We all know the catchy phrases:
If it were easy, everyone would do it.
No pain, no gain.
I would offer that it the actual experience of driving for success can be a bit wearying.
Since the February trip, things have been a bit rough. We went through another phase of client loss which led to finances being very tight. And my attempt to bring 'open book management' and more participation in responsibility for the business did not work.
Without going into too much gory detail, it was a very nice 'developed country' idea that ran onto the rocks of the reality of a very different culture, lack of strong local leadership, and a base of people who come from a traumatized background. I honestly thought we might implode.
But things happen for a reason.
My number one local director, a very experienced and strong business person who has both International and local Ghana experience, a person who has been key to our being legal in Ghana, stepped in and took charge. In his words, 'We tried doing things the American way. Now we are going to do things the Ghana way.' He has appointed one of the women to be the day-to-day manager and is providing mentorship to her. I have a couple of things I need to be doing.
- Training someone to be business development
- Get our fundraising organized and more consistent
Things have stabilized. We are adding clients again.
This was not a particularly 'fun' thing to go through (an understatement). But seeing a strong local presence say, "We cannot let this die" is an important breakthrough. It is not just a 'white guy's' project/vision anymore. Now we have local people who are truly bought in as proven by their actions.
That's a pretty big breakthrough.
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