African Business Special Report - Talent Matters in association with Global Careers Company

African The B est selling Pan-Af r ican Bu siness Maga zine

BUSINESS An IC Publication

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55th Year

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N° 484

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June 2021

In conversation: Jules Ngankam, African Guarantee Fund Jonathan Ojany, Coca-Cola James Shepherd, Altaaqa Global

Features: Aggreko creates a competitive edge Ecobank champions talent progressiveness Workplace engagement and employee wellbeing

Talent Agenda Series

Future of Work Why there are many reasons for optimism

A special report in association with

2 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement

Rupert Adcock, CEO of Global Career Company, welcomes readers to a supplement featuring interviews from prominent business and HR leaders in Africa who tell us how they led their organisations during the pandemic, their people strategies, the future of work and diversity and inclusion initiatives

WELCOME FROM THE CEO OF GLOBAL CAREER COMPANY Rupert Adcock, CEO of Global Career Company

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he age-old African proverb that “if you want to go far, go together,” has never been truer than it has in the last 18 months. The unity, resilience and agility displayed by African businesses and African people, despite the massive curveballs thrown at the continent by the pandemic has been formidable.

I have seen it first-hand myself as Global Career Company has specialised in recruiting high-potential African talent locally and in the diaspora back into all 54 countries in the continent for the last 20 years.

During my virtual meetings with clients, I saw uncertainty and anxiousness in the beginning, much like we all felt, but fairly soon after that there was a lot of optimism, perseverance and quick adaptation to all the changes. We have been pleased to see high levels of professionalism being maintained as well as admirable measures being taken to keep people and their families safe – a true testament that people are the backbone of organisations.

Likewise, we have seen excellent examples of effective leadership, some of

Gain insights about your organisation’s benefits strategy Willis Towers Watson, one of Global Career Company’s partners, has launched their 2021 Benefit Trends Survey. This will explore the strategic challenges that organisations are facing and the changes that they are planning to make to their benefit programmes and why.

This year’s questionnaire examines the trends in benefits design, financing, administration and analytics, and a deep dive into the employee experience.

By completing the survey, you will have access to the results, receive a personalised scorecard, enabling you to benchmark yourself against your peers and complimentary country-specific summaries of key findings later this year.

From a business perspective, you will gain insight on the effectiveness of your organisation’s benefits strategy and what can be done in the short and long term to modernise and design your benefits in a way that enhances the employee experience.

Additionally, you will learn about emerging trends in technology, behavioural science and benefits communication and delivery as well as the latest updates regarding vaccination policy and return to office working.

For more information and to complete the survey go to https://bit.ly/2RM9GmK

which you will get insight into in this publication, as we see leaders being more empathetic and personable with their people.

As part of our Talent Agenda Series, this supplement features interviews from prominent business and HR leaders in Africa who tell us about how they led their organisations during the pandemic, their people strategies, the future of work and diversity and inclusion initiatives.

We have had to adjust to the current times ourselves by replacing our highly anticipated Talent Agenda Conferences with webinars this year where thought leadership can be shared with our community of 4,000+ C-suite members. The webinars will build on the content of this supplement in a more dynamic and engaging way and contribute to the development of effective leadership and people strategies in African organisations.

Now, halfway through 2021, Global Career Company remains committed to continuing to develop and deliver the best African talent to African employers, expanding our community of thought leaders and developing innovative platforms to share this thought leadership. n

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4 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Future of work

What will be the lasting effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the nature of work?

Global Career Company’s Tadiwanashe Mandivenga looks at what we have learned over the last year and what we can expect going forward

WORK AFTER 2020 T

he year 2021 started off on a positive note with people and businesses eager to have a better year than the last. As we start to see a light at the end of the tunnel with lockdowns and restrictions easing up and vaccines being rolled out, we can look forward to things returning to some degree of normalcy slowly but surely.

That being said, this edition of the Talent Agenda Supplement explores the lingering effects of the pandemic by getting insights into the initiatives that have been put in place to support employees and lead effectively amidst uncertainty.

It also looks into diversity and inclusion in the workplace and assesses whether the agenda was derailed as a result of the pandemic. What has slowed down, what has sped up, what has changed and where do businesses find themselves halfway through the new year?

Leadership

Leadership was truly put to the test during the past year as the world experienced a global pandemic that has had significant effects on the economy and employment.

As a result of the all the uncertainty and the drastic change in the way work had to be carried out, leaders needed to depend on their soft skills to effectively guide their people and organisations through this period. Communication, flexibility, emotional awareness and interpersonal skills were crucial and were the differentiator between the good leaders and the bad leaders.

“It has made us concentrate more on things that are or should be core skills and requirements of leadership,” says Jonathan Wheeler, Regional Director MEA at TMF Group. “For example, communication.

Dealing with people working remotely

during an uncertain period of time requires a lot more communication than before.”

The employee experience

This was an area in which we saw a complete change. Internal operations had to be carried out online and interaction with customers/clients was limited to being mainly digital. Limited physical interaction with other people combined with a sense of job insecurity and anxiety as well as the lack of distinction between home and work life quickly began to take its toll. As a result, health and wellbeing became of utmost importance to ensure that people felt supported and valued.

A lot of organisations put initiatives in place to ensure that help and support were always available to their people in the form of counselling, equipment to help them to complete their tasks from home or even monthly online social events to maintain the culture and morale. The empathy demonstrated by leaders and the creativity of their teams has gone a long way in making their people feel less anxious, have a renewed sense of determination and improving teamwork and morale.

When looking at the four fundamentals of employee experience, which are purpose, people, rewards and how work is done, Matthew McDonnell, Senior Consultant at Willis Towers Watson found that purpose and people scored incredibly well.

This makes evident that rather than people feeling more isolated they actually ended up connecting with and seeing colleagues more than before. Being able to connect with colleagues created quite a positive experience for people and improved engagement.

Diversity

Many thought that there was a very high chance that the diversity agenda would be derailed or slowed down due to the pandemic. On the contrary, the conversation surrounding it has actually gained momentum and we can see positive, measurable and tangible changes being made, particularly in terms of having more of a gender-balanced workforce.

This also applies in industries that were traditionally male dominated such as the finance, technology and manufacturing sectors, where we now have more women being employed and also occupying positions in senior leadership roles. However, we must not forget that diversity and inclusion go beyond gender and race, but also applies to age, religion, sexual orientation and those who are differently abled, to name a few. More needs to be done to be inclusive of these other groups in order for organisations to be truly diverse and inclusive.

“Research has shown that gender balanced teams deliver much higher returns, so what’s there not to love. That conversation must continue,” says Busola Alofe, Registrar/CEO at CIPM Nigeria. “Another area of importance is disability inclusion. People with different abilities are a very versatile and capable group of talent that I don’t think the world has tapped into enough. We need to have a culture of trying to understand the challenges that different people face in the workplace and making it an environment that caters to the needs of these different groups.”

The future of work

As can be expected, the future of work will involve increased dependence on and use of technology and digital capabilities.

Having become accustomed to working

remotely and online while also remaining productive, it is likely that we will see a hybrid model of working in the future.

There will also be an increase in demand for technology related roles and as such, tech savvy people with strong soft skills will be strong candidates going forward.

In addition, automation has helped to facilitate business continuity, helping with routine/repetitive tasks to lighten the workload for people or allow them to focus on more important tasks. Going forward, as technological advances continue to be made, our adoption of it will increase.

“In the future there will still be faceto-face meetings, but the shift is definitely towards digital,” says Stéphane Wajskop, CEO, Careers International, a partner of Global Career Company. “People now have the tools, are used to them and find them

to be very efficient. Granted, it is less effective from a social perspective because people want to see each other from time to time, but there will definitely be a healthy mix of virtual and face-to-face working.”

“Language skills and soft skills – particularly when it comes to communication – will be key,” says Cédric Filet, Founder & CEO of Aldelia, a partner of Global Career Company. “The best opportunities on the continent are in the tech sector, from front-end developers and data scientists, to designers and analysts. Tech. is not only for technology companies – it is needed in all sectors. There are also great opportunities in the hospitality and education industries.”

The last year has taught us a lot about leadership, highlighting that great leaders are those who lead with empathy. We saw

The last year has taught us a lot about leadership, highlighting that great leaders are those who lead with empathy

a complete transformation in the employee experience, making it evident that as long as people are the main priority of organisations and are supported accordingly, engagement and productivity will be a natural result. We know that diversity is important and that it generates results, but we need to be inclusive of other areas beyond gender and race and actively work towards this.

