
Five surprises in four years of developing people across Africa: What we’ve learned at the African Management Initiative
By Rebecca Harrison, African Management Initiative.
This is the third blog post in a series on talent and human capital development by ANDE members.
People matter. In fact, people doing their jobs effectively underpins pretty much everything, in business and beyond. But how do you help people and organizations unlock their potential at scale, with lasting impact, while making money?
That’s the challenge we set for ourselves just over four years ago when we started the African Management Initiative (AMI), a social enterprise pioneering a scalable approach to workplace learning for Africa.
We’ve tweaked our model multiple times over the past few years. But we’ve never strayed from our core mission of delivering practical and impactful learning experiences for small and growing businesses (SGBs) and the organizations that support them, also known as intermediaries. We’ve trained over 20,000 managers, entrepreneurs and young people across Africa through our clients and partners, including many ANDE members and their portfolio companies. 100% of our clients reported a tangible impact on business performance after engaging with AMI, through increased sales, a growing customer base and/or improved operating efficiency, with two thirds drawing a direct link between that improvement and their work with AMI. So we know our model works. But there have been many surprises along the way, and we’ve shared a few of these below.

- Learning is a practice, not an event
Training is not new. If anything, many of the SGBs and intermediaries we work with are tired of training. And this fatigue comes despite a recognition that emerging market SGBs are battling critical skill gaps. So why the disconnect?
It’s simple — traditional training is broken. And the reason? Traditional training centres on events, such as workshops or courses, instead of on practices or habits. Effective learning experiences help individuals and organizations develop new practices and habits to drive performance. That’s not something you can do in a two-day workshop once a year.
So, what does practice-based learning look like — in practice? At AMI, we don’t deliver ‘hit and run workshops’ (despite getting asked for them regularly). Research shows that adults retain only 20% of information from a traditional training workshop. That means that workshops alone are a very expensive waste of time. Instead, we partner with organizations to deliver ongoing learning journeys using an online and offline blend that introduces participants to key tools, gives them a chance to practice these tools with their peers, then supports them as they apply what they’ve learned on the job with their teams.
2. Entrepreneurs and employees have different learning styles. But blended is almost always best.
Different people learn differently. But there are consistent patterns. Our data shows very clearly that entrepreneurs prefer informal and practical learning tools, rather than formal courses and workshops. They want to drive their own learning agendas, have little interest in one-size-fits-all training programmes, and critically — they need to see the results immediately by using what they learn in their business. They also want to exchange ideas and seek support from their peers.
In response, we designed Grow your Business a scalable approach to business development support that helps entrepreneurs implement a few core business practices that they think will drive growth. Maggie, a restaurant owner, used a simple stock analysis tool to keep track of stock for the first time. She saved so much in preventing petty theft that she now has a surplus every month that she’s used to build a rainy-day fund. She’s also launched a second restaurant and employs over 100 staff.
Employees tend to have a different learning style than entrepreneurs. They typically enjoy being part of a shared learning journey, and this collective experience typically boosts engagement and improves outcomes. For example, senior managers at a fast-growing Kenyan solar energy company used an AMI leadership programme to work together on mini consulting projects, which broke down silos between department heads and generated a shared culture and language among management.
In the midst of these different approaches, we’ve learned that combining online resources with in-person experience, and structured opportunities for on-the-job application, yields results both for entrepreneurs AND employees. Blended is best. Always.

3. Everyone needs soft skills (even though soft skills are hard).
We like to think of soft skills as personal habits for effectiveness. And everyone needs them. This is perhaps less of a surprise now than when we started AMI a few years ago, and many others in the talent space have identified the same need. But still, too many SGBs and intermediaries think their biggest challenges are around technical, functional or ‘hard’ skills, when research and experience suggests that the less tangible skills — such as people management, communication, and personal effectiveness — often cause the biggest problems. Of course, these are also the skills that can be hardest to develop, particularly in the pressure-cooker of an entrepreneurial business. We’ve noticed a real shift in the past few years, as talent-forward organizations increasingly see the value of investing in developing core people skills, at entry level as well as middle and senior management. For example, construction entrepreneur Elizabeth told us that a course on people management prompted her to review compensation for her drivers. By buying them a simple lunch every day, she saw productivity increase by 50 percent. She’s now making more money, and plans to hire more people as the business grows.

4. Investing in a few key people can lift a whole workforce
We’ve always hypothesized that investing in key managers, either at senior, middle or even line manager level, would not only improve the performance of those participants, but could affect employee engagement and productivity across a whole workforce. Our latest impact report confirms this assumption, with 100% of clients reporting improved company performance, and 92% of business clients reporting improved productivity across the whole company (not just AMI participants). Sylvester, a manager at a high-growth Kenyan renewable energy distribution start-up, told us how taking a program for first-time managers helped quickly hire and on-board new staff, create goals and get them to a mutual understanding of his department’s and the company’s objectives. Time-to-productivity also improved, as his staff were able to hit the ground running. Getting that stuff right is critical for early-stage SGBs as they scale, and can be the difference between a Series B and bankruptcy.

5. It is possible to demonstrate impact and return on investment on developing people.
For several years, the human capital community — particularly in East Africa — have been trying to figure out how to measure impact and Return on Talent Investment. Measuring intangibles like leadership skills, or organizational culture is not easy. We often revert to blunt instruments like workshop feedback surveys or course completion rates. At AMI, we’ve been working hard to develop a better methodology for impact measurement. We don’t have the whole answer, but for the first time this year, we generated data proving that our programs not only help build the skills of the individual participants who take them, but also drive the business performance of organizations. For example, 92% of our business clients reported an improvement in operating efficiency after engaging with AMI and 92% reported improved customer satisfaction.
Richard Branson was right: look after your staff and your staff will look after your customers. We’re thrilled to finally have hard data that proves the power of people development. And we’re looking forward many more surprises, as we expand our work to empower individuals and organizations across Africa.
Rebecca Harrison is the CEO and Co-Founder of AMI and has led the team since inception. AMI is a social enterprise that is pioneering a scalable approach to skills development and workplace learning for Africa. Under Rebecca’s leadership, AMI has reached over 20,000 individuals in 11 African countries, has developed a large and growing client portfolio, and has raised equity, debt and grant capital from African and International impact investors and foundations. She is passionate about democratizing skills development and supporting entrepreneurship in Africa and represents AMI globally at various forums, including as co-chair of the ANDE Talent working group. Previously, Rebecca spent nine years as a foreign correspondent and manager for Reuters News Agency, where she led business coverage in Africa and reported from 13 countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
