Comments for Working With Africans http://www.workingwithafricans.com Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:51:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Comment on How to get ready to working in Africa? by Gaspar Marques http://www.workingwithafricans.com/how-to-get-ready-to-working-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-14054 Gaspar Marques Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:51:27 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=576#comment-14054 Raisa et al, Thanks alot for sharing this topic with us! This topic is really one that deserves attention to not only westerns as well as Africans who believe in balanced and rational approaches to solutions! Most of the rationale in the main text is of great merit! in my own perception, I think one that many western fails to understand is culture in a dynamic perspective! In my mind as truly African that understand both civilization, is that both horizons have failed through decades trying to understand each other and most importantly respect other cultures values! In fact, my thesis to my country fellow has been and will continue to be to challenge some of the values and assumptions that western societies bring about! How can we reconcile business with people's values if those people interested in doing business do not and will not respect the values they have encountered? How could productivity being maximized if all we want is maximizing profits without understanding the true dilemma that afflict those you want to be productive? Now, I believe there is a room for better and greater cooperation! There is great opportunities for all, but those will only reach it's peak once we all understand that we have to be willing to do the extra mile, when people at work are not seen as true objects but worth spending the time to invest, care and share opportunities without taboos and pre conceived ideas... " to be honest, I think there is a long way for as long some of western attitudes remains what I see" .... Regards gaspar Marques. Raisa et al,
Thanks alot for sharing this topic with us! This topic is really one that deserves attention to not only westerns as well as Africans who believe in balanced and rational approaches to solutions! Most of the rationale in the main text is of great merit! in my own perception, I think one that many western fails to understand is culture in a dynamic perspective! In my mind as truly African that understand both civilization, is that both horizons have failed through decades trying to understand each other and most importantly respect other cultures values! In fact, my thesis to my country fellow has been and will continue to be to challenge some of the values and assumptions that western societies bring about! How can we reconcile business with people’s values if those people interested in doing business do not and will not respect the values they have encountered? How could productivity being maximized if all we want is maximizing profits without understanding the true dilemma that afflict those you want to be productive? Now, I believe there is a room for better and greater cooperation! There is great opportunities for all, but those will only reach it’s peak once we all understand that we have to be willing to do the extra mile, when people at work are not seen as true objects but worth spending the time to invest, care and share opportunities without taboos and pre conceived ideas… ” to be honest, I think there is a long way for as long some of western attitudes remains what I see” …. Regards gaspar Marques.