Finally, technology, ever the hero, made work, communication, training and business growth possible and in some cases, easier. This edition of the Talent Agenda Supplement will explore these topics in further detail and provide insights from some of Africa’s leading organisations and experts in human capital as we get a better understanding of how businesses have navigated through this last year. n

6 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Future of work – view from the top

One of Aggreko’s main focuses is using their talent to create a competitive edge. Global Career Company’s Tadiwanashe Mandivenga interviews John Lewis, Managing Director for Africa; Edward Kite, Finance Director for Power Solutions; Edna Malavolonek, HR Director for Power Solutions; and Brano Kollar, Area General Manager for South & East Africa to find out more

CREATING A COMPETITIVE EDGE OUT OF TALENT

John Lewis Managing Director for Africa

Edna Malavolonek HR Director for Power Solutions

How has the new year been so far for Aggreko as we draw towards the second quarter?

Brano: 2020 was an important year to learn how to do business in the new environment presented to us by the pandemic.

We had to quickly adapt to the situation, which was completely unprecedented. We had to switch overnight from conducting business face-to-face, to having to do most of it virtually. I am very proud of my team and how we managed to overcome this challenge. We learned how to live and work around the pandemic.

2021 continues, unfortunately, with the pandemic. In some countries, it is even worse than before. I must say, though, we are well established, and we know how to manoeuver during these times. The way we conduct our business, the way we

Brano Kollar Area General Manager for South & East Africa

communicate and the way we service our customers with all the necessary protocols in place. It is a continuation of what we learned in 2020 but, of course, we all hope that it will be over soon, or at least under control so that we can get to some level of normality like we knew in 2019.

We’re talking about talent creating a competitive advantage. What does that mean to you, particularly in relation to the current times?

Edna: We are facing a significant transition in terms of the strategy and future direction. The world is changing and so is Aggreko. We did revisit our strategy and communicated our position towards the energy transition. We therefore want to focus on greener environments and different types of energy that will enable

Edward Kite Finance Director for Power Solutions

us to fulfill the promises that we made to the world and to the customers in terms of leaving heavy fuel behind and going after renewables in hybrid and greener energy.

With this in mind, if I think about our existing and future talent, there are three main things. The first is that we want people who are passionate about powering progress and delivering energy anywhere so that people can relate to the purpose and feel that they make a difference to our customers, their colleagues and the communities that we work for or in. When I travelled a lot around Africa to our different sites, one of the things I found was that whether I spoke to a technician in Gabon, or a service team leader in South Africa, they always had a sense of pride knowing that they work for a company

that makes a difference somewhere, by delivering energy.

The other aspect is that we want to be a learning organisation. We want people with a growth mindset and who feel safe about talking about their personal growth, development and bringing new ideas. As a result of the strategic shift driven by the energy transition, we need to continuously learn and create an environment where people feel that it is safe to do so together and freely.

A lot of the things that we do from a people agenda perspective is around building the foundations to facilitate learning, so we are trying to take advantage of digital capabilities and leverage these learning platforms to share knowledge to our teams all over the world.

In terms of the third aspect, I would say it’s about skills, capabilities and leadership. There’s a lot of work that we are currently doing to understand what existing and new skills and capabilities we have to bring. In the context of the energy transition and changing environments, we need to bring new skills, whether we focus on sales, engineering, or leadership. We also need to understand what our products and technology road map is to be able to execute the strategy. In terms of leadership, this is quite a big area of focus for us and I think it is the base for great transformation and in any organisation. We really need to focus on leaders and how they grow, develop and become effective.

Those are the three main areas that we have to consider when thinking about

how to keep our existing talent motivated and challenged while also attracting new talent.

How does creating a competitive advantage out of talent differ from a typical approach to talent management? What do you have to do differently?

John: I think it’s about finding the best in the field, or if you are looking for less experienced talent or early career professionals, then the best in terms of their capability to grow. There are two sides to this; those who are experts in the field or function we are seeking and those who have the appetite and capability to grow and take on increasingly important roles and help to shape the future as things change rapidly in this industry. The real

8 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Future of work – view from the top differentiator is the people who design efficient power solutions, deploy them effectively and run them successfully.

Ed: Recognising that talent can be your competitive advantage is the first step and something that we do in Aggreko.

Our people are the most important thing.

Having talented people in the right place and the right roles can help us to be ahead of other players in the market.

What does the competitive advantage mean for employees themselves? What is the employee experience like currently at Aggreko?

John: I think people would say that Aggreko takes care of them, first and foremost.

During what was a pretty challenging year, we guaranteed that we would support people’s jobs even in business areas where they could not do anything because of the pandemic.

An absolute priority for us has always been health and safety. We operate quite dangerous equipment and if it is not handled properly, there are physical risks that need to be considered. We also operate in some places where there are diseases such as malaria and cholera and the like, so taking care of people is absolutely crucial.

I think our people would agree with that.

They would recognise that this is the first thing I always talk about when we talk about business performance. That is not to say that we always get it right, but it is always at the top of the agenda.

Then there is opportunity and being able to grow. We work quite hard to develop talent throughout the business, finding people to develop further and give them those opportunities. We make sure to engage them in the process so that they are involved, know what is going on and have the ability to express their opinions or generate ideas and feel valued for what they do.

Ed: For African talent in particular, we are really focused on developing the talent within our business, especially looking at those who are less experienced and asking ourselves where and how best to invest in them as we allocate more resources into development.

Being a global business, there is the benefit of being able to move talent around the world and give them experiences in different parts of the business. This allows us to take talent from Africa, give them experience in other markets, develop their skills and then bring them back to Africa and allow them to utilise those skills and experiences in their local market.

Our employees are going to see increasing amounts of attention on devel-

opment plans that we may not have had before. This is one of the key discussion topics in our senior leadership meetings around talent development and training.

We also put out an energy transition strategy last year which over time is going to see us transition to become a net carbon neutral business. This means that we have to invest in lots of new technology, which will require our people to be trained and have the necessary skills and knowledge.

What is your recruitment strategy for 2021 and how has it changed since last year? How does it help secure a competitive advantage?

Brano: The recruitment strategy is around finding the right skill and talent for a specific task or role. The recruitment process changed quite dramatically compared to what it was in 2019. Normally when you look for a talent, you have face-to-face or in person interviews which is no longer possible. We had to conduct interviews online in a virtual space which is definitely a different dynamic because it is difficult to get a sense of things like body language and chemistry and so on. This was one of the first challenges.

Secondly, the market has also changed in terms of the talent. Many people who were planning to change jobs did not end up doing so because of job security issues so, the talent pool reduced to some extent in some sectors.

Edna: From my perspective in a global role, I cannot give you one strategy because it just doesn’t work. Our strategies vary depending on the geography and are predominantly region led. For example, Africa has one strategy while Asia has another and so does Latin America or the Middle East, depending on each business’s strategic capability requirements.

We operate in 80+ countries and have 6000+ employees across the different geographies. Given the nature of our business, we place significant efforts in building technical and engineering capabilities in the various disciplines (mechanical, electrical, etc.). So, we tend to look at people that have this core technical expertise and can apply this experience from deploying through commissioning and operation of our projects and sites around the world. We also have high focus on building sales expertise, with deep understanding of customers and sectors, with focus on expanding solutions for our existing customers in the markets in which we operate, as well as developing new ones across the different sectors, Oil & Gas, Mining, Utilities, etc.

Overall, we look primarily at managing talent from within and make sure that

people are getting the most out of their development, meaning that we actively manage succession planning and have a strong mobility policy which allows to deliver effective internal deployment to address our recruitment needs, as well as creating an environment for our people to grow and develop. We also adopt strategies that allow us to grow our talent pipeline for the future, such as recruiting through graduate and internship programmes, and in some cases specific skills and experienced people where it is needed.

Diversity and inclusion are at the forefront of many conversations in the workplace in recent years. How is Aggreko approaching this and what initiatives have been implemented to support these efforts?

Brano: Having worked here for 14 years, I can say that we have always been a very diverse organisation. I have worked in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and even in Latin America and in all these places, we have multicultural and diverse teams with everyone coming from and having different backgrounds. We embrace diversity because we believe that it will give us a competitive edge. Our approach is to look for the skill and experience versus other prerequisites.

My team is very diverse. We have people from all around Africa as well as from outside Africa. We are also all in different

and plans in the short, medium and long term to ensure that they maximise their potential.

