Introducing our first "Karisimbi Associate"

Karisimbi Partners aims to help clients reach the pinnacle of their potential, and this is one of the reasons we have named our company after Rwanda’s highest peak. Given some of the business sectors we have initially engaged, however, it is clear that some of our clients require the guidance of someone with particular technical skills we do not possess. As such, we have invited people we call “Karisimbi Associates” to help us guide our clients toward their full potential. Below is a story about Kiah Jordan, the first Karisimbi Associate we invited from North America to work alongside one of our client companies. Kiah works in commercial property management and financial planning in Santa Barbara. He is also a former student of mine and I recently worked with him on a consulting project in Santa Barbara, California, so I knew he could make a significant contribution at Misteph & Co., a client of our with a residential real estate firm poised to become one of the first “property management” companies in Rwanda. We hoped he could offer industry-specific insights that were critically needed at just now as this initiative was launched. The following brief interview highlights how things progressed over the 10 days Kiah spent in Kigali working with Misteph & Co.:

What did you want to do or expect before arriving in Rwanda to work with Karisimbi Business Partners?
I expected to use my career specific skills in a very focused environment, with a short time to accomplish a lot. I planned on working with Karisimbi Partner’s client on my own for the majority of the time and to be resourceful in quickly adapting to the needs of the client and the culture. I expected there to be very little structure in the client's industry and that I would need to build the process and procedure within the context of the client's needs. Lastly, I expected Rwanda to be much more primitive and more like the barren dry pictures of Africa that we often see in the western hemisphere.

What did you find when you arrived in Rwanda?
I found that Kigali was a relatively developed city and Rwanda was green and had many key resources and a climate that could sustain agricultural development. There was a market already created for real estate, however, it was unregulated, informal, and lacked consistency and efficiency. The specific needs of Misteph & Co. were split between targeting initial clients and building the processes and structures to support them. Misteph & Co. had a great vision and passion for future development, but needed the practical tools that would allow sustainable growth within the company and expansion of the company's role in the forming real estate sector.

What did you do in Rwanda with Karisimbi Business Partners? 

I went to Rwanda to work with Misteph & Co. to provide the specific skills they needed… establishing a new company in a new sector. What a thrill to work with the first real estate company in Rwanda specializing in sales and property management! I spent a significant amount of time learning about the Kigali real estate market, initially meeting and trying to understand the various ‘players’: the builders/developers, sellers, financiers, property owners, and potential clients. I trained the office administrator in Quickbooks and setup the proper accounts for bookkeeping. Since government regulations and industry guidelines have not yet been fully developed for this sector, there are no standard contracts, so I helped create contracts for leasing, listing, and property management. I helped a website developer create the company website. My time in Rwanda was full and there was so much more to do than could be accomplished in the time available, but the contribution to Karisimbi Partners and their client was substantial and the experience to me was priceless.


Indeed, being able to mobilize our contacts and friends like Kiah turns out to be one way we can propel clients toward their potential in a short period of time. Kiah proved particularly valuable, given his deep experience in a particular sector, familiarity with living in a developing country, and possessing the humility and other character traits required to adapt his knowledge in the best way possible. As a way of saying “thank you” our client treated Kiah to a day trekking through the mountains to see gorillas (Rwanda’s #1 tourist attraction). Also, the founder of Misteph & Co. may soon visit a real estate brokerage (another contact of ours) in America to understand how things are done in a more mature market.

We find ourselves uniquely situated to connect real business experts to the real business needs of our client companies. It is difficult to think how our first Karisimbi Associate could have been more effective, and we are convinced this is something we should do more often… so drop us a line if you feel you our clients may benefit from the excellent business competencies YOU have to offer.

