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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Over the coarse of the eighteenth century, the Gold Coast produced more than a million slaves, about 15 percent of the total shipped from West Africa… ~Marcus Rediker, The Slave Ship

The first African-American President of the U.S. landed in Accra, Ghana last evening. His first trip to the Sub-Sahara has symbolic significance for many reasons. Many Africans believe that Barack Obama represents the ascendancy of Africa on a global stage, reversing the despair and hardship that’s plagued the continent during the post-colonial era.  They hope that his visit will call attention to the steep challenges and promising opportunities the continent faces.

Ghana is West Africa’s most stable, enduring democracy in a neighborhood where coups have been commonplace.  Obama’s visit is a symbolic endorsement by the administration of the democratic process. But the symbolism doesn’t end there.

On Saturday, the Obamas are heading to the town of Cape Coast where they’ll visit one of the more infamous “slave castles” of the region.   Slave castles like this served as both “factories” and prisons where slaves were kept until they were loaded aboard ships — floating dungeons — bound for the New World.

When I visited the castle during a business trip last year, I was overcome by its horror and unprepared for its impact. The images of those rooms haunted me for days.

It’s difficult to fathom that millions of human beings were “processed” in such a brutal and efficient fashion.  After entering the cramped, airless rooms where  slaves were kept and following their trail of misery to the infamous “Door of No Return,” it’s hard not to be moved.  It’s heart-breaking.

Many politicians and celebrities have used the Cape Coast Castle as a photo-op over the years. But, when the Obamas visit the castle on Saturday, it could feel like a circle has finally been completed. Talk about symbolism.

As always, I’d love to hear your perspective.  Please share your views and insights with my readers and me!

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Want more on this subject?

Here are images of the Cape Coast region’s two slave castles and its diverse people from my trip there.

> Update (7/11/) Hulu clip on the Obamas visit to the Cape Coast Castle.

A couple great books:

The Slave Ship – A Human History (referenced above), by Marcus Rediker is painstakingly researched and compelling.

The Door of No Return – The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade by William St. Clair is reviewed by the NYT here.

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A confluence of forces may be working in the country’s favor. The vitality of its government institutions, its deep appreciation of civil liberties, and its fiercely independent media have all made Ghana a beacon of stability in contrast to many of its neighbors. In addition, legions of tech-savvy Ghanaians, many educated abroad, are accelerating the country’s technology boom. These factors, coupled with the nation’s intense entrepreneurial drive, are helping Ghana build its service sector from the ground up.

As an English-speaking country, Ghana is poised to deliver a range of BPO services to other Anglophone nations in the West African sub-region and beyond. This particularly applies to its oil-rich neighbor, Nigeria with a population exceeding 140 million, the largest country in Africa. While Nigeria has made great strides in reforming its institutions recently, the country has long battled institutional corruption. Nigeria’s growing financial services sector is already looking to Ghana as a safe harbor for delivering its customer-facing and back-office services. And its telecom sector is the world’s fastest growing after that of China.

There’s been a lot of buzz about partnering with African companies lately, starting with the World Economic Forum in Davos (“Promise of Africa”), followed by this year’s TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference held in Monterey, California, last March. TED featured a particularly inspiring talk about doing business in Africa by Ngozi Okojo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, who served briefly as Foreign Affairs Minister – the first woman to hold either post. She warns business people and investors not to miss the Africa boat. Africa, she tells us, is open for business.

Okojo-Iweala later wrapped up a special 4-day session held in Aruysha, Tanzania, last June, called Africa – the Next Chapter, by discussing the flow of private investment in Africa. She pointed out that emerging confidence in Africa is creating exciting opportunities for collaborating with smart African entrepreneurs. The take away is that this is only the beginning.  One thing for sure – it’s energizing doing business in Ghana.

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