Downtown Cape Coast, Ghana

Pulsating business scene

I spent the last couple weeks on assignment in Accra, Ghana. On this trip, I’ve seen more growth than any time since my company started working there in ’07. This is a period of unprecedented business activity and promising new projects within and beyond the mobile sector.  Meanwhile, new competitors from around the world are streaming in. This corner of Africa’s business scene is pulsating.

Astute businesses here are taking steps to preserve their client base and deepen relationships with their customers. We’re privileged to work with a new generation of African business leaders with the courage and determination to transform their offerings to meet the needs of an emerging class of consumers.

These are exciting times to work with African business leaders who take seriously their mandate for investing in new technologies and business practices.  We’re helping them gain competitive advantages by improving the service systems that support touch points, by adding new service channels, and by harvesting business intelligence, among other initiatives.

Building competitiveness

The most effective strategy for businesses to gain a competitive edge here is to understand and meet the customer needs better than their rivals.  Forward-thinking leaders here know that competing on service will help preserve their customer base and attract new customers even as the marketplace grows more crowded with aggressive new entrants.

Developing insights about customers’ preferences and purchasing drivers helps companies here achieve competitiveness as well as profitability.

It also creates jobs. Thriving regional businesses are Africa’s greatest engine of job creation and economic growth.  That’s why we’re committed to collaborating with leading African businesses, knowing that their success means more jobs and higher living standards across the region.

What it takes to work here

This question comes up frequently in my circles. I think Western companies operating here require a distinctive set of leadership and communication skills. Traditional business skills are necessary but not sufficient to address the complexity and scale of challenges on this continent.

But what’s needed for Western companies to operate effectively in this environment? We’ve explored this question with business leaders in various sectors as well as academics, entrepreneurs, and technology innovators.

Our conclusion is that it’s not enough to bring an open mind. We must be skillful listeners. That means checking our assumptions at the door and listening with the intention of gaining deeper insights about the market and, most importantly, the customer.  Deep collaboration with partners and clients is key.

Africa’s dynamism and complexity require going beyond merely tolerating ambiguity. Ambiguity, a ubiquitous feature here, must be embraced.  “Leaning into” uncertainty is critical to problem-solving in this market.

It’s critical to drop the need for control, otherwise it’s tough to handle the inherent ‘push-pull’ of a region that’s steeped in tradition while it grows so rapidly.

The ability to consider competing, often “fuzzy” options helps us work with stakeholders here to produce the imaginative, yet practical solutions that the region demands.

Finally, operating in the region requires extraordinary levels of patience and perseverance.  Change rarely happens in sweeping strokes here. Instead change occurs through “successive approximations”.  One step forward, two back but always moving ahead.  Patience — never my strongest card — is essential.  (Note: I’m working on it.)

People, Process and Technology – Redux

Succeeding here requires mastery in choreographing people, process and technology, and we help clients focus on all three dimensions — what we refer to as “service systems”.  Of the three, ‘people’ is the most critical and challenging to optimize.

Africa’s leading companies are now investing heavily in their people because they know, in the end, that this the only sustainable ‘differentiator’.

On this trip, I observed how one company in particular, a leading business process outsourcer and partner, transformed its organization into a high performance business by nurturing its talent.  It accomplished this feat by fostering competition among its teams while encouraging buy-in and autonomy among team members.

Watching their evolution over time has been both heartening and instructive. Today, I’d stack them up against any competitor in the world. This kind of innovative, customer-focused organization is poised to meet the needs of customers in any market.

Lessons from Africa

Like all prior trips to Africa, this one was a valuable learning experience on several levels.  I encountered a new generation of leaders and was impressed by their willingness to invest in becoming more competitive. The vitality of the continent’s nascent mobile-web industry is breathtaking.  Keep an eye on this exciting space…

I also learned more about my company on this journey. I’m reminded that what separates us from our peers is our passion for and commitment to producing substantial results for our clients and their customers across the sub-Sahara.  It’s energizing to work on a continent of one billion people whose economic growth is only surpassed by China, and I never forget what a rare opportunity it is.

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What do you think?  I’d appreciate hearing your perspective.

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Want more info on this subject?  You’re not alone.  There’s a plethora of books about conflicts and coups in Africa, but there are fewer resources about doing business on the continent.  I’ve previously recommended Paul Collier’s ’07 book, The Bottom Billion, which remains relevant.

In ’07, TED organized Africa: The Next Chapter, a series of talks which included the first TED conference held on the continent.  The series featured a stellar lineup of speakers on a range of topics about Africa.  Since then, TED has added new presentations about business development in Africa to the series, and  I heartily recommend it.

Here are some of my prior posts about the sub-Sahara.

