Sven Lagerweij has spent 3 weeks in Nairobi to consult Kalolwanga engineering

About the organisation
Kalolwanga Engineering Service Ltd is a familiy owned electrical engineering company based in Nairobi. Its mission is to be the ultimate partner in engineering solutions.

Business case

The Managing Director of Kalolwange, Mr Jude Njomo, would like to improve his management skills. He felt the management is one of the weaker links in the organisation and was looking for a consultant who could analyze the current situation and advice him on how to improve the management of the company. Also, he would like to receive feedback on the existing business plan. The request was matched with Sven Lagerweij , who has been Managing Director of a fast growing company during the last 5 years. He has seen (and acted upon) all the challenges and opportunities a growing company and its management faces during this period. Sven's knowlegde and experience have turned out to be of great value for Kalolwanga.

 

Results

Analysis
Sven decided to spent the first week talking to the staff members, instead of only the Managing Director (MD).  With regards to the challenges of the company this has not to be 'guided' only by the MD. Then in the second week time had come to verify if initial conclusions were shared. Also they made a start by defining the possible solutions. After agreement on both the challenges as well as the solutions to Kalolwanga, time was spent in helping specific staff members to implement the operational solutions.

Conclusions
The main conclusion was that the overall company needed more planning in advance, for example with regards to cash management and project management. Sven noticed that Jude didn't really hands off responsibilities to his staffmembers.

 

 

Advice

Sven adviced that the MD had to bring more focus on the company and handing over responsibility to his staff members. This is the key to go to a next phase of growth for the company! With regards to the cash management Sven adviced to give an accounting employee the 100% responsibility for cash management,.
With regards to the Project Management advice, it was agreed that MS Projects would be implemented by an external company.

Impact on the partners
Sven Lagerweij: "What has struck me personally was the warmth and the openness of the Kenyan people, regardless whether they were poor or rich. It's a society that is based around working together as a group and helping were possible, slightly contradictive to the Dutch society" "My professional learning objective to; keep asking questions, even if you think you know the answers right away. Although this turned out to be difficult now and than, the fact that I've kept asking questions should make the actual implementation easier. As the staff realized themselves what was necessary, instead of me telling it. This is powerful knowledge, both as a manager or advisor of a company."

 

Mr Jude Njomo: "I never really had a sparring partner but now I have been challenged by someone with experience. Both the challenges as well as the solutions were partly brought up by my staff and Sven"

Follow up

Jude was happy with the external knowledge that was given to him. His future plans included to appoint a Board of Directors (or Advisory Board) in a couple of years, with the same objective of bringing in external knowledge. Also, in order to facilitate future growth, looking for external funding partners was a second strategic objective for the longer term. Sven agreed to be regularly in touch with the MD to keep supporting from a distance and where needed act as a sparring partner.