This could involve building experience in their current role, in other countries or continents, external training courses, and mentoring. We have mentors now for all of our high potential African talent. We can’t always compete with salary and sometimes it can be a dull instrument, but we really try to make sure that our people feel developed in the business and feel confident that they have a pathway at the top of the business.

places and although we rarely get to meet each other, each time we communicate or discuss various matters of the business, we communicate with one voice, which is very rewarding to see in terms of inclusion.

I also like to hear different views, opinions and even sometimes get challenged when considering options or making decisions. As a result, I involve my team and the wider team to give me their inputs and ideas. Many times, the ideas of others can be very powerful and much better than my own. I always believe in surrounding yourself with people who are better than you in various disciplines because that’s what makes teams being at their best, fostering right decisions and nurtures a culture of inclusion.

As a result of the increasing opportunities in the job market, what is your strategy for retaining your current and prospective highpotential talent?

John: There are the obvious ones, where you put financial incentives in place, which we do where it is appropriate. For me, it is more about giving people opportunity. We identify core talent and have an active plan to give them opportunities so that they feel like they are growing and have the chance to do new things.

Some people will always be tempted away by more money and some companies will always pay significant money for the

For African talent in particular, we are really focused on developing the talent within our business, especially looking at those who are less experienced right talent so you can’t always avoid it.

My view, however, is that if people feel like they have a long-term future and feel like they are growing and see the opportunities coming, then that is probably the strongest thing you can do to retain talent, which is what we try to do.

Ed: It is a challenge. Especially in our business where we compete against other resource companies, mining companies, oil and gas companies for the same technical and engineering talent. Certainly, mining is going through a big boom at the moment and those businesses are competing to attract out talent.

We have to we have to look at a lot of things. Salaries are one of these things, but it is not the only thing. The employee experience is also important. When it comes to our training and development, we make sure that every single one of our people in Africa has a personal development plan, which they agree with their manager and discuss throughout the year to discuss their progress, aspirations

We’ve found that African talent is highly aware of their potential and want to receive effective training from their employers. How do you ensure that your development programme challenges your talent and remains effective?

Edna: We have a process that we use within the organisation around creating a platform for each employee to have the ability to talk about their development needs and goals with their line managers and putting this into a plan which generates actions and then those actions are supported throughout the year.

There are a number of things that we do to support development. For example, we have a system called Kahuna which allows us to assess technicians’ competencies using a consistent framework across the different geographies and based on that, helping managers and employees working together on the development planning in a consistent and structured way.

This is quite powerful because it reinforces consistent standards across the globe, meaning that a technician in Asia or the Middle East can develop and operate at the same standards as someone in Africa and vice versa. For the employee themselves, it is also important because they will have the opportunity to advance their development and career, which creates a good employee experience from a learning perspective.

Then the second thing is that there are a number of initiatives that we created to make sure that we take as much advantage of digital tools as possible to provide learning opportunities and make sure that the learning standards are global and can be used by everyone, anywhere.

So, we currently have a lot of simulation type of training that is done virtually. We don’t need to actually move people around and we are using artificial intelligence to deliver those training initiatives, which becomes even more important in a context of remote work as we all experienced recently. n

58 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Future of work – view from the top

This article delves into the current employee experience, diversity and leadership development at Ecobank, one of Africa’s leading independent banking groups. GCC’s Tadiwanashe Mandivenga interviews Yves Mayilamene – Group Executive of Human Resources – and Gwendoline Abunaw – Ecobank Cameroon’s first female Managing Director

ECOBANK CHAMPIONS TALENT PROGRESSIVENESS

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his year started on a positive note for Ecobank, accented by a focused strategy, and commitment for the continent to forge on though the pandemic is still present. ves Mayilamene, Group Executive, Human Resources at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, says 2021 has been about ensuring that the bank’s strategic objectives are achieved while also making sure that its employees remain safe. This was made possible by Ecobank’s investment in technology and ease of responding to the Covid-19 pandemic with a dedicated Covid-19 Task Force, which enabled it to eff ectively activate its business continuity plan.

This sentiment is echoed by Gwendoline Abunaw, Managing Director of Ecobank Cameroon, who says “We cannot allow the pandemic to stop us from doing what we have to do.” This is evident in the way the bank has adjusted its operations and put measures in place to ensure the safety of its customers and staff while still running the business in the best possible way as Ecobank’s presence is critical to the day-to-day lives of millions of customers it has a privilege of serving.

As a result, Ecobank has been able to put its learnings from 2020 into practice and make a successful start to the year.

Remaining vigilant

Gone are the days where people had to commute to the o ce every morning, hold face-to-face meetings with clients and huddle at the coffee machine or water dispenser with colleagues on Friday afternoons, excited about the weekend ahead. The new normal for “Ecobankers” is a combination of working from home and working from the o ce.

Yves Mayilamene, Group Executive, Human Resources at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.

ayilamene explains that of cobank’s 14,000 employees across the 35+ countries it has a presence in are working safely and effectively from home. he other who may need to be physically present in branches or o ces do so on a rotational basis and with the necessary safety measures in place. He says: “The rotational working style has proven to be effective in ensuring that o ces and branches do not become hotspots for infection while protecting staff and enabling them to serve our customers.”

Thanks to its investment in technology, Ecobank has been able to provide customers with access to the financial services they need whenever they may need them. o help staff manage the increase in demand for support, artificial intelligence (which they continuously improve) has enabled the Bank to support customers using its digital platforms from the comfort and safety of their homes. This also played a part in showing employees that

their safety and wellbeing are a priority as it made their workload more manageable and reduced the need for them to go into branches. earing in mind the effect of the pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of individuals, Ecobank is supporting its staff by encouraging them to talk to mental health experts under its health care cover.

Ecobank has also chosen the theme for its cobank ay (its annual flagship CSR event), and it will be mental health, cognisant of the ever-increasing cases of mental problems across the continent now heightened by Covid-19. This explains why has started off on such an optimistic note – people are no longer viewing the pandemic as overwhelming and insurmountable but, have instead accepted that it is something that they have to adapt to.

Commitment to equality

ayilamene states that of cobankers are women and while he correctly points out that this is above average in many organisations, more can be done, especially considering that women only make up of management positions in the bank. The bank’s goal is to achieve 50/50 gender equality in management and leadership roles by 2030, which is in line with the UN’s 2020 agenda target.

Abunaw, who has shattered the glass ceiling and is occupying one of the most senior roles within the bank, says that in Africa cultural values are such that women have been assigned certain roles in the workplace.

The problem with this, she says, is that women have come to believe that they only belong in those roles. She has therefore made it her mission to make women

believe that they can do whatever they put their minds to and to demonstrate that they should only be defined by their potential to perform.

Ecobank has launched multiple initiatives aimed at empowering and developing its female talent. PAWA – Paragon Women Association of Ecobank Cameroon – is one such initiative. It was important to Abunaw that women know that it is possible for them to achieve what they once thought was unachievable. The objective of the association is to empower women with the skills they need to succeed in their career paths, and this is exclusive to Ecobank’s female talent.

Another is the Ecobank Women’s Pro-

gramme which is a core part of the bank’s talent management framework. It provides internal networking and learning opportunities between different levels of female staff which ayilamene explains, enables them to inspire and challenge one another.

Of course, diversity and inclusion goes beyond gender. It is about ensuring that everyone, regardless of gender, age and ethnicity, is given opportunities to develop and excel. This is done by identifying and recognising high-achieving staff and rewarding them for their good work. The identified employees are then invited to participate in the strategic sessions that define the vision of the bank each year.

“When success is clearly defined and people can see and feel the enefits associated with it, everyone strives to exceed expectations and work towards excellence”

Left: Gwendoline Abunaw, MD of Ecobank Cameroon.

The rationale behind this is that when success is clearly defined and people can see and feel the benefits associated with it, everyone strives to exceed expectations and work towards excellence and be rewarded accordingly, no matter their race or gender.

Developing Africa’s leaders

In 2020, Ecobank delivered 1,800 training programmes that reached of their staff from those in entry level roles through to the executives. The training is administered by the bank’s corporate Academy and in-house experts as well as by external bodies such as universities. The training programmes covered areas such as customer experience, risk management, compliance, cybersecurity governance, branch management and leadership development.

Based on their performance and talent management process, management are able to easily identify employees who are normal performers and those who are high-potential performers. The latter are targeted specifically for leadership development and there are three different layers of people when it comes to this.

Departmental heads need to be developed to continue adjusting to changes in the world, managers need development to be prepared to become the heads of department should anything happen to the incumbent, and finally the high potentials can start to be developed early on in their careers, Abunaw explains.

