Safri Case Study Mapili 2nd Draft 261

8/2/2019 Safri Case Study Mapili 2nd Draft 261

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MAPILI: Case Study: SAFRI - a B2B initiative promotes entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking in southern Africa 1

Case Study: The Southern Africa Initiative of German Business -

a B2B initiative promotes entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking

in southern Africa

Prepared for the International Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 16-18 November 2010,hosted by La Consolacion College, Mendiola, Manila, Philippines, in cooperation with the Hochschule

Wismar, Wismar, Germany, and Shijiazhuang University of Economics, Hebei, China

Nina E. Mapili

SAFRI Journey to Excellence Program, and Mapili GmbHAlpenstr. 11, Friedrichshafen, Germany

[email protected]: +49 7541 33773, Mobile: +49 172 9586271

www.safri.de, www.mapili.com

AbstractSAFRI, the Southern Africa Initiative of German Business, is a private B2B initiative created in 1996by the Afrika-Verein (AV), the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the Association of GermanChambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). Headed since its inception by Prof. Juergen E.

Schrempp, the now retired Chairman of Daimler-Benz, then DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG), ithas supported many different initiatives aimed at focusing attention on the economic potential of themember states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and further promotingGerman business activities in the region.

One key area of activity has been promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking in theregion. Originally through the SAFRI HRD Project, and more recently through SAFRIs Journey toExcellence (J2Ex) Program, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and increasingly micro businessesand enterprising individuals, have been assisted in improving their strategic focus, competitiveness,and levels of organizational/individual excellence via training and mentoring. Local facilitators,mentors, and excellence assessors have been trained in parallel.

Workshops have been conducted in 11 of the 15 SADC countries. Well over a thousand people havebeen trained since the introduction of the Journey to Excellence Program in 2006.

The EFQM Excellence Model, an internationally-recognized management tool, is at the core of theJ2Exprogram, which offers entry points for management teams at different levels of organizationalmaturity, as well as for individuals wanting to lead an enterprising life.

The author consults for the SAFRI Chairmans Office, whose work is funded by Daimler AG (andpreviously by DaimlerChrysler and Daimler-Benz). She developed the initial program for workingwith SADC businesses in 1998, and continues program development and implementation to the present. TheJourney to Excellence Program IP belongs to her company, Mapili GmbH, based inFriedrichshafen, Germany.

This paper explores the motivation, approaches, challenges, successes, lessons learned, and wayforward in this unique, long-term, privately-funded initiatives work promoting entrepreneurship inSADC.

Keywords: Africa, SADC, entrepreneurship, SME, SMME, training, mentoring, Journey toExcellence, J2Ex, B2B, education, organisational excellence, organizational excellence, SAFRI,Daimler, Juergen E. Schrempp, EFQM, excellence model, Business Development Services, BDS, AV,BDI, DIHK


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Case Study:

SAFRI - a B2B initiative promotes entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial

thinking in southern Africa

1. Background

For decades, even centuries, Africa has been written off by people around the world as a hopeless

continent. Its mention conjures images of war, famine, disease, poverty Yes, there is war, famine,disease and poverty in Africa, but what many have missed is that there is also an exciting flip side tothat negative picture. See, for example, the IMFs projected GDP growth for 2010-2011(2IMF):

With South Africas election of President Nelson Mandela in 1994, South Africa lost its pariah status.

The same year it joined SADC, the Southern African Development Community, whose origins lie inthe struggle of the Front Line States against white minority rule in apartheid South Africa. SADCnow aims to promote socio-economic cooperation, regional integration, and political and securitycooperation amongst its 15 member states (2SADC).

By 1996, the country was well on its way to becoming the new South Africa, the Rainbow Nation,Africa's motor for development. That year, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl paid a state visit toSouth African President Nelson Mandela. His delegation included representatives of the Germanbusiness community, whom he challenged to actively welcome their African colleagues into the globalbusiness community.

SAFRI, the Southern Africa Initiative of German Business, was created later that year by three leadingGerman business organizations: Afrika-Verein (AV, German-African Business Association), the

Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the Association of German Chambers of Industry andCommerce (DIHK).

Since its creation, SAFRI has supported many initiatives aimed at focusing attention on the economicpotential of the SADC member states and further promoting German business activities in the region.(3SAFRI)

SAFRI has been headed since its inception by Prof. Juergen E. Schrempp, the now retired Chairman ofDaimler-Benz, then DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG). Mr. Schrempp had served in themanagement of Mercedes-Benz South Africa, the Group's South African subsidiary, for over a decade,


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and during this time he developed adeep affection for the country and acommitment to improving the region'ssocial and economic conditions. Hehas a close relationship with ex-president Mandela, served as amember of the International

Investment Council of the President ofSouth Africa, and has been SouthAfricas Honorary General Consul fora number of German states for manyyears.

SAFRI supports different initiatives inGermany aimed at focusing attentionon the economic potential of SADCcountries and promotes Germanbusiness activities in the region. Inparallel, it has been working in SADCto promote entrepreneurship andentrepreneurial thinking, with the aimto supporting regionalization andimprove the quality of life of thepeople in SADC.

Originally through the SAFRI HRDProject, and more recently throughimplementation of theJourney toExcellence (J2Ex) Program (5Mapili),small and medium enterprises (SMEs),

and increasingly micro businesses and enterprising individuals, have been assisted in improving theirstrategic focus, competitiveness, and levels of organizational/individual excellence via training and

mentoring. Local facilitators, mentors, and excellence assessors have been trained in parallel.

TheJ2Ex Program was developed on the basis of the EFQM Excellence Model, an internationally-recognized management tool. It offers entry points for management teams at different levels oforganizational maturity, as well as for individuals wanting to lead an enterprising life.

Workshops have been conducted in 11 of the 15 SADC countries (all except Angola, DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Mauritius, and Seychelles). Well over a thousand people have been trained sincethe introduction of the Journey to Excellence Program in 2006.

In addition, SAFRI, in cooperation with Mercedes-Benz South Africa, runs an internship program forstudents and recent graduates from SADC. Participants work in Germany for 6 months, gaining bothpractical work experience and invaluable intercultural experiences.

All of the work done by or through the SAFRI Chairmans Office is funded by Daimler AG (andpreviously by DaimlerChrysler and Daimler-Benz). I developed the initial program for working withSADC businesses in 1998, and continue development and implementation to the present. Thecontinuous improvement of a single program is a great strength when seen in comparison to the shortterm interventions that are characteristic of many development agencies.