]]> Comment on How to get ready to working in Africa? by Pascale Sztum http://www.workingwithafricans.com/how-to-get-ready-to-working-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-13615 Pascale Sztum Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:32:33 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=576#comment-13615 Lynne and Raisa : thanks very for your interesting comment Taking the local perception of time into consideration is indeed a rather challenging endeavor. Lynne, in your illustration, you are the foreigner and you have respected your employee's need of time for praying while an indigenous factory owner has not! With this in mind, how can a foreigner possibly know what is the best way forwards? It is especially confusing when the foreigner has been given a deadline and a performance benchmark that have both been assessed on the basis of a perception that ‘Time is money’! The challenge gets even more complex when educated Africans return in their country of origin and take a managerial job! Often these Africans feature a Western perception of time and state their frustration about their ‘not-time focused’ country fellows! While many cultural trainers uncover the local values and expectations, they rarely look into this type of complexity! The best way forwards should be proposed on the basis of an assessment of each job and each situation. While it is effective to respect the local way when it comes to negotiating with a potential client, it is a different situation when dealing with a local supplier or when there is a deadline in operations! To effectively help the foreigner, it is necessary to combine cultural skills and business or managerial ones! Rarely cultural trainers do! Raisa Thanks for your insight. I fully agree with you that a holistic approach helps in removing many stereotypes. This being said, the acceptance of the local perception of time cannot go against the firm’s objectives and often these are fixed in terms of output or productivity! Output is usually calculated on the basis of a Western perception of time! This means that in some circumstances, the respect of the local perception can have a negative impact on productivity! I fully agree with your view that foreigners should develop some out-of-the box thinking skills when working in some African countries. The biggest challenge that they meet is related to their own know-how and expertise that they take for universal! They do so because they are said so during their studies and during some previous work experiences! If you look at the disciplines taught in an MBA (a degree favored by many to run a business), they all envision work as a process! How could they be transferable in places where work is mainly an interpersonal experience? This is why foreigners working in countries with cultural differences of this depth need a cultural preparation that uncovers working challenges rather than cultural features. Unfortunately this is not often the case and I regularly meet with foreigners whose first words are ‘we have to respect them, but they have to respect us too! I think this is telling about the complexity of cultural work interactions! Lynne and Raisa : thanks very for your interesting comment
Taking the local perception of time into consideration is indeed a rather challenging endeavor. Lynne, in your illustration, you are the foreigner and you have respected your employee’s need of time for praying while an indigenous factory owner has not! With this in mind, how can a foreigner possibly know what is the best way forwards? It is especially confusing when the foreigner has been given a deadline and a performance benchmark that have both been assessed on the basis of a perception that ‘Time is money’! The challenge gets even more complex when educated Africans return in their country of origin and take a managerial job! Often these Africans feature a Western perception of time and state their frustration about their ‘not-time focused’ country fellows!
While many cultural trainers uncover the local values and expectations, they rarely look into this type of complexity! The best way forwards should be proposed on the basis of an assessment of each job and each situation. While it is effective to respect the local way when it comes to negotiating with a potential client, it is a different situation when dealing with a local supplier or when there is a deadline in operations! To effectively help the foreigner, it is necessary to combine cultural skills and business or managerial ones! Rarely cultural trainers do!
Raisa
Thanks for your insight. I fully agree with you that a holistic approach helps in removing many stereotypes. This being said, the acceptance of the local perception of time cannot go against the firm’s objectives and often these are fixed in terms of output or productivity! Output is usually calculated on the basis of a Western perception of time! This means that in some circumstances, the respect of the local perception can have a negative impact on productivity!
I fully agree with your view that foreigners should develop some out-of-the box thinking skills when working in some African countries. The biggest challenge that they meet is related to their own know-how and expertise that they take for universal! They do so because they are said so during their studies and during some previous work experiences! If you look at the disciplines taught in an MBA (a degree favored by many to run a business), they all envision work as a process! How could they be transferable in places where work is mainly an interpersonal experience?
This is why foreigners working in countries with cultural differences of this depth need a cultural preparation that uncovers working challenges rather than cultural features. Unfortunately this is not often the case and I regularly meet with foreigners whose first words are ‘we have to respect them, but they have to respect us too! I think this is telling about the complexity of cultural work interactions!

]]> Comment on How to get ready to working in Africa? by Raisa Arvinen-Muondo http://www.workingwithafricans.com/how-to-get-ready-to-working-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-13386 Raisa Arvinen-Muondo Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:00:23 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=576#comment-13386 This is a very interesting piece of reading. Thanks Pascale! I work as an intercultural resource consultant delivering training on Angola for a client in the oil industry. This notion of time is one of the major points I focus on because it does highlight a major difference between Western and Angolan cultures and one that has a ripple effect on many facets of organisational life. I also find that often Westen managers equate the Angolans' lack of sense of urgency with lazy attitudes to work or disinterest, which I think is a misjudgement in most cases. I think that in the Angolan context, and I would hesitate to guess that the same would apply in most African contexts, a much more holistic approach is needed to understand what makes people 'tick' and therefore create or adapt practices and policies in a way that is conducive to organisational performance and happier, motivated employees. If we (or anyone working with Angolans, or Africans in general) can come to understand what are the core values in the societies that we work in, it is also easier for us to interpret behaviour more accurately within these contetxs. But then the same could be said vice versa. If everyone in multinational or multicultural organisations had better cultural awareness in general, people would be better equipped to 'think outside their box' and there would be less room for miscommunication of both words and actions. In addition to time, there are several other dimensions, which I think are particulalrly important for the Angolan context and I would also say other African contexts. The most significant, which underpins most interaction, is the way that individuals view relationships and other people. African cultures in my experience are usually highly interpersonal, as opposed to transactional. It's all about relationship dynamics and other dimensions such as formality, hierarchy, collectivism etc. all come into play to guide appropriate behaviour and how individuals intepret that behaviour. But in essence in Angolan culture it is all about establishing relationships, trust and familiarity, which brings with it a sense of mutual responsibility and obligation. From my experience this does not translate easily into Western working MNC environments, where there is more emphasis on the transaction; the idea that being paid for or paying for a service or work automatically brings performance or a sense of obligation to perform. As I said, my experience and knowledge mainly derives from the Angolan context and I would very much like to hear if this rings bells with anyone when it comes to other countries and cultures in Africa also. As you have rightly pointed out and I certainly agree, each country and culture in Africa is different and we must be acknowledge this. However, there are also some useful similarities across various African countries that can be drawn out and may help those unfamiliar with the continent to start making sense of it all in a way that is useful rather than counterproductively stereotyping. Lynne, you also highlight an interesting point, one which I have had extensive conversations about with colleagues and friends: differences in African and Western management styles. I don't have a straight forward answer for this, but certainly there are some significat differences in traditional African management styles and Western management styles. I don't have time to go into much more at the moment, unfortunately, but perhaps a 'conversation' to be had at another time! This is a very interesting piece of reading. Thanks Pascale!

