Early birds catch the government worms

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Juma was retired and had started a second career. However, he just couldn’t seem to get to work on time. Every day he was at least 30 minutes late. However, he was a good and clever worker, so the owner was in a quandary about how to deal with it. Finally, he called Juma into the office for a talk.
‘Juma, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a top class job, but your being late so often is quite a worry.’
‘Yes, I realize that, sir, and I am working on it.’ replied Juma.
‘I’m pleased to hear that,” said the owner. “It’s odd though, you’re coming in late when I know you retired from the Army. What did they say if you came in late there?’ Juma replied, ‘They said, Good morning, General!’

Sometime in 2006, I had the good fortune to attend a Rwanda Investment Conference organized by the Rwandan Government to showcase and set the scene for foreign investment in the country. My colleague and I arrived at the venue at about 8:15 a.m. having been warned to get there early as the doors would be closed once President Kagame entered the conference centre for the opening ceremony at 9 a.m. We patiently lined up through the security checks and I was pleasantly surprised to find the entire cabinet as well as their permanent secretaries had taken their seats on the front rows. My colleague, who had done business in Rwanda before, said that this was the opportunity to meet the Ministers and set up any meetings that one required. Conference attendees mixed freely with the Ministers and lots of business cards were exchanged and meetings set up as I watched. At 8:58 a.m. President Kagame strode in onto the podium and, on cue, the Rwandan national anthem began to play. At 9:00 a.m. on the dot, President Kagame sat down and the function began. For a time Nazi like me, it took every ounce of self-control not to stand up and give the man a hi five.

A year later found me in Jinja, Uganda where construction for the Bujagali Hydroelectric Power Station was being commissioned. The project was a joint venture between the Investment Promotion Services, a division of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development and an American energy company Sithe Global Power. The government of Uganda is a minority shareholder in the venture as well. Due to it being a critical pillar of Uganda’s infrastructure, President Museveni would be the guest of honor. His Highness the Aga Khan was also present due to the size and the importance of the project. Now if anyone has been around a function with His Highness the Aga Khan you will know that he is accorded protocols equal to a head of state so you can imagine the level of security at the venue. My colleague John and I arrived at the venue at least an hour earlier than the slated official start time of 10 a.m. to ensure we got good seats. John had a whole bunch of magazines in the back seat of his car as we left Kampala. “You need to have plenty of reading material at a presidential function in Uganda,” was his response to my quizzical expression. I shortly got to see why.

As soon as we got to Bujagali, our mobile phones stopped working due to the signal jamming devices that are used at any Ugandan presidential function. His Highness the Aga Khan was already on site and meeting guests in a separate holding tent that had been set aside for him. At 10 a.m. guests were still milling about and I asked John why we weren’t being asked to take our seats. He chuckled and handed me a couple of magazines. “Brace yourself,” were John’s ominous words. President Museveni arrived at the venue at 2 p.m. or exactly four hours late, with absolutely no apologies for keeping any of the guests waiting including His Highness. As soon as the national anthem was sung, he sat down and promptly closed his eyes in a peaceful repose. They only flew open when he was called to make his speech about 45 minutes later.

We were hot, hungry and extremely frazzled by the time we left the venue. The President had demonstrated, quite succinctly, what he thought of foreign investors on his home soil. On Thursday last week I was having lunch with some colleagues at a popular Westlands restaurant frequented by leading business executives and government officials. It was the last day of the Pre-Global Entrepreneurship Summit events at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). Some of my colleagues had attended the opening ceremony earlier in the week and noted with disappointment that none of the Cabinet Secretaries had remained behind after the President left shortly after opening the event. The disappointment stemmed from the fact that the quality of exhibitions and panel discussions were so high that they warranted a level of engagement from senior government officials if they were indeed committed to showcasing the Kenyan entrepreneurial talent that had an enviable global spotlight. Present at the restaurant was a Cabinet Secretary who was in the printed agenda as being the lead government official for the closing ceremony that was slated for 3 p.m. The Cabinet Secretary comfortably sat sipping a glass of wine even as I left the restaurant at 3:15 p.m. It can’t be said that the official flag on the Cabinet Secretary’s flag would magically transform into wings and fly the government official to KICC at least 5 kilometres away.

But the conference participants at KICC could afford to wait for a leisurely lunch to end. After all they had nothing but time to wait. For wine to be sipped. At this time of global attention on Kenya’s biggest showcase events. Mentally, I doffed my hat to the Cabinet Secretary as I left the restaurant, “Good afternoon, General.”