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2. Focus of the paper

This paper explores the motivation, approaches, challenges, successes, lessons learned, and waysforward in this unique, long-term, privately-funded initiatives work promoting entrepreneurship inSADC. It is broken down as follows:

Motivation, Approach, Vision, Goals and Strategies

The SAFRI HRD Project: early phases of the program and lessons learned along the way

The SAFRI Journey to Excellence Program Ways forward

3. Motivation, Approach, Vision, Goals, Strategies

3.1 Motivation

Germany, a country without significant natural resources other than its people, is an exportingpowerhouse. Much of its strength is derived from a strong backbone of highly competitive small andmedium sized industries (SMEs). German businesses need new markets to grow, and as we can see inFigure 1, GDP growth in SADC is generally high in comparison to Europe. SADC clearly offersopportunities worth exploring.

At the same time, all SADC countries are classified as developing economies (6World Bank). Detailscan be seen in Figure 5. SAFRIs work in SADC is built upon recognition that helping the region

become economically strong,stable, and integrated is good forbusiness. It focuses on areas thatwere key to Germanys owndevelopment: export capability anda strong SME sector (7IfM Bonn).

By strengthening businesses andpromoting entrepreneurship,SAFRI supports the achievementof at least two of the UNsMillennium Development Goals:

MDG 1: End Poverty and

Hunger. Target 1.B, whichconcerns achieving full andproductive employment anddecent work for all, inclu-ding women and youngpeople, is especially relevant.(9UN)

MDG 8: Develop a globalpartnership for development.

Target 8.A, which concernsdeveloping countries gaininggreater access to the marketsof developed countries, isdirectly impacted by em-powering entrepreneurs, andincreasing their ability totrade across borders. (10UN)


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3.2 Approach

From the very beginning, SAFRI has focused on engaging directly with SADC businesspeople on abusiness-to-business (B2B) basis. Our non-bureaucratic approach made it possible to quickly takeadvantage of opportunities, and constantly review activities and implement improvements. Even so,the learning curve was steep. There were no similar business-to-business initiatives with comparablegoals, and benchmarking with aid-based programs with similar focus areas did not result in exampleswe felt worth emulating.

Figure 5. Area, population, density, and GNI (gross national income) per capita in SADC .

The World Bank classifies all SADC countries as developing economies based upon their annualGNI (gross national income) per capita. They are distributed amongst income classifications as

follows: Lower income ($995), Lower middle ($996-$3945), Upper middle ($3946-$12,195)

No workshops have been held in the countries in italics.

Additional countries are presented for comparison in the second part of the figure.

SADC

CountryArea km

2

% SADC

Area

Pop. 2008

(WB data)

% SADC

Pop

Pop.

density /

km2

GNI per

capita 2008

Zimbabwe 390,757 3.95% 12,462,879 4.73% 32 ?

South Africa 1,219,090 12.33% 48,687,000 18.48% 40 5,730

Malawi 118,484 1.20% 14,846,182 5.63% 125 250

Botswana 581,730 5.89% 1,921,122 0.73% 3 5,920

Namibia 824,292 8.34% 2,129,854 0.81% 3 4,111

Lesotho 30,355 0.31% 2,049,429 0.78% 68 1,060

Swaziland 17,364 0.18% 1,167,834 0.44% 67 2,540

Mozambique 799,380 8.09% 22,382,533 8.49% 28 340

Madagascar 587,041 5.94% 19,110,941 7.25% 33 420

Tanzania 947,300 9.58% 42,483,923 16.12% 45 400

Zambia 752,618 7.61% 12,620,219 4.79% 17 950

DRC 2,344,858 23.73% 64,256,635 24.39% 27 150

Angola 1,246,700 12.61% 18,020,668 6.84% 14 2,590

Mauritius 2,040 0.02% 1,268,854 0.48% 622 5,980

Seychelles 455 0.005% 86,956 0.03% 191 10,220

TOTAL for SADC 9,883,414 263,495,029 27

SADC as % of world

land mass6.64% 3.93% SADC as % of world pop.

Some other countries for comparison

Philippines 300,000 90,348,437 301 1,890.00

Denmark 43,094 5,493,621 127 58,800.00

Germany 357,022 82,110,097 230 42,710.00

USA 9,826,675 304,060,000 31 47,930.00

World 148,940,000 6,697,254,040 45 8,654.48

(Compiled from11

CIA and12

World Bank)


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Seen from the current perspective, SAFRIs engagement with SADC entrepreneurs can be broken intotwo parts: Part 1, The SAFRI Human Resources Development (HRD) Project (1998-2005), and Part2, The SAFRIJourney to Excellence (J2Ex) Program (as of 2006).

3.3 Vision for SAFRIs work in SADC

In our engagement with SADC businesses, organizations and individuals, we work to create a future in

which Enterprises in southern Africa are flourishing. We do so by empowering entrepreneurs,management teams and nascent entrepreneurs through training and mentoring; by preparing localtrainers and mentors to work with them; and by strengthening the institutions that supportentrepreneurial growth and development.

3.4 Goal of SAFRIs Journey to Excellence Program

The programs primary goal is to increase the numbers and competitiveness of enterprises in SADC.Indicators include:

Degree to which workshop / mentoring program participants achieve the goals set out in theiraction plans.

Level of satisfaction in the program indicated in feedback forms

Numbers of workshops and participantsNumber of mentors and facilitators qualified through the program

3.5 Strategies of SAFRIs Journey to Excellence Program

The overarching strategy is to work in conjunction with local and international partners in SADC tooffer an excellent, user-centered program for developing entrepreneurial skills and improvingorganizational excellence and competitiveness. This strategy has essentially been in place since theearly days of engagement in SADC. Tactics and plans, however, have changed.

Deconstructed, the individual elements as currently implemented become clear:

We work in conjunction with local and regional partners with congruent goals and directaccess to potential program participants, trainers and mentors. Ideally, these partners have

significant own funds to invest in our joint efforts. The excellent quality of the J2Ex Program has grown on the basis of a world class

management tool, the EFQM Excellence Model, coupled with well over a decade ofexperience on the ground in SADC. The Program is continuously improved on the basis ofexperience in workshops, feedback, learning and benchmarking.

From its original high level approach, the J2Ex Program has expanded to offer a wide range ofentry points suitable to users ranging from enterprising individuals, through emergingenterprises to mature businesses or other organizations.

Skills upgrading and competitiveness are focused primarily around the development andimplementation of strategic frameworks and associated action plans while pursuing the greatergoal of organizational excellence. The region is awash with consultants wanting to write(cookie-cutter) business plans, strategic plans, marketing plans etc. for MSMEs, often with

large government subsidies. In contrast, our emphasis is on empowering people to take chargeof their lives, businesses and/or organizations themselves. If consultants are to be engaged, itshould only be for clearly defined tasks in alignment with company vision, mission, goals andstrategies, and specific tasks and outcomes to be achieved must be clearly delineated bymanagement.