I work as an intercultural resource consultant delivering training on Angola for a client in the oil industry. This notion of time is one of the major points I focus on because it does highlight a major difference between Western and Angolan cultures and one that has a ripple effect on many facets of organisational life. I also find that often Westen managers equate the Angolans’ lack of sense of urgency with lazy attitudes to work or disinterest, which I think is a misjudgement in most cases. I think that in the Angolan context, and I would hesitate to guess that the same would apply in most African contexts, a much more holistic approach is needed to understand what makes people ‘tick’ and therefore create or adapt practices and policies in a way that is conducive to organisational performance and happier, motivated employees. If we (or anyone working with Angolans, or Africans in general) can come to understand what are the core values in the societies that we work in, it is also easier for us to interpret behaviour more accurately within these contetxs. But then the same could be said vice versa. If everyone in multinational or multicultural organisations had better cultural awareness in general, people would be better equipped to ‘think outside their box’ and there would be less room for miscommunication of both words and actions.

In addition to time, there are several other dimensions, which I think are particulalrly important for the Angolan context and I would also say other African contexts. The most significant, which underpins most interaction, is the way that individuals view relationships and other people. African cultures in my experience are usually highly interpersonal, as opposed to transactional. It’s all about relationship dynamics and other dimensions such as formality, hierarchy, collectivism etc. all come into play to guide appropriate behaviour and how individuals intepret that behaviour. But in essence in Angolan culture it is all about establishing relationships, trust and familiarity, which brings with it a sense of mutual responsibility and obligation. From my experience this does not translate easily into Western working MNC environments, where there is more emphasis on the transaction; the idea that being paid for or paying for a service or work automatically brings performance or a sense of obligation to perform.

As I said, my experience and knowledge mainly derives from the Angolan context and I would very much like to hear if this rings bells with anyone when it comes to other countries and cultures in Africa also. As you have rightly pointed out and I certainly agree, each country and culture in Africa is different and we must be acknowledge this. However, there are also some useful similarities across various African countries that can be drawn out and may help those unfamiliar with the continent to start making sense of it all in a way that is useful rather than counterproductively stereotyping.

Lynne, you also highlight an interesting point, one which I have had extensive conversations about with colleagues and friends: differences in African and Western management styles. I don’t have a straight forward answer for this, but certainly there are some significat differences in traditional African management styles and Western management styles. I don’t have time to go into much more at the moment, unfortunately, but perhaps a ‘conversation’ to be had at another time!

