Last week I interviewed the Country Manager for Kenya of a large agricultural trading group. The group originated in Africa, and it operates worldwide. What attracted my attention the most is its cooperative approach to dealing with its suppliers. In this group, they buy commodity products from small farmers, and accumulate their volumes to sell. […]
When I wrote about intra-Africa business travel a few weeks ago, Charles Ivenco – one of my friends from Lagos Business School – left a comment in which he told us about the improvements in air transportation over the last decade, and how this is related to the increased levels of intra-African trade. According to […]
Last week I attended the annual conference of the Association of African Business Schools (AABS). It was hosted by Strathmore Business School here in Nairobi. I had the opportunity to talk about IESE’s Africa Initiative. Some of the participants already knew about it, but others were not familiar with how IESE contributes educating African managers. The context […]
Last week I moved from Nigeria to Kenya, where I’m being hosted by Strathmore Business School (SBS), Strathmore University. Just as I got out of the plane, I could feel a difference: a nice freeze of fresh air, as opposed to the mass of humid, hot air that greeted me in Lagos. Weather played an important […]
Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a discussion about Nigeria’s post-colonial impoverishment, and its evolution since it became independent in 1960. I learned many things about the country, and I though it might be interesting to share some of these insights with you. The discussion was led by Professor Catherine Duggan from Harvard Business […]