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3.6 Distribution of activities

Since the beginning of SAFRI interventions in the region, we have worked in 11 of the 15 SADCcountries. Counting from the introduction of the J2Ex Program in 2006, we have worked in 9 SADCcountries, and even held workshops in Germany for people/organizations with a SADC connection.

4. The SAFRI HRD Project: early phases of the program, and lessons learned along the way

(14Mapili)

The SAFRI HRD Project, which ran from 1998-2005, focused on promoting entrepreneurship,competitiveness, regional integration and trade through the development and upgrading ofentrepreneurial skills and organizational performance excellence in small and medium enterprises(SMEs) in SADC. Since so many projects were being centred on South Africa, and because wequickly developed a strategic partnership with the South African Excellence Foundation (SAEF), weput most of our energy into other SADC countries.

The SAFRI HRD Project coincided to a great extent with the partnership with SAEF and the use of theSouth African Excellence Model and its public domain version, the SADC Quality Model in our work.The Model served, almost from the beginning, as the organizing force in what were known as SAFRI

Figure 6. J2Ex Workshops held per country, and some basic information about our engagement.

Country # Works. Comments

RSA 12

South Africa has a huge number of MSME (Micro, Small and MediumEnterprise) support programs. We take opportunities as they come, but do notspend a lot of time pursuing them. Our work in South Africa has been with awide variety of partners.

Namibia 12

High number primarily due to the focus of a regional partner. Germany does,however, have a shared history with Namibia, and we have a variety of localcontacts and partners.

Zimbabwe 11

Zimbabwe, despite all of its difficulties, has the advantage of significant naturalresources, the highest level of literacy (with the exception of tiny Seychelles(13Aitchison and Rule), and, in the authors experience, the most enterprisingpopulation. It is therefore a focal point for our work.

Madagascar 10

We began work in Madagascar at the request of now deposed President MarcRavalomanana, and built up a small team of local facilitators who can present inFrench and Malagasy. Work has come to a halt because of the 2009 coup.

Malawi 5

Home to one of our success stories, a company that regularly organizesworkshops, and has tried, unsuccessfully, to help identify new local organizingpartners. We are exploring options for increasing engagement.

Lesotho 5Combination of work with very old partners from HRD Project workshops andin connection with a regional partner.

Botswana 5 A focus country for a regional partner.

Germany 4 Workshops for people/organizations with a SADC connection

Swaziland 3Intermittent work with a very old partner: a Swazi consulting company that grewout of the early days of the SAFRI HRD Project.

Tanzania 2

Workshops held in connection with a regional partner. Tanzania is a donorsdarling, is receiving a lot of attention, and has proven a difficult nut to crackfor a program not bringing along a lot of money.

Mozambique0

Held a number of HRD Project workshops, but have not found a partner with

whom to make an entry with J2Ex.

Zambia0

Work during HRD Project was very challenging. Have not found a partner withwhom to make an entry with J2Ex.

DRC0

Concern for personal safety and reports of widespread corruption, as well as lackof a local partner have led to very low prioritization.

Angola0

Very high financial and language hurdles to entering the market. Partners arecurrently being sought.

Mauritius 0 Not targeted due to low relative need.

Seychelles 0 Not targeted due to low relative need.

TOTAL 69


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Entrepreneurs' Workshops. SAEF was our sustainability plan: it would focus first for promotingorganizational excellence in South Africa, and then follow our footsteps into the region.

Though it was not done implicitly at the time, the SAFRI HRD Project can be divided into fourgeneral, sometimes overlapping, phases, named here for the major activity or new development duringthat time period.

1. Phase 1, 1998-99: Entering Foreign Markets2. Phase 2, 2000-01: Excellence the Key to Competitiveness

3. Phase 3, 2002-03: The Road to Excellence

4. Phase 4, 2004-05: Entrepreneurial Mentoring

4.1 Phase 1, 1998-1999: "Entering Foreign Markets"

The SAFRI HRD Project kicked off with a workshop/conference SAFRI and the Promotion ofEntrepreneurial Skills in SADC held in May, 1998 in Namibia. It focused on analysingentrepreneurs needs in relation to what SAFRI could potentially offer. Representatives of southernAfrican business organizations (Chambers of Commerce and etc.), the SADC Secretariat, the WorldBank, and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and German NGOs active in relevant areas in theregion attended.

Out of this we developed the concept ofEntrepreneurs' Workshops. With an eye to promotingregionalisation via cross border trade, we settled on the themeEntering Foreign Markets. Germany isan export powerhouse, and the idea was to help SMEs understand export markets and the associatedopportunities and challenges - partially by sharing German export experience. The program wasdeveloped with the assistance of a German technical college that specialises in export. Presenterswere all affiliated with German companies active in the region, or Germans working in the region.

The first twoEntrepreneurs' Workshops were held in 1999 in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Partnersincluded the national Chamber of Commerce organizations, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industry,and in Mozambique, the Southern African Enterprise Network (SAEN), a small organization of "newgeneration African entrepreneurs.

These workshops took place shortly after the founding of the South African Excellence Foundation(SAEF), which was modelled after the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). TheSouth African Excellence Model (similar to the EFQM Excellence Model) and the concept of Self-Assessment were introduced in plenary and further explored in working groups. These ideas caughtthe interest of participating entrepreneurs in both countries.

In Mozambique, the attending entrepreneurs surprised us at the close of the workshop with a formaldeclaration of their intention of creating a Mozambican Excellence Foundation. Unfortunately, inearly 2000, Mozambique was hit by devastating floods. The entrepreneurs that had been working oncreating an excellence foundation diverted their energies to disaster relief, and the momentum fordevelopment of a foundation seeped away with the flood waters.

Major political difficulties contributed: existing government organizations didn't want to see anexcellence foundation established because they felt that its proposed activities fell within their area ofresponsibility. In the end, the entrepreneurs turned their efforts to improving the business climate inthe country by engaging the government in dialogue at the top level

Lessons learned:

The choice of partners is crucial. Business organizations such as Chambers of Commerce werenot able to perform at the level needed for a successful workshop. Our most fruitful cooperationwas with SAEN.

Workshop content must be relevant to participants now, not at some undefined time in the


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future. People want help with today's challenges, not tomorrows.

4.2 Phase 2, 2000-2001: "Excellence the Key to Competitiveness"

In reviewing our experiences in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, we concluded that the basic format waseffective and successful. SME entrepreneurs like to come together in nice surroundings and talk aboutbusiness with respected colleagues from near and far.

