to be doing when I got out of school. He pointed me in right direction, and that probably changed my whole life.
Q: What is one thing you want to do that you’ve never tried?
A: I would like to jump out of an airplane, but I’m scared of heights. I love flying, but I absolutely cannot look over the edge of anything. I don’t know if I could ever do it, but I’d like to try if I can overcome that fear of heights.
Q: Using one word for each, what are your top three morals?
A: Loving, serving and caring. That’s what I want to do with my customers. We want to love, serve and care for folks, and that’s the three strongest things in my life as well.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: As a fun-loving, honest guy that loved people and took care of people. Love costs nothing. That’s the way I want to be remembered: someone who loved everybody.
—Joshua Campbell
