Getting a private school in Kenya more profitable

About the organisation
Oldonyo Sabuk is a primary school in Kenya for pupils from kindergarten till age 14. This school is familiy owned and their main objective is to make profit. The school also operates in a social way by giving a bursarship to poor pupils, this enables poor families to send their children to school! In Thika, the place where the school is located, this school is known for its high quality education. Further the school employs 17 teachers who receive a fair wage.

Business case
Oldonyo was looking for a business consultant who is able to assist this private school to become more profitable. SharePeople matched this organisation to the owner of TWR Advies, Tjeerd Rijpma because of his expertise in project- and change management.

Results

Analysis
Tjeerd started an analysis of the organisation by interviewing all internal stakeholders (management team, investors, teaching staff) Also, he did some interviews with a few external stakeholders (local authority, education authority)

Major conclusions
There was a kind a culture of "management by ad hoc / running around". This should be transformed into a general awareness about general management, tasks & responsibilities of all employees. The communication within the core group was not optimal and to the teaching staff certainly insufficient. This insufficient communication is due to a ineffective organisation structure.

Advice 

• Invest in a computer
• Change of organisation structure, i.e. tasks and responsibilities
• increase involvement (motivation) of the teaching staff by working out the business plan recommendations
• Making and implement a marketing plan
• Get a clear picture of the financial situation 

Deliverables
Business Plan

Cause - effect / Problem objectives tree

Workshopping as a means of problem stock taking / problem solving

Impact on the partners
Tjeerd Rijpma learned that it is hard to stick to the plan when you are working in another culture. But, he says, "It works in the end" and he could do more then he was expecting. The operations manager, Charles Thagichu Kinyanjui, became aware about running a business professionally and about his functioning as a day-to-day manager (He will ask somebody to coach him in his new role)

Follow up
The operations manager of Oldonyo Sabuk, Charles Thagichu Kinyanjui, together with the Management Team and Board, will be responsible for the implementations. Tjeerd and Charles will keep regularly contact, at least each quarter. Tjeerd will be reported about board meetings, decision and actions.