The bank’s approach to learning and development is continuous and anchored in its philosophy of “aspire, strive and achieve”. The bank is working to make learning easier, faster, higher quality and more effective by merging traditional learning with technology. Its people are its greatest asset, acknowledges Mayilamene, and as a result, their learning and development is a key area of focus – one which they are willing to invest heavily into.

Looking ahead

Going forward, the banking landscape will continue to change just as it has done over the last 10 years, from “bricks to clicks” as Mayilamene puts it.

Ecobank has prepared itself for a digital future by launching the Ecobank Mobile App, Ecobank Online, Omni Lite and Omni Plus, for example, and as a result, regards itself as being at the forefront of banking innovation. Ecobank wants to be the bank that Africans trust and have a positive relationship with, and based on the conversations with Abunaw and Mayilamene, it is well on its way to achieving this. ■

12 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Future of work – view from the top

The changes the world is experiencing as a result of Covid-19 may eventually be positive for SMEs, despite the hit they have taken during the pandemic, says African Guarantee Fund (AGF) Group CEO Jules Ngankam. Interview by Dianna Games

‘TECHNOLOGY WILL ENABLE SMES TO REINVENT THEMSELVES’

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he trend of working from home, and the products and technology supporting that, as well as the ability of SMEs to adapt to new opportunities will stand this segment in good stead going forward, predicts Jules Ngankam, CEO of the African Guarantee Fund (AGF).

But the lingering economic hardships of long lockdowns and business and trade restrictions have hit SMEs hard. This is reflected partly in the drop from $50m to $5m in AGF’s total monthly disbursements to commercial banks since April 2020 as part of their risk-sharing mechanism for new loans to SMEs. “We share the risk of loan defaults when commercial banks in Africa lend to SMEs,” explains Ngankam. “If a bank lends to an SME and they cannot pay them back, we will pay a portion of the loan.

This is to encourage banks to increase their lending to these companies and support them in case of non-payment.”

AGF was established in 2011 by the Government of Denmark (represented by DANIDA), the Government of Spain (represented by AECID) and the African Development Bank (AFDB), with a mandate of facilitating access to finance for SMEs to enable them to fully play their role of driving the growth of African economies.

In 2015, the French Development Agency (AFD) became AGF’s fourth shareholder and thereafter the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), KfW Development Bank and, most recently, the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) have joined.

The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown up both winners and losers, says Ngankam.

The sectors worst hit by lockdowns include logistics, transport and entertainment.

The winners were healthcare, food production and online leisure and content provid-

ers. In between were sectors such as real estate, construction, manufacturing and others that rely on workers to be on site.

Growth is expected in businesses driven by technology. “The appetite for technology in Africa will drive leapfrogging.

It is a game changer,” says Ngankam. “It allows SMEs to be able to go outside their comfort zone and reinvent themselves.”

SMEs need to look at different business models, he says, geared to new realities emerging in the market as a result of the pandemic. He cites a shift from restaurant businesses to delivering food to workers at home, from foreign cinematic content to African content providers and a shift from interpersonal learning to online training and new platforms for a host of activities.

Banks are also changing the way they do things. They are able to do their due diligence on possible customers online, for example. But commercial banks still regard SMEs as high-risk customers for loans. AGF has helped to leverage more lending into the SME segment of the market by providing risk sharing for loans.

It has introduced a Covid-19 Guarantee Facility that has suspended or adapted some of the organisation’s regular conditions to support banks facing high levels of non-performing loans as a result of the pandemic.

Ngankam says that the AGF facilities focused initially only on new loans to avoid banks saddling the organisation with their non-performing loans. Because of current liquidity issues, the risk cover has been extended to both new and existing loans but only on condition the banks agree to restructure non-performing loans.

The risk cover is also typically paid to the banks in tranches to ensure the latter are not leaning on AGF for relief without doing all they can to get loans repaid. But

under the Covid-19 facility, some accommodation was made on this requirement to support banks’ liquidity.

“Our mandate is job creation so we do whatever we can to enable SMEs to create more jobs. But for now, the mandate is not job creation, but job preservation.”

AGF has been able to address its own liquidity needs by working with those partners willing to help SMEs to navigate the effect of the pandemic, including donors, development finance institutions, governments and impact investors.

The organisation typically deals with Tier 2 and Tier 3 banks as well as microfinance institutions (MFIs). “For Tier 1 banks, SMEs are just one income stream but for the others, particularly Tier 3 banks and MFIs, it is their main business.

There is more risk for them but there is a greater development impact,” he says.

In terms of AGF’s financing spread, 40% is directed at commercial banks, 40% to Tier 2 banks and 20% to Tier 3 banks and MFIs, where the loan amounts are much smaller.

Filling the skills gap

AGF does not limit its interventions just to financing. “The financing gap is a consequence of the skills gap. The right people need to be in place to manage that money.

SMEs don’t have a lot of resources and they can’t compete in the talent market.”

Through its capacity development, AGF helps SMEs learn how to present their finances to the banks and how to organise their information, among other things.

“We differ from many development finance institutions in that we deal with very small players. This is where you can really make the difference and even see these small players become big. When we lose customers, we believe we have

“We differ from many development finance institutions in that we deal with very small players.

This is where you can really make the difference”

succeeded as they no longer need our support.”

How does AGF define an SME? Ngankam says this is a problem because Africa does not lend itself to a one-size-fits-all categor­isation. “The reality is not the same across the continent. Take a country like Nigeria, an SME there would be considered to be a big company in Malawi because of the size of the economy.” The organisation has settled on using the banking sector’s own definition of SMEs in each country to enable it to monitor the banks’ various portfolios.

Ngankam says AGF is prioritising developing women-owned enterprises going forward, working in partnership with the AfDB on the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative, which aims to unlock up to $3bn in loans to women-owned SMEs through its Guarantee for Growth programme.

The overall AFAWA programme also seeks to address policy issues that affect women’s ability to raise loans and build businesses, for example. Women in some countries cannot own land so have no collateral for loans and in some cases, they need their husband’s permission to get a loan.

“With SMEs generally there is a big perception gap. That is one of our biggest challenges. It is the difference between the perceived risk and the real risk, and this affects women entrepreneurs as well.”

He says banks tend to regard lending money to women as a favour. “It’s not a favour. It’s a business opportunity,” he says. Research has shown that women have a much better track record than men for managing their businesses and paying back loans.

The other current priority is clean energy and climate-change friendly businesses. These include waste management and SMEs involved in alternative energy generation and energy saving initiatives.

“There are now a lot of SMEs in the energy sector because governments have not produced enough energy.”

Many success stories in Africa are because of government failure he says, citing mobile payments and mobile phone companies. “Because governments failed, opportunities were created.” The same will happen with energy, with a profusion of solar initiatives, mini-grids and other technology starting to be rolled out by and for SMEs, he predicts.

He says the need for SME financing in Africa is estimated at about $300bn and AGF currently supplies only $3bn of this need. “It may only be 1% of what is needed but we can see the impact and that is very important.” n

14 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Future of work – view from the top

As Altaaqa Global Energy Services emerges from the pandemic with a strong pipeline of projects, CEO James Shepherd tells Omar Ben Yedder why he sees a bright future for new talent in the power industry

ALTAAQA GLOBAL UPBEAT ABOUT GROWTH PROSPECTS

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eadquartered in the UAE, Altaaqa Global Energy Services operates in the power sector, building plants around the world that serve numerous industries, powering data centres, cement factories and refineries from Africa to Latin America and Eurasia.

Power is a complicated business involving long-term financial and investment commitments and numerous variables and complexities. CEO James Shepherd is an industry stalwart, having joined the company in 2019 after a long career in the sector.

When we speak, he is somewhat incredulous looking back at the past year.

Despite all the challenges, he is amazed and proud that they have managed to negotiate power purchase agreements and develop a pipeline of activity remotely. These are not easy transactions, he reminds us, often involving complex negotiations and are decisions involving multi-million dollar commitment, many around the $100m mark.

He attributes part of this success to the strong relationship they have with their technical partners, who have a strong dealership network around the world.

This means that they have been able to deploy qualified and highly trained teams on the ground to install new power plants as well as to coordinate all the maintenance and any issues arising.

Power is a long-term business and in many emerging markets a limiting factor to rapid industrialisation. Still, the uncertainty caused by the pandemic at its outset last year did put a stop to their pipeline: “March last year, everything went off a cliff as I’m sure most businesses went through a similar thing.”