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Twitter: @carolmusyoka[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Building a brand based on a cause

Last week, I joined thousands of runners, walkers, joggers and sightseers on the second edition of the First Lady’s Half Marathon that is a key brand pillar for her flagship Beyond Zero campaign. The starting point for the race was at Uhuru Highway opposite the Nakumatt Mega store, but since roads were closed, the closest we could get dropped off was at the Madaraka/Nairobi West roundabout. The road was filled with pedestrians dressed in the bright violet shade of the race T-shirt, and an instant camaraderie was struck with anyone wearing the same uniform. As soon as the gunshot to start the 10 km race went off, Uhuru Highway west bound was filled with thousands of people, and the pitch black tarmac quickly morphed into a beautiful sea of purple as middle class Kenya flowed onto the route. There were no tribal or social groupings, just joyful noise as sections of the crowd broke into songs and cheers to maintain a slow jogging momentum.

But not everyone was wearing the official violet race T-shirt. Zipping in between the runners were young men and ladies in bright crimson T-shirts emblazoned “Sonko Rescue Team”, many of them on roller blades. A few women wore long, black buibuis, and I saw one whose face was completely covered save for her eyes that shone with determination to complete the course in thirty degree centigrade temperatures. There were beauty queens too, Miss Turkana County and a couple of other counties were also represented, the title holders proudly adorning their distinctive winners sashes on top of their racing gear. It was also an opportunity for many to use the services of the pay-as-you-go Ekotoilet facilities at the north and south ends of Uhuru Park and long lines had snaked their way around the buildings by the time we were getting there. It was also quite interesting to observe the participants who stopped at the viewpoint outside Maji House on Community Hill to take pictures of themselves with the ubiquitous KICC in the background. Weaving past the participants were female riders clad in leather from head to toe astride sexy motorbikes branded IMG, the organizers of the event. Their duty became apparent when a girl collapsed somewhere near Riara University with no ambulance in sight. A walkie-talkie was rapidly unleashed from its leather bound confines and a St. John’s Ambulance was there in no time at all. All in all, it was an entertaining, musical and very colorful experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Two years ago, the First Lady’s marathon did not exist. The Beyond Zero campaign was founded in January 2014 to partner with the government in reducing maternal and child mortality. The aim is to provide mobile clinics in all 47 counties with a view to helping reduce Kenya’s current maternal mortality rate of 488 deaths per 100,000 live births to 147 by this year. What I observed last Sunday was that if you give middle class Kenyans a cause that they believe in, they can and will actually get off their backsides and fill the streets with passion and fervor to run, walk or rollerblade in its name.

The Beyond Zero campaign is a classic textbook example of how to build a brand. According to a recent article in Forbes magazine, there are 5 critical steps to building a brand but I want to focus on just two. First, you the brand owner have to build a brand you are passionate about. Right from the starting block of her husband’s swearing-in as President, the First Lady has presented a strong, visible maternal image that has brought a softness and humanity to State House without appearing contrived or choreographed. Her passion over women and children’s issues is aligned to the strategic objectives of her office: HIV control, as well as promotion of maternal, new born and child health in Kenya. These strategic objectives happen to cut across all regions and tribes and immediately stir up affinity and sympathy amongst Kenyans.

The second brand building exercise is that you have to be your brand’s biggest advocate. Watching the First Lady train and then execute the 21 km, followed by the full 42 km in London last year captured the hearts of many by showing vulnerability and a willingness to endure physical pain and discomfort for a cause she believes in. It wasn’t a gimmick and it wasn’t for the cameras. For many Kenyans whose idea of exercise is mouthing off curses at matatus, Kanjo officers and traffic overlappers in that order, this was a truckload of inspiration: If a middle-aged mother of three can get up and run a marathon, so can I.

In the 2014 first edition, the marathon registered 11, 000 official participants. This year, there were over 17, 000 registered participants and about 4-6,000 unregistered participants who showed up anyway to run for the cause. The organizers got a taste of the peculiar Kenyan habit of last minute action. Registration for the race began in September 2014 and by March 2nd 2015, six days before the race, only 4,000 people had registered in the 17 registration centres, which translated to less than a person a day on average. In the last five days before the race, 13,000 showed up to register in true native fashion. 148 corporate teams also graced the occasion and the pool of collections for the campaign since inception now stands at about Kshs 200 million with an objective of raising Kshs 600 million in total.

The First Lady’s marathon is a contemporary example of strategy in action. It demonstrates that it is possible to build a brand based on a cause that touches every day life, a cause that knows no social class or tribe. It also demonstrates that you can get Kenyans to run walk or limp for your cause if you yourself are willing to make the sacrifice, physical or otherwise, for the same. I doff my hat to the First Lady and her strategy team.

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Twitter: @carolmusyoka