]]> Comment on How to get ready to working in Africa? by Lynne Diligent http://www.workingwithafricans.com/how-to-get-ready-to-working-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-13366 Lynne Diligent Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:24:01 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=576#comment-13366 I'm glad you've got a new post up; I was hoping you would soon. And thanks for sharing it on Facebook--it's the easiest way for me to see it right away! I think you have really hit the nail on the head with this post, Pascale. This has certainly been one of my own on-going frustrations. The objective of many in my country is to MAKE SURE that they don't work "too hard." Many show up late, work very slowly, work without thinking about what they are doing (and don't WANT a job where they have to pay attention to what they are doing. Extreme work rules protect these sorts of workers. Many people (not all) work hard only during the probationary period. Perhaps it may be instructive to see how some African employers deal with these problems themselves. I had a former maid who went to work in a factory. During the time this maid was with me, my African husband said her prayer break should only take five minutes (and perhaps five minutes to prepare, and five minutes to get back to work for a total of 15 minutes). She would take 45 minutes to one hour every day at 4:00 when I really needed her. When I asked her about it, she said, "It's because that is the most important prayer and I need to do a lot of repetitions." After she left us and went to work at the factory, she told us that the factory owner blew a whistle, and let everyone out on break at the same time, and that the break was only fifteen minutes. Also, if they were not back when the whistle blew again, time was deducted from their salary. I thought this was an interesting method of controlling time, assigning a particular time. I believe this was a clothing factory and they had certain working hours, but were paid by the piece (or had a quota) as opposed to just by the hour. So this would mean that if a person was too slow, they wouldn't meet their quota, and not get their full salary. I found that the boss' way of controlling employees' abuse of time was interesting. This is a bit harder to adapt to a business where bells don't go off, or to a maid in a private home. But I thought it was both interesting and instructive to see how an African boss handled these time problems with other African employees. (My former maid DID complain about this!) I’m glad you’ve got a new post up; I was hoping you would soon. And thanks for sharing it on Facebook–it’s the easiest way for me to see it right away!

I think you have really hit the nail on the head with this post, Pascale. This has certainly been one of my own on-going frustrations.

The objective of many in my country is to MAKE SURE that they don’t work “too hard.” Many show up late, work very slowly, work without thinking about what they are doing (and don’t WANT a job where they have to pay attention to what they are doing. Extreme work rules protect these sorts of workers. Many people (not all) work hard only during the probationary period.

Perhaps it may be instructive to see how some African employers deal with these problems themselves. I had a former maid who went to work in a factory. During the time this maid was with me, my African husband said her prayer break should only take five minutes (and perhaps five minutes to prepare, and five minutes to get back to work for a total of 15 minutes). She would take 45 minutes to one hour every day at 4:00 when I really needed her. When I asked her about it, she said, “It’s because that is the most important prayer and I need to do a lot of repetitions.”

After she left us and went to work at the factory, she told us that the factory owner blew a whistle, and let everyone out on break at the same time, and that the break was only fifteen minutes. Also, if they were not back when the whistle blew again, time was deducted from their salary. I thought this was an interesting method of controlling time, assigning a particular time. I believe this was a clothing factory and they had certain working hours, but were paid by the piece (or had a quota) as opposed to just by the hour. So this would mean that if a person was too slow, they wouldn’t meet their quota, and not get their full salary. I found that the boss’ way of controlling employees’ abuse of time was interesting.

This is a bit harder to adapt to a business where bells don’t go off, or to a maid in a private home. But I thought it was both interesting and instructive to see how an African boss handled these time problems with other African employees. (My former maid DID complain about this!)

]]> Comment on Recruitment across countries by Pascale Sztum http://www.workingwithafricans.com/recruitment-across-countries/comment-page-1/#comment-7645 Pascale Sztum Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:48:26 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=434#comment-7645 Merci Monsieur Coulibali pour cette question intéressante. Avant d'y répondre il faut clarifier le concept de culture. Lorsque nous travaillons nous sommes, souvent inconsciemment- influencés par des normes sociétales qui ne sont pas partagées en dehors de nos frontières. Dans certains pays africains, le manque d'accès à la périphérie peut causer une diversité de règles sociétales propres à des régions, à des ethnies, à des langues... Tant que nous n'avons pas voyagé, nous croyons que notre manière de nous comporter en société est la manière de tout le monde. En Afrique, malgré les déclarations de communautés de valeurs, il existe des règles sociétales et culturelles différentes... si on vous dit que les Africains partagent des valeurs communes, en y regardant de plus près on voit que derrière ces similitudes se chachent des différences d'interprétations et de priorités... A côté de la culture sociétale, il existe le concept de culture d'entreprise. Celui-ci est une création des gurus du management. La culture d'entreprise est un ensemble de manière de faire et de se comporter qui sont propres à une entreprise. Dans les années 90, ce concept était très à la mode et actuellement encore il est utilisé par les entreprises multinationales qui veulent uniformiser les pratiques et comportements de leurs employés des différentes filiales... Cela dit des recherches ont prouvé que cette culture d'entreprise n'est pas très efficace quand ses principes et valeurs sont en contradiction avec les valeurs de la société. Aussi bien au niveau de la culture sociétale que de la culture d'entreprise, il n'y a pas d'uniformité propre à l'Afrique. J'espère avoir répondu à votre question ! meilleures salutations Pascale Merci Monsieur Coulibali pour cette question intéressante.
Avant d’y répondre il faut clarifier le concept de culture. Lorsque nous travaillons nous sommes, souvent inconsciemment- influencés par des normes sociétales qui ne sont pas partagées en dehors de nos frontières. Dans certains pays africains, le manque d’accès à la périphérie peut causer une diversité de règles sociétales propres à des régions, à des ethnies, à des langues… Tant que nous n’avons pas voyagé, nous croyons que notre manière de nous comporter en société est la manière de tout le monde. En Afrique, malgré les déclarations de communautés de valeurs, il existe des règles sociétales et culturelles différentes… si on vous dit que les Africains partagent des valeurs communes, en y regardant de plus près on voit que derrière ces similitudes se chachent des différences d’interprétations et de priorités…