Onward and upward,
-Carter

Time Flies Differently Here

For many years, scholars in the field of international management have highlighted the significant cultural differences one must face in understanding various orientations to the concept of time. In countries known as ‘sequential’ or ‘monochronic’ (e.g. the United States), appointments are kept, one thing leads to another and schedules generally do not deviate from the plan. In ‘synchronous’ or ‘polychronic’ cultures, appointments may be held simultaneously, start late, and end even later. The latter group of cultures tends to place a higher value on relationships than on meeting deadlines or pre-determined schedules. In case it isn’t already clear, Rwanda is a polychronic culture. Perhaps nowhere is this clearer than in surveying the meetings we have (or do not have) on the calendar each day. To give you a glimpse, allow me to share some of my favorite reasons scheduled meetings have been missed in recent weeks…

Ranking (Time Explanation Received) and Rationale for Delay

#12 (30 minutes before scheduled start) “Actually, because of the Umaganda holiday, we are not allowed to meet until after noon”

#11 (During meeting) “I apologize- the medication I am on makes it very difficult to stay awake”

#10 (1 hour after scheduled start) “We could not meet this week because of the death in the family”

#9 (3 hours after scheduled start) “He has a delegation of Americans he is showing the factory… stay there and he may come eventually”

#8 (45 minutes after scheduled start) “The line at the bank was terrible this morning”

#7 (1 hour & 2 hours after scheduled start) “I’m on my way coming”

#6 (2 hours after scheduled start) “His Excellency, the President, urgently asked to see a report today from my (govt.) agency”

#5 (8 hours before scheduled start) “I forgot- I need to drive two hours to see my dentist at that time”

#4 (15 minutes after scheduled start) “I was waiting for the rain to stop so I could catch a moto-taxi”

#3 (1 hour before scheduled start) “He would like to be there, but he must organize his daughter’s wedding today”

#2 (30 minutes after scheduled start) “My house and business burned down last night… could we re-schedule?”

#1 (15 minutes after scheduled start) “I know we confirmed the meeting last night, but I forgot I’m getting married this morning and need to submit some documents”

Thankfully, we have learned to laugh and roll with such delays. On any given day, it seems four scheduled meetings will materialize, two will not and at least one will be added impromptu. Any given in-person meeting may be interrupted by between two to eight mobile phone conversations or texts. For us, patience and flexibility is key. Thankfully, Rwandan businesses are aware of their need to honor schedules better if they are to be deemed serious. In a small country like this, ‘gatekeepers’ are rare, and there is perhaps nobody you could not schedule a meeting with if you tried. But no matter which Rwandans you intend to meet, you should not be surprised to hear excuses such as those we’ve listed here.

Onward and upward,

-Carter

From "Donor Mentality" to "Owner Mentality"

Perhaps more so than any other part of Africa, there is a popular notion in Rwanda that we must depart from a “donor mentality”. This new mandate has been poignantly communicated in books such as “Dead Aid”, a book which President Kagame handed out to every member of his administration. The thought that local problems can, or should, be solved by benevolent outsiders is perhaps one of the most crippling legacies of Africa’s colonial past. Government, NGO and philanthropic aid continues to pervade countries like Rwanda, and while these people and institutions often have truly noble intentions, Kagame and others are fearful they may stunt the Rwandan mindset required for truly sustainable development. Karisimbi Partners is committed to the market-based sustainability of its client companies, and we feel we can do this best by being profitable and sustainable ourselves. This approach makes us somewhat odd among the many Westerners here representing religious, political or non-profit organizations, but it has also made us popular among the local public and private sector leaders seeking an alternative to traditional aid. I have been struck this week by some of the interactions we have witnessed from this vantage point…

Exhibit A. Too often, Rwandans will wait for aid to come to the rescue rather than working to rescue themselves. For instance, we know of a village that refused to build proper latrines because the village next door had them donated and they thought it would be easier to wait until they received similar help. One of our client companies has recently received a significant investment from a European businessman. As Karisimbi Partners has been asked to evaluate the caliber of the existing management team and supplement where necessary, I have had the opportunity to interview 16 of the top employees in this agricultural processing company. I have asked each, “What changes would you make if you were the owner of the company?”. Almost without fail, the initial response has been a laugh or smile and a comment which indicates they had a) never considered the possibility of their being an ‘owner’, and b) have little reason to think such could be any more than a hypothetical exercise.

Exhibit B. I met with a leading Private Sector Development manager working for a European embassy this week. He has lived here for four years and personally overseen millions of Euros in aid via more than 13 initiatives led from his office. When I told him what Karisimbi Partners was doing, he thought it a refreshing new approach. When I told him mid-sized companies here are paying us such that we are getting closer to profitability every month, he almost fell out of his chair. Like the recipients of donations, those giving donations may also suffer from this mentality. It becomes difficult to believe it could be done differently when you become an expert at giving money to those who are incented to solicit it from you. The donor mentality can be debilitating on both sides of the transaction and fail to recognize the full dignity and equality deserved by each party.