I’d appreciate hearing your recommendations about resources on this topic.

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It’s been a week since the Port-au-Prince earthquake and images streaming in are helping us to grasp the region’s boundless misery and desperation. Hundreds of thousands have perished, and despite our best efforts, more will die and suffer for myriad reasons including the inability to deliver relief where it’s needed.

Despite the gut-wrenching news, it’s heartening to learn that determined, inventive people are finding ways to alleviate the suffering and, in some cases, save lives.

One of the more interesting stories is about an open-source project called Ushahidi which takes its name from the Swahili word for “testimony”.  The software, developed during the post-election violence in Kenya in 2008, enables text messages to be mapped by time and location.  Anyone with an internet connection, regardless of the device they use to access it, can send a text message, an image or an email. Ushahidi can also store data offline for later synchronization.

During its initial deployment in Kenya, Ushahidi was used to record hundreds of incidents of violence that might have otherwise gone undetected. It’s since been used to document incidents in the War in Gaza,the Vote Report India and Pak Voices (violence in Pakistan).  Ushahidi has also been used to track crime using its Atlanta Crime Maps.

But the application met its most demanding test after the earthquake in Haiti when the country’s mobile networks were down. Even after coverage was restored, the Ushahidi team realized that they needed a local SMS short code for the system to be widely accessible.

With a little help from our friends

Fortunately, Ushahidi has friends in high places. The team turned to Josh Nesbit, Co-Founder of FrontlineSMS:Medic, who used Twitter to reach a contact on the ground who was on his way to local mobile carrier DigiCel’s command center. With the help of the U.S. State Department, Ushahidi secured short code 4636 from DigiCel which is now being used to record the times, locations, and accounts of incidents.

Ushahidi updates its Haiti incident map with reports of medical emergencies, security threats, relief efforts and logistical bottlenecks.  It provides a filter for mapping earthquake survivors and deaths. Ushahidi also aggregates Tweets and streams from YouTube and Flickr, all of which can serve to orient first responders and relief workers while giving the rest of us a granular picture of what’s going on in the region.

Ushahidi teams in Kenya and Uganda are working around the clock to verify data from Haiti, and a university in Geneva, Switzerland is establishing a situation room there. Meanwhile, Ushahidi’s Boston team has approached Harvard, MIT and other institutions seeking volunteers to handle the massive volume of data pouring in.

As someone interested in how “home grown” technology is used in developing regions, this story is especially gratifying.  Ushahidi is about how inventive people in one developing country have created a simple but powerful “crowd-sourcing” tool to provide assistance in another hemisphere.

I’m concerned that “crisis fatigue” will set in, dampening world interest in supporting Haiti’s relief efforts.  By raising awareness about the on-going challenges in the region, we stand a chance of preventing the potential “disaster after the disaster”.

As this crisis evolves, new unforeseen challenges will arise. Let’s recognize that this is a long-haul operation. Perhaps stories like Ushahidi can serve to focus our attention on the enormous level of humanitarian assistance that’s needed in Haiti, and what we can do about it.

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Note: Ushahidi is currently seeking volunteers to process incoming SMS reports. Here are instructions to find out how you can help.

> Update (4/6/10):  Here’s an interview with Ushahidi’s Patrick Meier on a range of issues around crisis mapping and validation.

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Want more info about Ushahidi? Here is more on the 4636 SMS emergency code being used in Haiti.

And this is a Forbes piece (11-08), Citizen Voices:  “A Kenyan blogger found a way to get information from the crowd. Now she wants to take the idea to other parts of the world in trouble.”

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One of the more satisfying experiences at year’s end is reaching out to clients, partners and colleagues to thank them for their business and their stalwart support.  It’s even sweeter this time while reflecting on an entire decade going back to the early days of my business.

We come from different cultures and work backgrounds, but what binds us together is an abiding interest in bringing value to our customers, and clearing the hurdles that come with that mandate.  My mission has been to gain a deeper understanding of  what customers need and designing solutions for delivering it. My commitment to that mission is stronger than ever.

I can’t say for sure what’s next in business trends — no one can — and I’m not offering my top ten predictions. But, if past is prologue, we’ll need to be more imaginative, collaborative, and courageous than ever.  We can and we will, because we must.

Every project offers a fresh opportunity to do something that’s never been done before, and there’s nothing more thrilling that that.  I’m excited about new projects on the horizon waiting to be cracked.

Looking back, trips to developing regions like the sub-Sahara are reminders that we who are fortunate to be doing what we enjoy must recognize the steeper challenges faced by others. We’re obliged to devote a fair portion of our time and resources to reducing the suffering of others.

So, there’s much to be done.  Let’s get on with it…

I wish you a Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

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