But according to Shepherd, once companies and governments got to grips with

the issues at hand, business picked up quickly. “In the fourth quarter of last year, we saw our highest order intake of new projects. Just to put it into context, some of these were projects that we had won in January/February 2020 but which had been put on hold because of Covid and then came back to fruition. Other projects were new projects, investors looking to utilise and capitalise on the low interest rates and low equity markets. It’s been

The shift towards renewables and cleaner power generation is attracting very talented, young, bright engineers quite remarkable because we didn’t expect the recovery to be so quick and so dramatic.”

Another key attribute, he says, has been to have a bigger group behind them. Altaaqa Global is a subsidiary of the Saudibased Zahid Group. Not only have they got a solid capital base but it also means that they had the resources and infrastructure to quickly adapt and support their teams, helping them to stay at the forefront of innovations and solutions that make their value proposition of interest to prospective clients.

Shepherd undoubtedly loves the power sector, where he has spent his entire career, starting off as an apprentice and as a site engineer at a plant in Sri Lanka. He still thinks that the industry is attractive and appealing to prospective graduates. “The shift towards renewables and cleaner power generation is attracting very talented, young, bright engineers.

But from a leadership point of view, you need to treat them in a very different way

than you would have done when I was a young 18- or 19-year-old.”

They are also happy to be less micromanaged, he adds, although it’s important as a business to create the right team dynamics and that is only really possible when you have the teams together in the office.

The new crop of graduates, he says, seem to be entrepreneurial and as a result, they bring something different to the table and it stimulates a lot of thinking and questioning which is beneficial for the company.

Onboarding challenges

Shepherd admits that onboarding new team members has been a challenge. But once again, being part of a bigger organisation has helped. The Zahid Group, he says, has a fantastic, world-class training centre and they were able to quickly migrate everything online. New employees are taken through a complete induction programme to not only help them integrate but also understand the company history and familiarise themselves with its culture and values. One challenge, though, is that it is harder for new staff to build relationships within the company, what he calls building your own network.

Today’s graduates he says are generally tech savvy. But it’s important to have problem-solving skills too and the ability to be agile. Power is a long-term investment but technological developments means that the innovation cycle is being shortened. This has disrupted an industry used to depreciating assets over a long time frame.

A lot of focus is in on battery storage today, when previously it would have been energy production. And even within storage, technological developments are

taking place extremely rapidly. The big discussions this past year have centred around hydrogen power. Being part of a bigger group means that they can make big, and considered, bets. “As part of the Zahid Group, we’ve invested and we’ve just signed an MOU with the largest hydrogen fuel cell company in the world.”

It is for such reasons that he’s particularly excited about his sector and why it continues to be appealing for the best in class. It’s at the cusp of innovation and transformation. “I think there is an opportunity for very bright young minds and ambitious people to come in and actually help shape the future of power generation.” And with 54% or so of Africa connected to the grid, innovation has a massive role to play in making energy more accessible to the masses. Across Africa, Altaaqa Global largely serves blue chip companies looking for off-grid solutions such as mines, oil and gas refineries and cement factories.

What about the talent pool; has there been an issue finding the right people? He says that on the ground, the company is 100% run by Africans. The expat model is outdated and doesn’t make economic sense, he argues.

“What I’ve found over my 48 years of living and working in Africa is actually the best people who run your business in Africa are Africans. Today, we have 100% African team in Africa. Gone are the days any CEO would want to have expats running businesses in Africa… It’s never been a challenge for me and many of the people that I have employed over the years have then gone on to take up bigger roles outside of Africa and then returned to Africa.” No one is better placed, he argues, to understand local issues, and therefore these can be resolved more quickly and more efficiently.

Changes to the way we work

Shepherd feels the strong Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 results they have experienced are somewhat due to the massive injections of capital by various governments to counter the economic impact of Covid. This has provided companies with cheap capital which they are using to invest in new facilities and new projects. He also thinks that this “great reset” will also drive a charge towards greater use of renewable sources of energy. But you won’t be able to have a one-size-fits-all when it comes to the energy mix. And countries need to look at their needs and what they can do.

As we end our call, I ask him what lasting changes we will see in how we work.

“Companies have learned that they

need to trust employees more, give them more space,” he says. “As leaders you want to see key performance indicators and performance and we’ve sharpened up those things as well to reflect the fact that people will continue to work remotely. Companies will hold people accountable but in a different manner, giving them more space and flexibility about achieving these goals.”

As for their business, despite the difficult job market for young graduates and continuing uncertainty, he is upbeat about his sector, and that it’s one graduates need to be looking at closely. “It’s a global business, working in a sector that is growing and changing and is focused on improving the environment.

It’s technologically advanced and moving very quickly.” And it’s not changing just in terms of technology. “There are many more women in the industry,” he adds, “including in very senior positions, so I definitely think the industry is on the right trajectory.” n

16 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Diversity and inclusion

The need to ensure diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workplace is recognised as a pressing issue by organisations all over the world. Tadiwanashe Mandivenga examines the state of progress across a range of industries

HAS THE PANDEMIC DERAILED THE DIVERSITY AGENDA?

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he conversation surrounding diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workplace has been a hot topic for many years but is now increasing in importance and urgency. Organisations all over the world are building this into their strategies and investing more resources into ensuring that their employees accurately represent the people they serve and that the environment they work in is inclusive.

The pandemic was predicted to disproportionately affect minorities, and in organisations this was attributed to them going into survival mode and focusing on simply getting through the pandemic, resulting in D&I falling to the wayside on the list of priorities. In Africa, however, we can see some progress being made in this area as organisations are starting to understand the importance of it and see the benefits that come along with it.

Here are some insights into D&I within different industries.

Telecommunications

According to Bess Skosana, General Manager and Regional Talent Leader at MTN, the telecommunication industry is one of the leading industries when it comes to diversity. She goes on to give some examples of women in leadership positions within the organisation, namely the group CFO and Vice President for the SEA region. In addition, women are said to make up 38% of MTN’s workforce. She also mentions that they have plans in place to hire more differently abled people into the organisation.

Technology

Progress is also slowly being made in the tech industry. Philip Sakwa, Group Head of HR at CSquared tells us that he encourages all of his line managers to avoid having biases towards people who are differently abled and instead find ways to be more welcoming of them. He goes on to describe how CSquared has modified all of their offices to be inclusive for different groups of people to make sure that they feel welcomed, valued and can do their jobs effectively.

Finance/investment

Pai Gamde, Chief Talent Officer at Coronation Group, tells us that there are positive changes being made within the financial sector and attributes this to regulatory requirements put in place to ensure that organisations have a certain number of women on boards, in management positions and in the total workforce. But while progress with gender inclusion is being made, more still needs to be done with regards to being inclusive of other minority groups.

Manufacturing

Unlike other industries, manufacturing is a sector in which it is usually challenging to attract and retain women and differently abled people due to the “hard” or “industrial manufacturing” environment, says Jacqueline Wanyama, Chief HR Officer at Safal Group. Although their female representation at the senior leadership level is not too far off global benchmarks at nearly 22%, it is their mission to in-

crease the number as well as the amount of representation in the entry-level pipeline and they are doing the necessary research to understand what needs to be done to retain diverse talent.

The above indicates a positive movement towards increased diversity and inclusion within the workplace. Phil Andrews, CEO of Field Ready, echoes this, saying that more companies that operate in industries which are traditionally seen as male dominated are asking for female engineers and technicians. He believes that bringing in more women in the coming years will positively impact the way workforces organise themselves while also providing role models for the younger generation of girls who want to be technologists, computer scientists and other roles that were usually considered the domain of men in the past.

In conclusion, as Dr Jerry Gule, CEO of IPM, correctly points out, diversity, inclusion, equity and justice is not something that begins in the workplace – it starts at home, with the language we use and attitudes we have towards people from different groups.

We have to make a conscious effort to be inclusive and not have biases towards other people in our personal lives in order to influence others around us to do the same and reflect this in the workplace.

While progress is being made, there is still a long road ahead. More focus and resources are being put in place to ensure that D&I is embedded into organisational structures. The future of D&I in the workplace looks bright. n

June 2021 African Business 17

Talent Agenda Supplement: Employee wellbeing

Organisations need to recognise the importance of preventing burnout in order to ensure that employee engagement and performance does not suffer in the post-Covid work environment, says Yendor Felgate

THE PARADOX OF WORKPLACE ENGAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING

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s the first quarter of 2021 comes to an end, we are now able to take stock and begin to make sense of what has changed in the world of work. Employees have been challenged unlike ever before with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Employees have been stretched trying to continue to perform at work, whilst coping with the ongoing disruption in their own lives.