A côté de la culture sociétale, il existe le concept de culture d’entreprise. Celui-ci est une création des gurus du management. La culture d’entreprise est un ensemble de manière de faire et de se comporter qui sont propres à une entreprise. Dans les années 90, ce concept était très à la mode et actuellement encore il est utilisé par les entreprises multinationales qui veulent uniformiser les pratiques et comportements de leurs employés des différentes filiales…
Cela dit des recherches ont prouvé que cette culture d’entreprise n’est pas très efficace quand ses principes et valeurs sont en contradiction avec les valeurs de la société.

Aussi bien au niveau de la culture sociétale que de la culture d’entreprise, il n’y a pas d’uniformité propre à l’Afrique. J’espère avoir répondu à votre question ! meilleures salutations Pascale

]]> Comment on Recruitment across countries by coulibaly alassane http://www.workingwithafricans.com/recruitment-across-countries/comment-page-1/#comment-7629 coulibaly alassane Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:12:18 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=434#comment-7629 est ce qu'il ya une culture d'entreprise qui propre a l'afrique est ce qu’il ya une culture d’entreprise qui propre a l’afrique

]]> Comment on Sales Training in Africa by Pascale Sztum http://www.workingwithafricans.com/sales-training-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-5015 Pascale Sztum Fri, 27 May 2011 16:37:32 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=495#comment-5015 You are absolutely right...we need solutions... I am selling these solutions... have you glanced at my profile?... I am a cross-cultural trainer and researcher. You are absolutely right…we need solutions… I am selling these solutions… have you glanced at my profile?… I am a cross-cultural trainer and researcher.

]]> Comment on Sales Training in Africa by Motivations http://www.workingwithafricans.com/sales-training-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-5008 Motivations Fri, 27 May 2011 11:47:38 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=495#comment-5008 While I reason along this line of thinking, I think it is not sufficient to just emphasize problems with no indicated solutions. It is agreed that the highly westernized sales method will not work hook, line and sinker in the African environment, can you then highlighted some workable sales tips for this peculiar horizon. Thank you. While I reason along this line of thinking, I think it is not sufficient to just emphasize problems with no indicated solutions.
It is agreed that the highly westernized sales method will not work hook, line and sinker in the African environment, can you then highlighted some workable sales tips for this peculiar horizon.
Thank you.

]]> Comment on Business Literature in Kenya by kwabena http://www.workingwithafricans.com/business-literature-in-kenya/comment-page-1/#comment-4776 kwabena Thu, 19 May 2011 15:03:42 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=521#comment-4776 Pascale, You seem to have such a deep understanding of the cultural mindset of most african communities that inspires. You got everything right in this article. It's been a while since I entered any a bookshop in any African country. But looking back, I know I'm guilty of the same colonial mindset you mentioned. I would buy a book on 'Ghanaian Traditional Marriage' written by an American professor who has never visited the African continent even if there was a similar better book written by a Ghanaian who has lived and observed what he's writing about. It's sad. Now I can see that it's not a Ghanaian problem but a widespread cancer. Books are just one of the issues. Generally we Ghanaian value everything AMerican as God-given. from the way we want to be managed, dress, speak and eat. If you can do it in a way that looks American, you're seen as hot and sexy. Did you say we should decolonize our mind? Can you say it louder? Pascale,
You seem to have such a deep understanding of the cultural mindset of most african communities that inspires. You got everything right in this article. It’s been a while since I entered any a bookshop in any African country. But looking back, I know I’m guilty of the same colonial mindset you mentioned. I would buy a book on ‘Ghanaian Traditional Marriage’ written by an American professor who has never visited the African continent even if there was a similar better book written by a Ghanaian who has lived and observed what he’s writing about. It’s sad. Now I can see that it’s not a Ghanaian problem but a widespread cancer.