It was clear, however, that we could better meet entrepreneurs' needs by making the content moreimmediately relevant. Some of our participants had MBAs from very reputable universities. Somewere "seat of the pants" entrepreneurs with no formal business education, but lots of "on-the-job"experience. We needed to find a less academic, more "real world" approach that would engageparticipants with heterogeneous business experience and various levels of formal business education.

I thought that the South African Excellence Model, as implemented in a questionnaire approach toSelf-Assessment being developed by people with DaimlerChrysler South Africa and SAEF, mightoffer a solution, and developed a two-pronged strategy to take the idea forward:

Train strategically placed people on the Modelpeople who were in a position to continuespreading the word by including organizational performance excellence in their curriculaand/or private consulting offerings.

Find and recognize role model businesses and entrepreneurs. Assessment would be done usingthe Model.

DaimlerChrysler sponsored two complementary activities during this phase, but implementationproved challenging:

A high level staff position at SAEF specifically for the development of SME training. Thisperson was included in SAFRI HRD activities and SAEF training.

- Unfortunately, he was completely unable to meet the challenge and his contractwas terminated.

The Juergen E. Schrempp SAFRI Award for Excellence. The award was designed especiallyto recognise excellent SADC SMEs outside South Africa (which was developing its own awardprogram).

- It was an idea ahead of its time. There was a complete dearth of candidates with therequisite levels of excellence to be recognised in an internationally-benchmarkedcompetition especially amongst black-owned SMEs.

Five Entrepreneurs' Workshops were held in 2000-2001: in Swaziland, Botswana, South Africa,Lesotho, and Mozambique. Each was attended by about 30 local entrepreneurs, all of whomcompleted a Self-Assessment of their organizations in the course of the workshop. South African-based German executives dominated the facilitation teams, but a small corps of local trainers wasbeing groomed to continue with the work.

During this phase, increasing use was made of Self-Assessment and Assessor training forentrepreneurs. Of those who attended pre-workshop training, the most promising companies were

assisted in follow up activities, i.e. implementation of changes in their business resulting from the selfassessment and identification of key performance gaps. In return, they prepared case studies andpresented these at the workshops.

These exercises repeatedly highlighted the inappropriateness of the SAEF Self-Assessment andAssessor training (modelled on EFQM training of the same name) for our and the entrepreneurs' -needs. Though it had long been promised, SAEF's efforts to develop SME-appropriate training wereway behind schedule, and what had been produced was not up to our needs or expectations. By thistime the SAFRI HRD Project had more directly relevant experience than anyone else, so I began SMEtraining module development in late 2001.


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Lessons learned:

We needed a mass market instrument a training course appropriate for SME owners andmanagers - that would enable us and others to bring the model to more people. SAFRIEntrepreneurs' Workshops could only reach the tip of a huge iceberg.

We needed to address the issue of follow up after training/workshops. People reported makinggood starts at implementing improvements, but then falling off the boat after a few weeks.

4.3 Phase 3, 2002-2003: "The Road to Excellence"

During the development of the new training module, The Road to Excellence, we invited input fromentrepreneurs and trainers with whom we had worked in the past. I guided, and then finalised, thestructuring and content of the course and prepared the trainers manual in outcome based trainingformat. A training-of-trainers course for the presentation of the new module was held in August,2002. All participants had come up through our program. All were SAEF-certified Assessors, andmost had been trained by SAEF to the level of Executive Facilitator.

Testing began immediately, and results were very positive. We were thrilled to see participants"getting it", i.e. understanding the logic behind the model. They spoke of eye-opening experiences.This was a major breakthrough. The combination of the user-friendly SADC Quality Model (orSAEM) Questionnaire and Workbook andRoad to Excellence (RtE) training finally gave us what weneeded to reach more SMEs than would ever have been possible through the high profileEntrepreneurs Workshops alone.

Whereas an Entrepreneurs Workshop required a major investment of time, effort and money,RtEcould be run for up to 15 participants with a single trainer, and was therefore much more costeffective. Interestingly, we discovered that theRtE also worked well in a corporate environment.DaimlerChrysler South Africa (DCSA) adopted the program immediately, and a whole team of youngmanagers was trained to present theRoad to Excellence module for in-house use. Unfortunately, theDCSA CEO, who had been a major supporter of our work, was later transferred to Germany, and hissuccessor discontinued the in-house program. The very great majority of DCSA people trainedthrough the program subsequently left the company.

The Schrempp AwardThe Schrempp Award process remained very challenging in 2002. Even the most sophisticated SMEsneeded significant assistance to prepare for, and then put together, an award application. Lots ofmoney went into administration, promotion, assessment and site visits, but the results were thin. Nocompany even came close to the internationally benchmarked threshold for Award level. We had anaward, but no award winners.

On the positive side, we found that working with the companies in a mentoring relationship producedgood results. In 2003, the final year of its funding, the Schrempp Award was therefore transformedinto The Juergen E. Schrempp SAFRI Award for Excellence Mentorship Program. Practicallyspeaking, this meant that the available funding was focused more on mentoring the companies than onassessment, and the emphasis was no longer placed on getting an award, but on progressing as acompany. There was still an assessment, though, based on a completed SADC QM questionnaire.

All companies that completed the process were recognised for their "Dedication to Excellence". Theparticipating companies were honoured at the 2003 international SAFRI Entrepreneurs' Workshop,where the CEOs/MDs and some of their top managers acted as resource people.

Lessons learned:

The training success of the Road to Excellence module is very positive, but it does not solve twoissues:

- Post workshop action plan implementation by entrepreneurs was often weak- The trainers we had trained were not presenting RtE workshops on their own. SME

entrepreneurs have a basic unwillingness to invest in training and consulting. This made


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it very hard for local consultants to sell training on the open market without the supportof some kind of SME promotion funding.

Mentoring is more effective than anything else we have seen when it comes to ensuring followthrough after Self-Assessment.

The mentoring process needs to be carefully defined and monitored, and appropriate measuresof success developed.

4.4 Phase 4, 2004-2005: Entrepreneurial Mentoring

Mentoring was positioned at the heart of our work. In preparation for 2004 activities, a mentoringprogram handbook was developed that clearly outlined the mentoring process, explained expectationsand participation requirements in a Terms of Reference, and provided templates for consensus finding,action plans, weekly reports, mid term reports, and case studies. A monitoring process was set up andused to track progress.

The Mentoring Cycle: charting and following a course to sustainable Excellence

TheRoad to Excellence, initially the name given to the training program, slowly became synonymouswith an entire process: the path taken by an organization striving for excellence within the frameworkof the SAFRI HRD Project. Road to Excellence (RtE) training, mentoring, andExcellence - the Key toCompetitiveness (EKC) Entrepreneurs' Workshops were aligned and created a cycle that organizationscould follow:

1.EKCWorkshops, with their exclusive positioning, were offered to entrepreneurs, MDs andCEOs. Resource people were primarily top executives from companies that have completed onementoring cycle, augmented by special guests (the German connection).