Such experiences reinforce our belief: an “owner mentality” is the best antidote for those suffering from “donor mentality”.

Onward and upward,

-Carter

Out of Control: Four Funerals & a Wedding

As I was sitting at the funeral service for a dear friend’s father this last weekend, I was very aware that this was one of those distinctive differences between the place I grew up and the place I am now getting to know. Although I could not decipher many of the Kinyarwanda words spoken at the ceremony, it was clear that every word my friend spoke was full of emotion and meaning. In the seven months since we moved here, there have been at least four funerals among our immediate Rwandan friends and neighbors. Initially, I was simply struck by the importance of such events, as demonstrated by the time and priority given to gathering together and mourning for as much as a week after the death. As one Rwandan explained to Dano, “It is not about wallowing in the past, it is about honoring the dead”. It is not uncommon for businesses to close and much of “normal” life to be put on hold while the deceased is honored by hundreds of friends and family members. Today, however, I was struck by the frequency of such events. Indeed, it is one of the more painful indicators that in a country like Rwanda, life seemingly ‘happens to you’ more than life is ‘directed by you’. Unlike any other place I’ve lived, tragedy is expected here as a fact of life and such events are expected to be given their due respect.

On a happier note, weddings are also more visible and frequent events than anything I have ever seen before. One of our business colleagues had to leave the funeral we were at on Saturday in order to join a friend’s wedding party. I received my first wedding invitation last week, and while I could not attend, I look forward to a future opportunity. To deal with the sheer volume of wedding ceremonies here, some churches will ask four or more couples at a time to say their vows together. Wedding parties of extended family and friends gather in public locations for pictures, and some weekends you can compare the formal attire of as many as six wedding parties at one traffic roundabout (This many brides can certainly stop traffic!). I am fairly certain that as we develop more relationships here, it will be fairly easy to spend all weekend at weddings or funerals.

I am continually struck by the way people here share pain and joy en masse. There is a surprising (even refreshing) capacity of local Rwandans to drop whatever they are doing in order to participate in such events. Because it is understood that ‘life happens to you’, there is no presumption that one’s life, work or even today’s schedule is one’s own. I have a theory: Rwandan’s naturally respond to such events by praising or praying to God (Imana) because it is so apparent they could not have orchestrated such things by themselves. It is only when we convince ourselves that we are in control that we fail to acknowledge the existence or possibility of a Creator with a Master Plan.

Onward and upward,
-Carter

Business Ethics: More 'Caught' than 'Taught'...Especially Here

The Private Sector Federation (PSF) serves as a representative of private sector institutions in Rwanda and liaison to the government ministries that attend to it. As such, PSF is an organization that sits somewhere between the ‘private’ and the ‘public’ spheres involved in the development of this economy. In recent years, Rwanda has earned the reputation as the safest and least corrupt African country, yet there is still much to be done to facilitate business and attract outside investors. PSF decided to champion an initiative to encourage better behavior as relates to key issues: transparency of financials, upholding of contracts, treatment of employees and quality production. The central point in this initiative was a small handbook on business ethics I learned last June was being published. Thinking my PhD in Entrepreneurial Ethics could come in handy here (I’m fairly certain I am the only one with such a credential in East Africa), I met with the organizer of the publication. As seems only possible in Rwanda, I was invited to contribute to the project on the spot. After just two days of work, I was able to contribute a great deal more than I would have thought possible to the final product. A small book called The Code of Business Ethics & Excellence was launched amid much fanfare and lofty speeches. In one of the keynote speeches I was proud to hear the CEO of the PSF quote one of the lines I had authored: “This book is NOT just about deterring the worst, it is also about encouraging and rewarding the best business behavior”. At the launch event, some organizations even signed a document signifying their organization’s commitment to the prescriptions laid out in “the code”. I am now part of a Business Ethics Committee responsible for maintaining some of the momentum generated at this event. The following newspaper article tells more about the event and the initiative: http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14126&article=24355

After the book was launched, the ethical standard of Rwandan companies was immediately lifted. Ah, if only it were that easy! Like so many documents of this type, this is an important first step in stating ideals worth striving for, and ideas for reaching them. We have become painfully aware, however, that there is a critical shortage of qualified managers to understand and implement things handed to them in documents that describe a better future. This is partially because Rwandan culture is not a “reading” culture. Furthermore, reports are particularly ignored when the subject matter is as seemingly abstract and nebulous as business ethics.