Books are just one of the issues. Generally we Ghanaian value everything AMerican as God-given. from the way we want to be managed, dress, speak and eat. If you can do it in a way that looks American, you’re seen as hot and sexy.
Did you say we should decolonize our mind? Can you say it louder?

]]> Comment on Business Literature in Kenya by Pascale Sztum http://www.workingwithafricans.com/business-literature-in-kenya/comment-page-1/#comment-4685 Pascale Sztum Mon, 16 May 2011 08:41:58 +0000 http://www.workingwithafricans.com/?p=521#comment-4685 Thanks for your comment Lynne... A glance at the selection of books available in the bookshops shows that Kenyans like reading. There is no doubt about that but what is surprising is the paucity of books written by Kenyans or even by other African authors. In the best cases, Kenyans authors are hidden in a corner of the bookshops, often closed by the books on African art and wildlife. As I inquired about the book of a well known Kenyan social scientist in one of the large bookshops of a Nairobi shopping mall, the shop attendant just told me that there were not selling books written by Kenyans... It is such a shame... but this was not the point of my post as the business literature is of an interest for a minority of Kenyans who show an interest in developing their capacity to manage their business. Therefore, they are looking for resources and a bookshop is such a great place to find some. The reasons why Kenyans look at Western models and more precisely at US model are complex. Here are some of them... First there is still a minority of white Kenyans who hold businesses and may be a model for the indigenous in search of success. Kenya is reknown for the quality of its education system. Many Kenyan schools offer the British curriculum or the International Bacchalaureate... from a young age onwards, Kenyans are acculturated by the vision of the world displayed in Anglo-saxon literature and by Western values. It is stricking to see how pervasive is the influence of the Bristish way... Kenyans go to work dressed like perfect British employees! Where is the Kenyan style? Second there is a minority of Kenyans from Asian descent who is very active in the business sector. Many of them are keen on learning from the US models and therefore this may reinfoce the selection for an imported model. Third there are Western fortune seekers who are preaching the Western way without knowing anything about the local context and this reinforces Kenyans in the idea that business skills are unrelated to the people who display them. Thanks for your comment Lynne…

A glance at the selection of books available in the bookshops shows that Kenyans like reading. There is no doubt about that but what is surprising is the paucity of books written by Kenyans or even by other African authors. In the best cases, Kenyans authors are hidden in a corner of the bookshops, often closed by the books on African art and wildlife. As I inquired about the book of a well known Kenyan social scientist in one of the large bookshops of a Nairobi shopping mall, the shop attendant just told me that there were not selling books written by Kenyans… It is such a shame… but this was not the point of my post as the business literature is of an interest for a minority of Kenyans who show an interest in developing their capacity to manage their business.
Therefore, they are looking for resources and a bookshop is such a great place to find some.

The reasons why Kenyans look at Western models and more precisely at US model are complex. Here are some of them…

First there is still a minority of white Kenyans who hold businesses and may be a model for the indigenous in search of success.
Kenya is reknown for the quality of its education system. Many Kenyan schools offer the British curriculum or the International Bacchalaureate… from a young age onwards, Kenyans are acculturated by the vision of the world displayed in Anglo-saxon literature and by Western values.
It is stricking to see how pervasive is the influence of the Bristish way… Kenyans go to work dressed like perfect British employees! Where is the Kenyan style?

Second there is a minority of Kenyans from Asian descent who is very active in the business sector. Many of them are keen on learning from the US models and therefore this may reinfoce the selection for an imported model.

Third there are Western fortune seekers who are preaching the Western way without knowing anything about the local context and this reinforces Kenyans in the idea that business skills are unrelated to the people who display them.

]]>