2. During the Workshop, resource people made model-centric presentations and led small workinggroups. Participants completed a Self-Assessment of their business using the questionnaire,prepared a preliminary action plan to address their key improvement opportunities, and learnedabout the mentorship program.

3. Those interested in bringing their company into the process could make arrangements fortraining to be held for their entire management team. They were encouraged to invite othercompanies to join them in order to reduce costs, as these had to be carried by the participating

companies.

4.Road to Excellence training was held for management teams. Upon successful completion, thecompany head could immediately apply for admission to the mentorship program.

5. Upon acceptance, the trainer/mentor began work with the individual management team. Theteams prioritised improvement opportunities, and prepared action plans to address them. Theaction plans had weekly deliverables that were to be reported/discussed with the mentor inweekly e-mail / telephone contact.

6. After 8-12 months, they prepared a simple case study to be presented by the company head at anEntrepreneurs' Workshop. Post mortem discussions are held on how the process can beimproved, and the next cycle began - with improvements in place.

Mentor developmentWe tried repeatedly, and often not terribly successfully, to work not only with "virtual" long-distancementors, but also with local ones. The often-encountered perception that quality comes from abroadwas surely part of the problem: if you are an entrepreneur in a small southern African country, youfind it much more impressive to have a mentor from big South Africa than to have one from your owncountry, or even from a small neighbouring country. On the flip side of the same coin, it was, andremains, very hard to find local mentors.

2004 Workshops

In 2004, national workshops were held in Swaziland and Zimbabwe. An international workshop inSouth Africa once again served as the recognition platform for companies that participated in the


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year's mentorship program. During that workshop, "way forward" discussions held with executivesfrom mentee companies. They agreed that they needed to become more active in promoting businessexcellence, and committed themselves to seeking new companies well-suited to the mentorshipprogram for 2005, and to help organiseRoad to Excellence training for them. They also suggested a"benchmarking trip to Germany", which became reality for three entrepreneurs.

Distinctions blur between workshops and training

In SAFRI HRD Project parlance we used the word workshop to denote the big, high profileEntrepreneurs Workshops, and the word training to refer to Road to Excellence interventions.Over time this distinction became irrelevant, and we now refer to all of our facilitator-led events thatbring together a group of people to learn and network, as workshops.

Lessons learned (and re-learned):

Mentors must be carefully developed. Not all good trainers are good mentors.

Local mentors are very useful, but finding, training and mentoring them is a huge challenge(that for the most part exceeds our financial means)

Depending entirely upon current mentee companies to identify and win new companies andorganise training is not a successful strategy. Some are good at it, many aren't.

4.5 2005: Tectonic movements change the game

Two major changes occurred within a short span of each other in 2005:

The South African Excellence Foundation "disintegrated", and

SAFRI Chairman Juergen E. Schrempp resigned as Chairman of the Board of Management ofDaimlerChrysler AG.

The SAFRI HRD Project had positioned SAEF as the organization that would carry on with its workon the longer term. With its collapse (a subject worthy of a paper in itself, but strongly connected withissues of race, politics and skills gaps) the plan for the sustainability of our work also collapsed.

On top of that, Prof. Schrempp's resignation from his DCAG position led to all HRD Project activities

being frozen for more than half a year during the reorganization and re-prioritisation introduced by hissuccessor.

5. The SAFRIJourney to Excellence (J2Ex) ProgramConvinced that there was a need - and a market - for the kind of program described here, I used themonths of down time following Prof. Schrempps retirement to:

register a new company, Mapili GmbH (GmbH is approximately equivalent of a (Pty) Ltd.)(5Mapili),

qualify as an EFQM Excellence Award assessor,

develop a new EFQM Excellence Model-based workbook, and

apply the lessons learned from my SAFRI experience to develop theJourney to Excellence

Program.

No longer tied to the regionally limiting SADC Quality Model, but affiliated with the EFQMExcellence Model (15EFQM), a global benchmark, the Program could now be used anywhere in theworld. My initial focus, however, was on filling the organizational excellence gap in southern Africa.

On this basis, I was given the opportunity to continue with SAFRI in 2006. SAFRI adopted the use oftheJourney to Excellence Program on a non-exclusive basis under the name SAFRI Journey toExcellence Program. Whereas I had previously focused on organization, curriculum development andempowerment of a team of local trainers and mentors, I was now a one woman show with a very smallbudget and some very big challenges.


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The firstJourney to Excellence Workshop was held in Lesotho in August of 2006. Six more followedin the next 4 months. All were 3-day workshops in which participating management teams conductedEFQM-based Self-Assessments of their organizations at a fairly high level of rigour. This is theworkshop, initially calledJ2Ex Level 3, that became the Striving for Excellence workshop onceprogram expansion exceeded initial plans.

Participating company sizes varied from 1-1200 employees. There was not a formal mentoringprogram due to lack of funding, but in many cases follow-up meetings were held on site withparticipating management teams in the days following the workshops to help them individual teamsdevelop their action plans beyond the point possible in the workshops.

Hugely increased agility is perhaps the major benefit derived from the loss of the South AfricanExcellence Foundation as our main partner. With my company, Mapili GmbH, now the owner of thecurriculum, I could quickly expand theJourney to Excellence Program to better meet user needs. InMarch of 2007, the next newJourney to Excellence Workshop was presented: Committed toExcellence (initially known as J2Ex Level 2). Still explicitly Model-centric, it was based on asimplified Self-Assessment questionnaire, and proved its use with both less sophisticated SMEs andmid-level corporate managers.

By late 2007 the Programs future center of gravity was crystallizing: we moved increasingly towardworkshops focusing on strategic alignment and planning. First came Strategic Alignment, and then,in 2008, a workshop for individuals wanting to lead an enterprising life, called Take Charge!. By2009, Take Charge! had developed into two separate workshops: Take Charge of Your Life! and TakeCharge of Your Business!.

There are now seven possible points for beginning the Journey. These are divided into two contiguousand intertwined programs,Preparing to ExcelandAssessing Excellence. Both are flanked bysupporting workshops designed to help businesses and organizations address the areas forimprovement identified in the core programs (see www.mapili.com).

TheJourney to Excellence Program can be broken into two parts, with names coinciding with the

programs two core workshop series. The first year focused on Assessing Excellence, but we soonstarted moving into Preparing to Excel, and we have been working exclusively in this area sinceearly 2009.