Prior to the pandemic, we typically saw a positive and even reciprocal link between the engagement and wellbeing of employees. Normally, each adds to the other to make a powerful combination in terms of enabling employee performance.

Simply put, when employees are motivated at work and feel good about their lives, burnout decreases and productivity improves. Organisations have tended to take engagement more seriously than wellbeing, until very recently.

The pandemic has markedly impacted the link between employee engagement and wellbeing, which is an important insight for leaders, if they are to avoid the danger of employee burnout. Gallup research shows that in the main employee engagement has remained resilient and, in some cases, has even gone up. The benefits of working from home and having a job seem to outweigh the impact of moving home. This needs to be contrasted with the significant decline in employee wellbeing during the same period.

The worry is that many employees have hit or are approaching a breaking point that leads to burnout and suffering, with long-term consequences. Further-

Here are some tips to help organisations navigate employee engagement and wellbeing, more effectively with their managers: Equip managers to recognise their own needs and the needs of their people, using an approach like strengths Actively scan for signs of burnout and pro-actively address them Provide managers with the tools and freedom to act in ways that demonstrate compassion Coach managers to have meaningful conversations with their employees Create a culture that allows managers and employees to ask for help Provide meaningful learning for professional growth Change and adapt work processes to reduce excessive work loads Provide ongoing leadership support and feedback to your managers Put in place clear work-home boundaries and respect them Not everything requires a meeting

Working from home during COVID-19 is associated with intensified levels of both work engagement and negative emotions, like stress and worry (Gallup)

more, it is our managers that are disproportionally impacted. A recent survey shows that the engagement of managers during this period went up a full 5%, but at the same time burnout rose by an incredible 78% (Glint Survey, 2021). These are the very people who are at the centre of employee engagement and wellbeing efforts. And to put their importance in terms of such efforts into perspective, Gallup research shows that up to 70% of the variability of employee engagement is dependent on what managers do.

In other words, the very people that are meant to address employee engagement and wellbeing are themselves our most at risk cohort for burnout.

Organisations need to recognise the importance of preventing burnout in order to ensure that employee engagement and performance does not suffer, starting with the managers that need to implement such initiatives. We need to start by recognising that the managers of today, need to manage very differently from what went on before. Employee wellbeing, inclusion, managing remote and hybrid teams and the demand for learning, are but some of the new challenge’s managers face. There has been a distinct shift towards being more people centric and compassionate. The reality is that the quality and health of managers has never been more important. n Yendor Felgate is a Gallup Global certified strengths coach and Director of BHG – the Gallup License Training Partner for Africa.

18 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Future of work – view from the top

A learning mindset can help companies navigate disruptions. How does the world’s best-known company, The Coca-Cola Company, stay focused on emerging stronger? We are in conversation with Jonathan Ojany, VP and Global Head, Center Operations and Strategy at the Company

AGILITY IS THE KEY TO SURVIVE A CRISIS

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he Coca-Cola Company has many of the world’s most recognisable brands that are sold in almost every country in the world. The company’s workforce reflects its truly global nature.

A number of talented Africans have risen to the top of the organisation, most notably Zimbabwean Nathan Kalumbu, head of Eurasia Africa group, Liberian Alex Cummings, who was Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer.

Jonathan Ojany is the latest African looking to follow in the pioneering footsteps of these African leaders, successfully climbing the ladders towards the higher echelons of The Coca-Cola Company. A Kenyan with extensive experience running global strategy, he joined The CocaCola Company in 2014 to run Strategy, Planning and Digital for half the continent based out of Kenya and later Nigeria. In 2019 he moved to Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta to be Chief of Staff to the company’s Global President and Chief Operating Officer. Earlier this month, he assumed the position of VP and Global Head, Center Operations and Strategies at Coke.

The transition from Coke Africa to its headquarters, Ojany recalls, was fluid. He explains that the company has become adept at nurturing global talent. “Being a global company allows Coca-Cola to cross pollinate talent. The company’s success can be attributed in a large part to its ability to gather great and diverse ideas from a broad, global talent pool.”

Prior to Covid-19, Coke was experiencing healthy performance across its vast portfolio of countries and brands. The company’s strategy to drive top quartile performance was working but the pandemic created a new reality where, like all other companies in the world, Coke was

suddenly called upon to adapt to a series of disruptions that stood all normal life on its head.

Adapting on the run

Building on its 135-year heritage, the company looked through its history of managing crises, including prior pandemics, to find inspiration for navigating the pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic was truly a “black swan” and presented the management team with numerous challenges: maintaining the safety of all its people, ensuring operational continuity including uninterrupted supply, production, distribution, sales, and supporting local communities. “We had to be agile, learning across markets on how the pandemic would play out, and staying ahead of the knock-on effects of various restrictions and resulting economic and operational challenges that impacted the movement of people, goods, and delivery of services.”

“We had to reassess vulnerabilities along the entire global value chain, identify bottlenecks and finding innovative solutions” he adds. “We had a people-first mindset, focusing on the safety of our people and supporting our communities.”

It was problem-solving at a pace and on a scale that was unprecedented. For Jonathan Ojany, given his background as a strategy and management consultant, the rapid fire fighting was a challenge he relished. In its way, the pandemic has concentrated focus on the skill sets industry leaders need to respond to the needs of the moment.

With so much disruption taking place, are the skills that one looks for different to what they would have been, five or ten years ago? “You always look for skills to help you win today while building for the

future. The evolution of those skills is based on what you believe the future will look like and what you will need to invest in to enhance your competitive advantage to not only remain relevant but also win in that future” he says.

The specific skills needed today, he says, have evolved from those that defined the workplace five years ago. Digital, data and technology now define every aspect of our personal lives as well as the business world, from supply chain to production, distribution and logistics, sales, and marketing. Access to data and technology has made the consumer more connected and therefore more sophisticated, democratising knowledge irrespective of whether they are in emerging or developed markets. They are clear on what they want with affordability being the variable to getting what they want. Consequently, to ensure relevance, companies can no longer tell the consumer what they “think” they want but instead must meet the consumer where they shop (online or offline) with the products they want, when they want them.

In addition to technology skills, he says, the “softer” skills are also undergoing a fundamental change. Agility, flexibility, and empowerment are no longer buzz words but prerequisites for success.

“You need leaders who are inspirational and who place trust in their teams, empowering them to make decisions. The people who will succeed are technologically more savvy, more self-aware, selfstarting, authentic, and comfortable with ambiguity. That’s the pivot from several years ago. With the world changing constantly and rapidly, leaders must be agile, pushing for progress not perfection,” he sums up.

Throughout our conversation, the need

for empathy and emotional intelligence crops up often. “When we look at the future of work, talent, flexibility, and trust will trump over the traditional static, hierarchical working models. You have to balance it all out. It’s not necessarily just what the company needs but also what the employees need, what and can do.”

Total beverage strategy

Has the health pandemic put a greater pressure for companies like Coke to accelerate their pivot to more health and nutrition-related drinks? Ojany says in recent years Coke adopted a “total beverage company” mindset, taking a very

consumer-centric approach to what is now the “beverages for life” strategy.

So how do you manage this pivot and these innovations? Coke, he says, continues its 135-year old tradition of innovating to ensure that “we can profitably continue to offer consumers the products and brands that they want, including more choices with lower sugar, more functional benefits and superior flavour profiles.”

In addition to the product itself, the challenge to ensure that the products wanted by consumers are available within easy reach is a continuous logistical challenge. “Around the world, admittedly at varying levels, the pandemic has acceler-

“Africa remains a priority for The Coca-Cola Company, a growth engine in its global portfolio”

ated e-commerce. Winning brands will be those that seamlessly straddle the online (e-commerce) and offline (brick and mortar) world,” he says.

What are the growth opportunities for the company on the continent? “Africa remains a priority for The Coca-Cola Company,” he replies. One of the continent’s largest beverage acquisitions in recent memory was that of the Nigerian local drinks company Chi. The Chi transaction, he says, “was exciting primarily to fulfil Coke’s mission of being a ‘total beverage company’ expanding its dairy, juice and tea footprint in Nigeria but also building capabilities and expertise to scale across the continent.”

He feels that the most important element in harnessing the Africa opportunity in general - not constrained to Coke centres around leadership and capacity building: “How do we as a continent build our own capabilities? How do we identify and nurture African talent? How do we prioritise and focus on the few big bets to be able to really move the needle?

We’ve got examples of great leadership across the continent, but the challenge is to make them more prevalent, consistent, focused and, therefore, impactful.”

