We are proud to announce the successful completion of our ‘Africa Train-the-Trainer’ workshop. Due to the growing demand for cultural awareness training on African countries we have launched an initiative to develop more trainers and consultants as well as encourage a different perspective on intercultural communication.
About the workshop...
Although the demand for consultancy, training and education around the topic of business in Africa is on the up, the supply hasn’t been able to deliver. At Kwintessential we try to be at the forefront of our field and as a result we decided to work with African professionals from different fields in helping them deliver the help currently needed. Our idea was simple – identify African talent, give them the skills and allow them to then use that talent in helping create sustainable business relationships and processes. This was our pilot course held in London.
The participants in this pilot programme were a group from diverse professional backgrounds and countries - some even travelled from as far as Uganda and France. In the room we had knowledge of Eritrea, Niger, Sudan, Uganda, Bénin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Marocco, Namibia, Sénégal, Togo and the cultures within them, as well we business knowledge from the education sector, oil & gas, IT, consulting, banking and agri-business.
The workshop was run by one of our top trainers, Matthew, and was designed to mirror a cultural awareness training session and covered the key topics of a typical relocation-type programme for expatriates. We wanted our participants to experience our style of training from both a participant and trainer’s point of view and therefore it was filled with interactive exercises and our typical “self-reflection” teaching style.
The richness of discussions and the cultural stories from all over Africa were a fascinating insight into the impact cultural differences are having with western businesses now moving into much of the continent.
The final day of the workshop provided us with the opportunity to share our vision of this unique offering - we want to create a cultural training course which enables talented African professionals to give voice to their side of the story. To not only understand all our models of culture and the theories behind their application to business, but also to challenge those models and theories with perhaps something a bit different or at least fresh.
Despite the recent set-backs and the media coverage of Ebola, we truly believe that:
Africa’s potential in shaping the future of businesses and people is still great. As Fred Sawniker recently stated in his TED Talk: “Africa today has the fastest growing population in the world, but also is the poorest. By 2030, Africa will have a larger workforce than China, and by 2050, it will have the largest workforce in the world.” (http://www.ted.com/talks/fred_swaniker_the_leaders_who_ruined_africa_and_the_generation_who_can_fix_it/transcript?language=en#t-226225 )
Cultural training is our step by step way of creating open mindedness, understanding and respect amongst people from different cultural backgrounds, so that we are not judging others by ‘a single story’ (see this great TED Talk:http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/transcript?language=en)
Feedback from our participants...
“I really loved the opportunity we had over three days to share and learn so much from each other”
“I learned so much… on the trainer’s attitude, on ways of being more creative…”
“The trainers made the 3 days alive… We feel passion, enthusiasm, professionalism… “
“The trainer was flexible and adaptable and wa able to refer back to his own knowledge and experience to answer questions”
“The interactivity levels were very good! Not too much theory, a nice balance”
What’s next?
We are now looking at launching these as more regular workshops; the plan is to hold then in Europe and more importantly in Africa ASAP.
Get Involved!
If you or someone you know of based in Europe or Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, Mozambique and Congo that would make a great trainer, please let them know about our initiative!