5.1 The core Journey to Excellence Program

Preparing to Excel

Preparing to Excelseries workshops are dedicated to helping businesses, organizations, and alsoindividuals, take the first steps on theirJourney to Excellence. They help individuals andmanagement teams develop, implement and improve their strategic framework.

Take Charge of Your Life! (TCYL): For individuals wanting to lead an enterprising life: aspiringentrepreneurs, young people, new managers, etc.

- Duration: 16 hours over 2 or 3 days.

Take Charge of Your Business! (TCYB): For entrepreneurs and management teams that see theneed to introduce more structure into the way they do business. Multi-company workshop.- The workshop is also appropriate for individuals who have fairly detailed plans for

starting a specific business.- Duration: 3 days. Best done residentially, as teams benefit from concentrated work on

evening assignments.

Strategic Alignment (StratA): For those with a strategic framework in place. The first review forthose who began with TCYB. The workshop can be used to prepare teams forStrategic Planningand/or Self-Assessment. Generally presented as a single company workshop.

- This is not a strategic planning workshop, but can lead directly into one.- Duration: 2-3 days. Best done residentially, as teams benefit from concentrated work on


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Strategic Planning(StratPlan): This workshop can either follow on a Strategic Alignmentworkshop, or incorporate its core content within the larger strategic planning framework. Theworkshop is customized for each company.

- In line with the overall philosophy of theJourney to Excellence Program, we facilitatemanagement teams in conducting their own strategic planning process. We do not do it

for them.- Duration: 2-3 days. Best done residentially, as teams benefit from concentrated work on


Assessing Excellence

The Journey to Excellence Program engages entrepreneurs, MDs/CEOs and their management teamsin a process that initiates a robust cycle of continuous improvement - if followed over time. As withany other journey, though, travellers want to know periodically how far they have progressed. The

three levels of the Assessing Excellence program provide them with the means to measure theirprogressalways at a level of rigour appropriate to the organizations level of maturity.

All assessments are done by the managers/entrepreneurs themselves, using the EFQM ExcellenceModel, a globally respected management tool.(15EFQM) It enables them to very objectively andholistically assess their companys performance excellence relative to good and best practices,

determine strengths and areas for improvement, and identify key improvement opportunities. Theirassessment results guide the planning and implementation of improvement activities, and initiate acycle of continuous improvement.

Introduction to Excellence (I2Ex): For those with a solid strategic framework in place, who now


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want to grow, improve, and introduce cycles of continuous improvement to their business. Forexample: those who have consolidated the results ofTCYB orStratA workshop and now aspireto reaching the next level, or simply for the entrepreneurially curious (who may then continue asis appropriate).

- Duration: this presentation/workshop is highly customizable and can last from 2-16hours. Short presentations focus on theory, whereas the 2 day version ends withparticipants preparing action plans.

Committed to Excellence (C2Ex): For organizations with well-established strategic frameworksthat are ready to challenge the status quo. Participants will ideally have completed the StrategicAlignment workshop and implemented resulting improvements.

- Duration: 3 days in residence. Teams must work together on evening assignments.- Designed to be followed by C2Ex part two, which entails 2-3 days spent on site with

action plan teams.

Striving for Excellence (S4Ex): For businesses and other organizations seriously aspiring tobecoming world class. Participating businesses / organizations must have at least a moderatelevel of organizational maturity and sustainability and a well-entrenched dedication toexcellence.

- Duration: 3 days in residence. Teams must work together on evening assignments.- Designed to be followed by S4Ex part two, which entails 2-3 days spent on site with

action plan teams.

5.2 Observations and Experiences

The Challenges of Mentoring

TheJ2Ex workshops described here end with participants preparing Improvement Activity Chartersand Action Plans. As described in this paper, experience has highlighted the advantages ofimplementing action plans within the framework of a mentoring relationship. As one manager toldme: Our mentor kept us motivated when the going got rough and we were tempted to give up.Mentoring generally takes place in a yearly cycle. Multiple cycles may be needed to anchor newmindsets.

In the traditional sense, mentoring is a relationship in which an older, more experienced and/or skilled


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person helps a younger, less experienced / skilled person develop and grow. Whenever possible, wework within the scope of afacilitated mentoringprogram that is designed to:

create effective mentoring relationships,

guide the desired behavior and organizational change of those involved, and

evaluate the results for the mentees, their mentors, and the sponsors.

Business or entrepreneurial mentoring has become fashionable, with countless organizations offeringmentoring programs. In my experience in southern Africa, very few are well conceived and deliverresults.

In one SADC country, for example, I worked with 2 national government organizations that have largementoring programs for MSMEs. They use the term to cover everything from consulting tocoaching, but did not really offer anything that was in line with our use of the word. Skills gaps,combined with the perceived low pay and low prestige connected with consulting for such agencies,resulted in low program performance (expressed, for example, in the low collection rate on loans).More than one local consultant admitted to only working with the agencies when no other work wasavailable.

In conjunction with a regional partner, a three-pronged program, designed to upskill the organizationsthemselves, the business consultants mentors with whom they worked, and MSMEs, wasimplemented.

Early in the program, I led a Strategic Alignment (StratA) workshop for about 20 business consultantswho had been recommended by the organizationsdevelopment finance institutionsas people well-

suited to be trained as J2Ex facilitators and business mentors. During interviews, candidatescharacterized themselves as mentor, strategic turnaround specialist, highly experienced businessconsultant, etc.

Their initial task was to complete the StratA workshop on the basis of their own consulting business,use the results to prepare action plans, implement these within a mentored framework, and then trainto mentor MSMEs through a similar process in connection with the less sophisticated Take Charge ofYour Business! workshop. Though participants were generally familiar with the terminology usedthings like vision, mission, values, critical success factors, goals, measures, indicators, PEST, SWOT,action planmany were unable to effectively put them to use in their own real-world setting.


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In addition, we encountered major problems with the quality and timeliness of progress reports, andthe ability to explain even simple concepts to others, i.e. entrepreneurs. In parallel, the highlybureaucratic local organizations did not see the need to take ownership and empower their own peopleto require the requisite levels of delivery from their consultants, the mentors-in-training.

Ultimately, a small number of good mentors developed, achieving, in conjunction with their owndevelopment, some respectable results with the entrepreneurs they were mentoring. Three of them

formed a new company with which both SAFRI and Mapili GmbH signed MOUs regarding futurecooperation. The fourth person to qualify to that level is currently considering joining them.

That cooperation itself is positive, but not without challenges. Our MOU partners are notdemonstrating near the level of entrepreneurial energy we had hoped. Instead of acquiring work byleveraging the partnership, there is a decided tendency to simply wait for work to be sent their way.

