So, here I am, back in deepest, darkest Africa...this time in the ‘warm heart of the continent’ – Malawi. Yep, after 6 months back in Blighty I decided to pack my bags again and head to Malawi after an opportunity came up to work on a development initiative funded by the Scottish government (oddly, the Scottish parliament have their own development fund separate to the UK-wide DFID fund...something, I suspect, with them wanting to think they are independent nation - bless 'em..!!).
The idea of the project is to train a small group of Malawians in the principles of being Business Consultants to serve the thriving MSME sector in Malawi (MSME = Micro, Small and Medium sized enterprises...’Micro’ being one or two man bands...Medium being up to 100 employees). So, myself and a couple of other consultants are out here putting the training materials together whilst also meeting with prospective clients in the MSME sector to tee-up some work. The training programme will be a mixture of classroom based training and ‘on-the-job’ training (i.e. we will work with the Malawian guys on consulting assignments to build their practical skills and apply what they are learning in the classroom). It’s a 2 year programme, with the intention of different UK consultants coming out every 3 months...my initial contract is, thus, just for 3 months.
It’s a really interesting project, well, it is for me anyway, and kind of ties in with what we do with wannabeamazin out in Uganda – the idea of our wannabeamazin programmes is to encourage creativity in the children which we target. A big problem in Africa, in my opinion, that I noted in Uganda and is apparent here too, is that the way children are educated here really stifles creativity. It is based on the English system 100 years ago – everything is dictated by the teacher and the students simply copy the lessons down word-for-word and learn it ‘parrot-fashion’. I really feel strongly that the governments here need to do a huge review of the education system and teaching methods because what this produces is a workforce that can only do what they are told, following rules or simply copying others.
Conversely, people here are very entrepreneurial – much more so than in the UK, partly, I think, out of necessity due to low-wages. Almost everyone has some kind of business (hence the thriving MSME sector) - even if they are employed, everyone you meet will be selling something to supplement their income. The issue, and one that our programme is looking to tackle, is that knowledge of basic business principles is not that high and creativity is also lacking...culturally, too, people are disadvantaged as it is not in their nature to ‘plan’ – again this is partly due to the hand-to-mouth existence that many people live here – but, when it comes to business, it causes problems as the old adage of having to ‘speculate to accumulate’ is not ingrained into their psyche. (Of course, as with any stereotypes, I am generalising, I am not saying this applies to everyone here, and those that are fortunate enough to go to higher education are a different kettle of fish...but, in my experiences, I would say it’s the majority of the population).
Another cause of the apparent lack of creativity is more a consequence of lack of exposure to different ideas that provide the spark for a new way of thinking. One of the elders in Bajjo village in Uganda made this point to me last time I was there – and I think it is extremely valid. The majority of people here do not travel, rather they cannot travel due to lack of funds. People in rural areas will often only go as far as the next village or the nearest town in their lifetimes...even people that have grown up in the cities will only move in the particular region in which they are born (unless they are part of the small elite that can afford to travel abroad). The lack of exposure to new ideas, new concepts, different cultures and different ways of doing things, something that we absolutely take for granted in the West, indeed something that is very hard to appreciate because it is so ‘normal’ for us, is definitely a barrier for inspiration. Even those people that don’t travel outside their own country in the West are still exposed to an incredible array of different ideas through the medium of television, books and, of course, the internet. But most people here don’t have tv’s, they don’t have access to the internet and, due to lack of access to books, there is simply not a reading culture here (something we are attempting to tackle in Bajjo with wannabeamazin). People don’t seek to ‘teach’ themselves through books, people ‘know what they know’, or they learn through what they see others doing.
This environment leads to a lot of ‘copy-cat’ businesses – someone sees their neighbour selling tomatoes and making a bit of money, so they copy and also start selling tomatoes, rather than perhaps complement what their neighbour is doing and sell cucumbers – nothing wrong with that, but it means the markets are way over supplied, forcing prices down and spreading potential profits over a large number of people. Furthermore, people focus on the revenue they receive from sales, rather than focussing on profit...often resulting in profit margins being extremely low or even, in some cases, non-existent. So our programme is looking to address some of these issues by working with small businesses on the planning aspects and build the capacity of small business owners...as well as providing some locals with the ‘skills’ to continue providing this kind of consultancy service once we leave at the end of the 2 year funding. The ‘creativity’ aspect is, unfortunately, a much harder one to address...
So, anyway, what have I been up to since I arrived 3 weeks ago?...well, it was a bloody hectic start - talk about hitting the ground running – I flew in on 17th February - a Wednesday afternoon - I had dinner with the former high-commissioner to Malawi on Wednesday night, met the Scottish Minister for culture and external affairs on the Thursday morning (at the official launch of the programme I am working on), met 2 potential clients on the Friday and spent the rest of the weekend on the toilet feeling like shit...a year in South America and Uganda and not even a cold...2 days here and I was bed-ridden...the cause? - believing, blindly, the ex-pats and locals who swore to me the tap water was safe to drink....! Hmm, maybe if you've lived here for a few months...but not straight off the plane I think!
The second weekend was all together more pleasant – a trip to Lake Malawi (a huge lake that runs almost the entire length of the country), a spot called Cape MaClear - think sun, clear water, white sand beaches and wooden fishing boats... The rest of my time, when not in work, has been spent getting to grips with driving in Africa (we have a project car) – pot holes, dark streets, pedestrians and questionable driving practices – moving into the project house – huge veranda, massive garden and a swimming pool! – getting used to having a cook and cleaner (im certainly not slumming here – completely the other end of the scale compared to my time in Uganda) – investigating the local markets - tasting the local delicacies (still not sure what I ate, think it was the intestines of some animal), and getting involved in a local running club...
Summary: so far, so good!
