In a comment to an earlier post, Christian referred to how strongly Kenyans feel about tribal attributes. I think he has better insights about this than me but let me tell you about what I’ve heard, and maybe he and others will add some comments. Kenya’s ethnic diversity is high. The various tribes can be […]
The Chinese presence in Africa
Chinese economic presence in Africa comes in for a lot of criticism: the projects to which they contribute financing favor foreign companies while leaving local contractors behind – or so the critics say. The Chinese are also known for bringing in their own people to do the work. In Kenya, for instance, there has been a recent […]
Educating African Managers
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 […]
“Bring back our girls”
I had avoided commenting about terrorism on purpose. I thought it better not to add to the alarm that the media tend to create. However, the other day a friend told me that it was very strange that I hadn’t said anything about the kidnapped Nigerian girls. I try to pay close attention to what my […]
Management Styles: Kenyans are relational, Nigerians are deal-makers
The differences between Kenyan and Nigerian management styles were explained to me during my stay in Lagos. After talking to managers from both countries, it became clear that what I had been told had some truth in it: Kenyans are relational, while Nigerians are deal-makers. Setting the stage is important to Kenyans. You can’t go […]