Figure 10: Types of local organizing partners and observations on each

Types of organising partners Observations and challenges Potential

Local consultants

Mixed results. Vary widely in levels of professionalism andqualifications. Often have very narrow qualifications and arenot comfortable with a holistic approach such as ours. Verychallenging, but success is a prerequisite for sustainability.

H

A regional organization itself mandated toempower others. (Had significant ownfinancing. SAFRI sponsorship comple-mented Mapili GmbH consulting)

Very well positioned , but subject to its own skills gaps, andhindered by both bureaucratic structures within which it worksand inconsistent financing.

M

National development finance agencies -dev. banks and MSME promotionagencies

Generally good partners in theory, but in practice hamperedby own skills gaps.

M

Local businesses (African and German

businesses in Africa)

Very positive results, for example with companies that upskillown staff with TCYL, do StratA with own mgmt, andintroduce new companies. An SME customer developmentproject is in development with a commercial bank, and asupplier development program is in discussion with a largeGerman company.

H

Large parastatal enterprisesVery challenging. Not the best value for money for SAFRIinvestment due to bureaucratic structures.

L

Chambers of commerce In general very ineffectual partners. Big internal skills gaps. L

A national leadership institute Positive until it was sacked in Madagascars political coup L

Junior Achievement, an NGO thatpromotes entrepreneurship amongst 8-25yr. olds

Very positive. Cooperation in place in South Africa andNamibia, relationship under development in Zimbabwe.

H

NGOs in general

Though estimates of the size of their investment vary widely,(16Shaw), NGOs play important roles in Africas development.There is good potential for various types of cooperation,ranging from empowering the NGOs themselves to moreprofessionally deliver on mandates aligned with our goals, tocooperating on joint projects. One such project is in progress.

M

Tertiary institutions & student leaders Mixed experience, good potential M


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6. Ways forward

As outlined earlier, our overarching strategy is to work in conjunction with local and internationalpartners in SADC to offer an excellent, user-centered program for developing entrepreneurial skillsand improving competitiveness.

6.1 Partners

Partners fall into two broad, sometimes overlapping, categories:

service providers and

organizational partners.

Service providers

Though we have emphasized training of local facilitators and mentors from the early days of theprogram, there was minimal carry-over between the Road to Excellence and theJourney toExcellence. Post 2005 budget cuts severely limited SAFRI funding for local facilitators and mentors.There was no money with which to upskill a new team on the EFQM Excellence Model.

This bottleneck eased significantly with the introduction of thePreparing to ExcelSeries workshops,as entry level knowledge requirements for facilitators and mentors were much lower. In fact, some ofthe earliest new facilitators were not business consultants at all. In Madagascar we had a medicaldoctor, an English teacher, and an entrepreneur in the facilitation team. Our cooperation wasunfortunately brought to an end with Madagascars coup, and its suspension from SADC.

Though TCYB facilitators are taken from the ranks of business consultants, TCYL facilitators neednot have that kind of background. I see huge growth potential with young TCYL facilitators reachingout to the regions legions of young people. This may well be where we make the largest impact.

High potential local / regional organizing partners

We have worked with a broad variety of local / regional organizing partners in SAFRIs J2ExProgram. Types, comments and potential for future cooperation can be seen in Figure 10.

In parallel with our work with local service providers, and in line with our strategy of working in

conjunction with local and regional partners with congruent goals and direct access to potentialprogram participants, we are moving forward with the sharpest focus on the partners identified ashaving high potential in Figure 10:

businesses with an interest in developing other businesses, and

Junior Achievement.

Junior Achievement (JA) is a well-established international NGO with systems and curriculum inplace. We add value as the local leadership sees best. In Namibia this has been to offer workshops foroutstanding performers from around the country. In South Africa next intervention will be with itsnational Youth Council (mid October, 2010). The potential return on investment is high whenworking with JA, as those involved are enterprising, and have long careers ahead of them.

Businesses can be exciting partners. Though there are skills gaps, there is a noticeable difference inmindset between managers in businesses, and those in parastatals or government-related organizationssuch as development finance institutions. Partnerships with companies fall into 3 main types:

Those that have been on Journeys for a number of years, and return regularly to reviewprogress (via strategic workshops) and upskill their people and those of partner businesses (viaTCYL),

- These tend to be local medium sized companies

Those whose primary interest is upskilling their people and businesses in their supply chain- These tend to be German companies

A major African bank that sees co-sponsoringJ2Ex workshops as a way to develop its customer


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base- Whereas experiences with parastatal banks were sometimes very challenging, a

recently launched partnership with this commercial bank began very well, and islooking quite promising.

High potential local / regional organizing partners

While our focus is currently elsewhere, given the sheer size of the market, government supported

MSME development agencies cannot be ignored. Work with them tends to be very frustrating andtime-consuming, however, as their self-images and aspirations are at odds with the levels oforganizational excellence one experiences when interacting with them.

Despite their mandates to promote MSME development, very few people I have encountered in suchorganizations had even worked in the private sector, much less run a business. Fresh universitygraduates find themselves on the front lines, tasked with advising entrepreneurs and those who want orneed to start a business. Needless to say, they are not optimally prepared for the tasks at hand.

In such cases, the organizations needs far outstrip our ability to address themfrom a financialstandpoint. Massive improvements in entire support structures are required. Working with suchorganizations becomes a viable option if they bring along own financing for much of the work to bedone.

Tertiary institutions and student groups both offer good potential, but a good fit of partners isnecessary.

6.2 To what extent are we achieving our goal of increasing the numbers, and competitiveness, of

enterprises in SADC?

Paradoxically, I am convinced that the lack of tightly-defined measures of success was a strength ofthe early program. We had a lot to learn, and were able to implement improvements quickly. We wereable to pursue the meaningful, not just that which would contribute to achievement of pre-definedtargets. It allowed us to search for the niche in which we could get the best possible results oninvestment

All of the lessons learned in the first phase of SAFRIs interventions were fed into the development oftheJourney to Excellence Program. Though financial limitations were more stringent than before, theoverall situation was more supportive of innovation and creativity.

Degree to which workshop / mentoring program participants achieve the goals set out in theiraction plans.


Numbers of workshops and participants (which is linked with partnerships)

Number of mentors and facilitators qualified through the program

Degree to which program participants achieve the goals set out in their action plans.

Though we do not have complete coverage, I am improving the follow-up on workshop participants,

be they companies or individuals. Documentation is being done by interview, when possible, capturedon video. Results are very positive, for example:

We have tripled our turnover since the workshop and We now have our supplier relationsunder control.

I have now started my business, and it is making good progress.