A growth mindset

As Coke expands, either organically or through acquisitions, is there a particular culture or mindset that it tries to inculcate?

“We focus on a growth mindset,” he explains, “ensuring behaviours that encourage curiosity, inclusivity, empowerment and agility. Our recent transition into what we call a ‘networked organisation’ will positively impact how we lead, how we work and how we learn, accelerating our path to emerging stronger from the pandemic and returning to prepandemic sustainable top-tier growth. It allows us to share learnings, leveraging economies of scale while ensuring local relevance, speed and responsiveness.”

Consistency is key. And consistency is something Ojany understands. As he explains, paraphrasing and tailoring a famous quote from the artist Andy Warhol, the company prides itself on making sure that “a Coke is a Coke. The one drunk by royalty has the same quality and provides the same unparalleled satisfaction and refreshment as the one drunk in the sweltering heat of the Sahara or blistering cold of Siberia.”

Looking ahead, he reflects on the African opportunity: “The future is here, just unevenly distributed. The question is how do we invest in capabilities to ensure it gets distributed in our favour?” n

20 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Future of work – view from the top

Emma Wade-Smith OBE has been the UK’s Trade Commissioner for Africa since 2018. She is both a flagbearer for UK businesses and a champion for the African opportunity to the world

THE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

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rom where she lives in South Africa, Emma Wade-Smith OBE, the UK’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, has seen first hand the impact of Covid on economies and also on FDI. When asked for her outlook, she says that right now it’s quite a mixed picture. Unemployment in countries like Nigeria and South Africa is particularly worrisome. A lot of focus will need to be put on helping small and medium-sized enterprises to spur job creation.

Central to this, according to WadeSmith, are skills. Despite the large number of people on the jobs market, when she does talk to investors, finding the right skills and talent on the continent is still a big concern.

“We hear a lot that companies are struggling to find the talent that they want for their companies and yet we’ve got this extraordinary array of talent on the continent looking for jobs. There’s something of a disconnect between the narrative and the perception and reality.

And a disconnect between what employers are seeking and the graduates coming through the system.”

Wade-Smith has spent her whole career in public service. And yet she says that companies and institutions need to get used to people moving jobs every three years or so. When I put to her that a lot of the best talent in Africa seems to shun politics and public service and prefer to work for the private sector, she says that public service offers talent some of the most exciting and diverse work they can find anywhere.

“I’d like to think that we attract some great talent in the British civil service…

I’m often blown away by their ability to work in a whole range of different environments, different countries, working on different policy issues and that real ability to understand a complex array of stakeholders, consult, be inclusive, build policies that make a difference.

It’s very complicated working in gov-

ernment and I can understand that puts some people off, but I also hope that entices people in.”

The British government, she explains, actually encourages its people to move between public and private sector as they want their people to have private sector exposure and to understand how businesses function and the challenges they face.

“We see a lot more movement these days between the public and private sector and those coming in from the private sector are often quite surprised at how challenging and rewarding it is because of the complexities, because you’re not just dealing with the bottom line, you’[re dealing with people’s lives, actually.”

Wade-Smith agrees that, today, graduates need to be more versatile and open, “aware of what is going on in the world around us”. Technology, she adds, has be-

come a real driver of transformation and job creation. As the UK looks to become more globally minded following Brexit, she thinks that British companies looking to invest across Africa can bring experience, expertise, skills and knowledge that can create powerful business partnerships on the continent.

She also hopes that, as skills become the number one asset, that there will be more partnerships between education establishments. It’s already happening in some countries but she’d like to see this extended, including UK universities setting up physical campuses in Africa, something that has already happened in Mauritius, Egypt and Rwanda. Educational exchanges, she argues, are the best step to forging strong commercial links between two countries.

What advice would she give to 17- or 18-year-olds in Africa on what they should study; are there any sectors that the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) team in Africa are paying close attention to?

Wade-Smith says one thing for sure is that we need to have the right policies on the continent to attract top dollar investment. So making sure a pool of talent going into the civil service is key. In the private sector, DIT is working to strengthen the manufacturing base, something that will become more attractive with the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

The technology and coding side of tech is something she would be looking at. Engineering is also a really exciting prospect, and the challenge she feels is that both tech and engineering are still industries dominated by men. Healthcare has obviously become an important consideration and will attract massive investments.

And lastly, she adds, financial and professional services “because money makes the work go round and lawyers enable that to happen”. n

Aspire Strive Achieve Developing world-class talent in Africa to build the Africa we want Here at Ecobank, we believe that our success depends on our ability to maintain a diverse, resourceful and dynamic workforce to serve our customers. We have a strong policy on sourcing, attracting, developing and retaining the best talent.

Secure a place on our highly coveted Graduate Development Programme and join us in building a stronger, better Africa for us all.

To join our pan-African Graduate Development Programme, contact us at HRRecruitment@ecobank.com

22 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: View from the top

In this interview, Jonathan Wheeler, Regional Director MEA, TMF Group, shares with Global Career Company’s Tadiwanashe Mandivenga how the pandemic affected TMF, how international expansion has been affected by the virus and how it is being managed.

He also provides insights into trends in the professional services industry based on learnings from the last year

TMF OVERCOMES PANDEMIC CHALLENGES What are some of the challenges that Covid-19 has presented for TMF and how were they overcome?

One of the challenges was concerned with technology. We had to change the way that we worked in terms of working remotely. It took some time to work through and get used to, but in the end it actually turned out well. We benefitted from the fact that almost a year ago, we swapped out all of our desktops for laptops and docking stations, so that helped to make the transition easier.

Another big challenge was around employee wellness which encompasses a range of different subjects and nuances.

As a result of this being an uncertain time and the anxiety and stress that comes with that, as well as people being on their own while working remotely, a person’s mind can start wondering which could take a toll on their mental wellbeing. We actively try to speak to all of our staff as regularly as we can to give them reassurance. One of the things we have been doing is having daily staff meetings about the coronavirus, just to update everyone and check in with them. Response rates have varied massively during this period, but it has been a valuable experience in terms of informing us about how everyone is feeling. In cases where we have had to really focus on certain people’s mental health, we have put in various structures and processes around that to help them as best as we can.

Additionally, we noticed that when people are working remotely, it is difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance, so we try to make sure that people do take time off to recharge.

“Dealing with people working remotely during an uncertain period of time requires a lot more communication than before” Lastly, as restrictions start to ease up and people are slowly returning to the offices, working out how to transition back safely and in such a way that gives our clients and staff confidence that we are doing the right things is a complicated process due to government guidelines in addition to our own internal guidelines.

As a result of remote working and the various restrictions because of the pandemic, in what ways would you say leadership has changed in TMF and how has this informed the way it will be done going forward?

It has made us concentrate more on things that are or should be core skills and requirements of leadership. For example, communication. Dealing with people working remotely during an uncertain period of time requires a lot more communication than before. If we look at my role in particular, I am communicating remotely 90% of the time anyway because I am based in Dubai whereas my staff are in many different places, so communication is a skill I have always needed to have, but I would say it has become more focused because of the pandemic.

What can you tell us about how international expansion has been affected by the virus and how that is being managed?

It has been a little bit strange in some ways. I would say that things really slowed down from around April/May last year as a lot of projects were put on hold and the lockdowns in Western Europe, the US and Asia put a kibosh on things.

What we have seen since then is that business has picked up quite strongly and a lot quicker than I expected. It varies from country to country and where investments are coming from, but from my perspective, a lot of the enquiries and investments from China and South-East Asia resumed a lot quicker as well as from the US. More recently, expansion on capital has come through from Europe.

As far as destinations are concerned, I would say that from a sub-Saharan African perspective, those who recovered the fastest in terms of new enquiries are Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and a fair number of opportunities have come through for the DRC recently as well. What I did find from looking at the wider area was that a lot of the opportunities came back to the Middle East before they went back to Africa. The uptick for business in Africa has probably been a bit more recent whereas for the Middle East, it started a couple of months before that.

Would you say that there is more of an appetite to internationalise at the moment?

There is still a desire to internationalise but there is still a lot of caution as well.

One of our largest clients actually approached us specifically to talk about Africa and expanding into it for the first time. So, people are definitely thinking about it, and it is definitely on the radar, but there is still caution being taken.

Despite the challenges that were brought about by the pandemic, have there been any new business opportunities that have come about as a result of it for TMF? Yes. Actually, fairly early on during the pandemic we were able to advise our clients on all of the various measures and programs that different governments announced as a response to the pandemic.

This was to try and make sense of what was going on in countries across the world and advise our clients about that which was very well received by them.