Thankfully, lofty sentiments like integrity, honest and excellence are illustrated vividly in some of the practical business relationships we’ve forged here. Our actions certainly speak louder than any words we could write, so on our best days we and our Rwandan friends do our part to tangibly express our values and beliefs. I’m confident the decisions and interactions featured in our day-to-day relationships are easier for others to understand and emulate than anything we could put to paper. Thankfully, our business model accommodates the transfer of knowledge AND values, since we interact often, deeply, and long-term with many of the clients we serve. As a result, when feasible, we aspire to write fewer documents in order to spend more of our time living and implementing the words that may have died on the page.

Onward and upward,

-Carter

Stakeholders: Ethics & Value for All

In our “post-capitalist” world, people are concerned with more than the shareholders of a company, they are concerned with all stakeholders. Shareholders are also stakeholders, but they are one of many interests to consider, and not necessarily the most important. And the “purpose” of business is no longer defined as increasing shareholder value, but instead increasing value for all the stakeholders. Economic development discussions often replace the conventional “bottom line” with the “triple bottom line” measuring the impact on people, planet and profits.

For purposes of this discussion, we can call the following stakeholders, because each bears the consequences of the actions of corporations: shareholders, lenders, employees, suppliers, competitors, customers, government institutions and the community. I include the environment or the planet as a subset of many or all of the stakeholders because as the environment goes, so go the rest of the stakeholders.

What if a corporation paid its lenders per the terms of agreements, provided employees with meaningful work at a good wage, encouraged other businesses to grow (be those suppliers or competitors), sold customers a quality product for a fair price, abided by and helped to create laws and regulations that were good for the community and in all of the above improved the general standards of living of the community as a whole? That seems like it would be a company in which one could feel good about being a stakeholder. But you’ll note the shareholders are conspicuously absent from this list of stakeholders above. What if the shareholders of that company took their profits and spent them on frivolous living? What if they used those profits to advance causes that infringed on human rights? What if they used them to fund the sale of arms to those committing genocide? What if they simply used company funds to support a political party with which you disagree? Are any of these reasons to choose not to be a stakeholder in a corporation that otherwise seems to be doing so much good? Does the good being done by the corporation outweigh the consequences of the shareholders’ personal use of the profits? Is that even the right question to ask?

I don’t believe there is a moral or ethical rule to be followed or broken here. But as with many moral or ethical questions, it is to be thoughtfully assessed on a case-by-case basis and decided upon in the specific context of the stakeholders involved.

We are trying to do this on a regular basis in Rwanda. Here, it is possible to see the various extremes in the levels of power and it is easy to see the significant impact businesses have on their stakeholders. But as I write this, I realize our questions are not unique to this place; the same moral questions can be asked of any of the institutions we work for, regardless of geography.

Dano Jukanovich

Karisimbi Partners Makes the Headlines in Rwanda

Our plan was to avoid any ‘publicity’ or overt ‘marketing’ until we’d gotten settled a bit and earned our stripes working with some real local companies. Per usual in Rwanda, contacts and events took on an organic, unpredictable path of their own….

I had the good fortune to meet Davinah through a mutual friend. Davinah works in the Office of the President, Paul Kagame. As I tried to explain why we moved to Kigali to start Karisimbi Partners, she echoed a sentiment that I have heard a few times now: “Your story is inspiring!” I told Davinah that our story has (in part) been a response to the truly inspiring story that Rwanda is presently writing. This small country is audacious enough to dream of growth and development nobody thought possible… and that kind of vision is contagious; daily we see the diverse array of foreigners and supporters it has attracted to help in the effort.

The day after our meeting, the editor of The New Times, Rwanda’s most prominent daily newspaper, called me to say he also thought our story was inspiring. After a brief interview and a few weeks, there was a 2-page feature story on Karisimbi Business Partners in the business section! The link to the article is here: http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14125&article=24218. Our little company is no longer flying “under the radar”. Word travels fast.

Onward & Upward,

-Carter