Im now a serious entrepreneur!


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Figure 11: Journey to Excellence Workshops

held with SAFRI support since 2006.The table features:

Nr.: a running count of the number of

workshops since 2006

Yr. Nr.: annual count of workshops

Type: workshop type

Days: length of workshopPax: number of participants

# Units: this reflects the number of discreet

units addressed: this is the number of

companies or organizations that

participated, OR, in the case of TCYLworkshops, the number of participants.

Facilitation effort is strongly tied to the

number of units being addressed: a

workshop with three companiesparticipating with a total of 20 individuals

will require less facilitation effort than aworkshop with 6 individuals, as the

facilitator must address each unit, be it a

company or an individual. I believe this

number is a very important indicator, as it

reflects the number of current and

(potential) future businesses addressed by

the program.

TCYL and TCYB have become the most popular

workshops by far. Follow-up interviews with bothcompanies and individuals show that good results

are being achieved as a result of the workshops.

All workshops except TCYL are generallyaccompanied by one or two days spent making

site visits to participating companies. Repeat

visits to a country are also used to make follow-upvisits to earlier participants.

For many, but not all workshops, I am assisted by

one or more assistant facilitators. In future, whenassistant facilitators have acquired licenses, they

will be able to facilitate workshops on their own,in some cases with SAFRI support.


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Feedback forms are anonymously completed and collected at the end of each workshop. Commentsare read and contribute to the continuous improvement of facilitation and workbooks. Levels ofsatisfaction are consistently very high.

Numbers of workshops and participants

By the end of 2010 there will have been 69 SAFRI-supported workshops since the program was

introduced in 2006. The level of support varies

from sponsorship of my flights and the workbooks, to

all of my expenses, workbooks, and fees for assistant facilitators.

This is negotiated for each workshop separately, and is correlated with ability to pay. Our guidingphilosophy is That which has no price has no value.

The target number of workshops for 2010 was 16. The actual number will be 20.

Numbers vary from year to year, and are strongly linked to active partnerships. If partners are able toput significant own finances into cooperative efforts, the numbers of both workshops and participantsgo up. My contract with SAFRI is for part time work. If I have additional consulting in the region, the

numbers also go up, as I leverage contacts and proximity to organize SAFRI supported workshops.This, for example, is the driver behind high numbers in 2008. In 2009 a key partner failed to getfinancing as expected, and numbers went down.

In 2010, we no longer counted on that partner, but rather developed new ones, and reinvigorated oldones. We will be ending the year with record numbers of both workshops and units. Units, asexplained in Figure 11, are a potentially very important measure in the future: the more discreet units,be they companies or individuals, the greater the potential for successful entrepreneurial activity.

With the introduction of the easy to organise TCYL, workshop numbers went up, average numbers ofparticipants went down (it has the lowest participant/facilitator ratio, being the most intense per personto facilitate), but unit numbers went way up.

Number of mentors and facilitators qualified through the program

Four mentors are able to work at a level I would use in consulting assignments.

1 business consultant can be licensed to present both TCYL and TCYB, but has not yet boughtthe licenses.

Four business consultants are on track to qualify for TCYB licensing. This could easily beexpanded to include TCYL.

Three people are in training as TCYL facilitators.

Three people were trained to present TC (TCYL) workshopsin Madagascar. They need follow-up, but this is hindered by the current political situation.

About 10 people from companies that have been on the Journey for a while are able to assist

with TCYL, and have done so in conjunction with workshops organized by their companies forstaff and suppliers/customers.

The numbers are not high, but each person requires individual attention and workshops within whichs/he develops and demonstrates her/his skills. In 2011 I will focus on

getting the TCYB and TCYL facilitators currently in the pipeline qualified and licensed,

on identifying and building up the next generations of TCYL and TCYB facilitators.


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In closing

SAFRI has now been engaging with entrepreneurs in SADC for over 14 years. In this age of shortterm projects and goals, that in itself is unusual. The sponsoring company has undergone massivechangesfrom Daimler-Benz, through DaimlerChrysler, to Daimlerwhile still continuing support,thanks, of course, to SAFRI Chairman (and ex Daimler-Benz and DaimlerChrysler Chairman) JuergenE. Schrempp.

During that time, the conventional borders of corporate social responsibility projects were redefined:moving well beyond traditional short term and directly self-serving activities. From the verybeginning it took the long view, seeking to prepare the ground for future growth and development inthe region.

Already in 2006 (14Mapili), I wrote that the long life and flexibility of the project had been a greatadvantage, allowing for continuous learning, review and improvement. Freed from the limitations ofworking with SAEF, the program has blossomed - and that within much greater financial constraintsthan before.

SAFRI has a four year horizon. I believe that we are now poised to move to a new level with SAFRIsJourney to Excellence Program, driven primarily by demand for the TCYL and TCYB programs andbusiness mentoring. There is huge potential for the J2Ex Program to be a significant motor fordevelopment.

All the same, African Journeys to Excellence remain hugely challenging. Playing fields are not even,and the "enabling environment" found in many other parts of the world is often simply not there:

the entrepreneurial tradition so taken for granted in many societies - a culture in whichentrepreneurs are highly respected members of the community

a local business community in which appropriate role models can easily be found

a prevalence of mental horizons that extend beyond tomorrow and the next hill

a good basic level of education in the society

a supportive legal environment.

The battle must therefore be fought on two fronts: first in people's minds, and then on the ground. Bytaking charge of their lives and their businesses, people are building foundations upon which they candevelop a sustainable future.


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Washington, DC, IMF Multimedia Services Edition, page 43 retrieved 04 October,2010.

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4 Ngoma, Naison, Prospects for a Security Community in Southern Africa, page xix, Institute for SecurityStudies, , retrieved 02 Sept. 2010.

5 Mapili, Nina E. (2006-2010) Empowering Organisations and their people one step at a time, MapiliGmbH, www.mapili.com, retrieved 02 Sept. 2010.

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11 CIA (2010) The World Fact Book, CIA, , retrieved 02 Sept. 2010.

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13 Aitchison, John and Rule, Peter (2005), A quick survey of SADC literacy statistics and projections, Centrefor Adult Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal, UNESCO,, retrieved on 01 October, 2010.

14 Mapili, Nina E. (2006) African Roads to Excellence a private sector sponsored entrepreneurial mentorshipprogramme helps African SMEs strive toward organisational excellence, paper presented at the 2ndInternational Integrating for Excellence Conference, June 28-30, 2006, Sheffield Hallam University,Sheffield, England

15 EFQM (2010) EFQM Shares What Works, EFQM, , retrieved on 05 October,2010.

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Documents

Safri Case Study Mapili 2nd Draft 261