There have always been new opportunities in some countries. For example, there were some capital market opportunities in South Africa which we have been pursuing.

Finally, can you give us some insight into some trends that you foresee in your industry based on learning from this past year?

One trend which is going to be here to stay is having a more flexible working environment where people are able to work from home more. Partly because it is being demanded from people as they have become accustomed to it and also because from a financial perspective, it allows people to deliver the same or more with less office space.

I don’t think there will be a dramatic shift in my area of business because there are still a lot of government and security controls which need to be in place for which an office space is required.

From an employee wellness perspective, a collegiate atmosphere needs to be maintained however, there will certainly be more flexibility than there was before. n

24 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: View from the top

Nick Zaranyika and Tamara Parker of Mercer outline seven priorities that African employers should consider when approaching their planning, logistics and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines

PUT EMPLOYEE WELLBEING FIRST Nick Zaranyika Mercer, Head Business Development - Pan African Solutions for Africa

T

he approval of many vaccines around the world resulted in us breathing a collective sigh of relief. With this, comes the need for governments and organisations to work together in the roll-out of vaccines and ensure that people receive them. This requires time to plan and execute well in tandem with business operations and economic growth.

According to Tamara and Nick, there are seven main priorities that African employers should consider now that vaccines are being rolled out:

Preparing the employer’s role

The main objective of companies at the moment should be to protect their people. As such, employers need to prioritise employee wellbeing and safety. Companies must consider the support employees will receive in the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccines.

Tamara offers some examples of support that organisations can offer their staff: paid time off or paid sick leave to have time to recover form side effects. She also poses the question of how customerfacing people who do not want to be vaccinated will be managed.

According to a study by Mercer, almost 50% of European, Middle Eastern and African companies will offer their staff time off to get vaccinated. However 80% of companies think that people should use existing sick leave days to recover from

Tamara Parker Mercer, CEO South Africa

side effects if they experience any.

Tamara believes that organisations should set up steering committees made up of representatives from the HR, risk management, legal and communications departments to lead the planning and execution of a vaccination strategy. This will ensure that both the interest of employees and those of the business are catered to while ensuring that the strategy is successfully executed.

Prioritise health education

Communication and education are crucial in order for employees and their employers to understand each other, especially when it comes to matters of health and safety. Organisations need to have reliable and up-to-date information about the coronavirus and the vaccines available in order to issue accurate information and educate employees accordingly. A study

by Mercer found that 60% of employers will encourage their employees to get vaccinated within the ambit of employment, labour and human rights legislation. While this is encouraging, more can be done to increase this figure.

Define your critical workforce

As part of an effective vaccination strategy, companies can organise their workforce into groups of priority when it comes to receiving the vaccination. Tamara explains that this is defining the com-

pany’s “critical workforce” and plays a significant role in determining business resilience and the success of a roll-out strategy. For example, a company may decide that those with children should be vaccinated first in an effort to protect their families, or they may decide that the client facing employees should be first on the priority list.

Focus on health equity

The health and safety of everyone is important and is a key consideration. While employers can segment their workforce into different levels of priority when it comes to receiving the vaccine, everyone should have equal access to them.

For example, what happens if the vaccines are not covered by health insurance or administered through the public health system? Does this mean that if an employee cannot afford it that they should not be vaccinated? These are things that employers need to consider and be able to intervene on in order to make sure that their entire workforce has access to a vaccine should they want to have it.

Think about privacy

The roll-out of vaccines may require employers to keep track and take account of which employees have been vaccinated and which have not. This information would enable employers to make decisions on employee safety such as returning to

working in offices, travelling for business or physical interaction with customers.

However, whether an employee has been vaccinated or not is personal information which should be respected. That being said, it is up to employers to find creative ways of encouraging people to get vaccinated and ensuring that their personal data is protected and that their decision on whether to get vaccinated or not is respected.

Consider the unvaccinated

According to Mercer’s study, 64% of employers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are not considering mandating the vaccine. Besides employment, labour and human rights legislation, not everyone may want or be able to get vaccinated due to personal or medical reasons, , says Tamara. So, how will those who are not vaccinated be managed in the workplace?

Employers will need to continue to put the necessary safety measures in place such as requiring people to socially distance in the workplace, making it mandatory to wear masks and sanitise regularly, have their temperatures taken at work and

also requiring people to work from home should they experience any symptoms.

This would help to keep both those who are vaccinated and those who are unvaccinated safe without ostracising either group from the workplace.

Employers will also need to be more accommodating of employee needs and be more flexible during this time, for example if one feels safer working from home as opposed to in the office where the virus could potentially spread, this should be considered. This will lessen anxiety and make all employees feel respected and valued.

Put mental health on the agenda

A physically and mentally healthy work-

Employers across Africa should play a significant role in ensuring that their people are kept safe, healthy, well informed and have access to vaccines when they are available

force is imperative now more than ever.

In Africa where mental health has always been somewhat of a taboo subject, it is encouraging to see it become a topical issue in the workplace, with 70% of companies surveyed late last year reporting that they have implemented psychological counselling for employees to help them with stress and anxiety, says Nick.

In Africa, the roll-out of vaccines is being led and controlled by governments and there is a lot of work ahead to ensure widespread vaccination of the population.

The number of vaccinated people as a percentage of the population is low in leading economies like Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, compared to well-developed countries.

Tamara and Nick believe that employers across Africa should play a significant role in ensuring that their people are kept safe, healthy, well informed and have access to vaccines when they are available.

Mercer encourages companies to take the initiative and partner with governments to ensure efficiency in the roll-out of vaccination programmes. n

26 African Business June 2021

Talent Agenda Supplement: Leadership

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, leadership has been put to the test. During the last year, leaders have had to adjust the way they lead their people by finding innovative ways to connect with them and influence them. Below are excerpts from interviews with leaders from various organisations providing insight into how they have managed to lead their people effectively despite the circumstances

THE RISE OF THE EMPATHIC LEADER Mathias Katamba

Kihara Maina

Adekunle Rosiji

The pandemic made us focus more on people. As leaders, we have had to be more empathetic and consider what people may be dealing with at an individual level. In an environment where we do not have full visibility of how one’s time is spent we have to be mindful of all the different things that come with working from home.

In a normal working environment, people leave home, go to work, deal with the work environment, then go back home and take a break from work, but at the height of the pandemic work and home were the same place. As a result, we had to manage mental health while also being considerate of our people and continuing to develop and prepare them for the future.

We had to think about how to protect our people first and foremost, because doing so meant that we had a good chance of also protecting the business.

We had to strategise about this in the context of a business continuity area that people had never really thought about. It is not about just simply being able to get to work, or continuing to work, but it is also about other factors that perhaps were not dealt with on a regular basis, such as mental health. As a result, we had to do a lot of listening, cooperating and ensuring that we quickly put in place the necessary measures and new approaches for business continuity to take place.

Everything has changed.

Usually, I have an open-door policy for my office, but nowadays my interactions are focused on the top team such as the other directors, general managers who report directly to me. Below those top two levels of the organisation, my interaction has become very minimal, which is not my usual style of operating. However, this has made the chain of command more aligned and operate the way it should, which has made us make faster and better decisions. We have had to trust ourselves and our people more than we normally would. As they say, “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together”.

CEO, dfcu Bank

Akhona Qengqe

Chief People and Transformation Officer, Yum! Brands There has been greater connection with our teams as a result of more frequent communication and a lot of cross-functional work. As leaders, we have had to provide greater clarity and direction to our teams to ensure that they understand what is expected of them and can perform their tasks well. Leaders have also had to drive a lot of accountability. When you are working remotely and cannot see the people you work with as much as you normally would, the only way to manage and ensure high performance is by giving people the autonomy they need to carry out their tasks effectively and efficiently as well as remain motivated while holding them accountable.

CEO, I&M Bank Kenya

“What this pandemic did was increase the level of awareness of staff welfare, and the importance of that, for productivity”

Executive Director, Lexcel Group

Benson Adenuga

Coverage Director and Head of Nigeria Office, CDC Group We always talk about people being our biggest assets, and in an investment company that is as real as anything. What this pandemic did was to increase the level of awareness of staff welfare, and the importance of that, for productivity. If your people are struggling, how do you support them? Many people are at home.

So how do you effectively manage virtual teams? Some people are feeling very lonely, others are struggling with working in a domestic environment and others are dealing with a loss. So as leaders, we had to coordinate all of that; ensure that the organisation continues to function effectively, and that people’s mental health is also duly considered.