@Stephen + 1,000,000! You have articulated it in the best way possible! My problem is not even with the 'expats'. I have worked with one of them and he was quite good at what he did and he actually chose to earn a fraction of what a junior staff was earning until the company met all the targets that he had set when he came in! After all, you don't need to be from outside Kenya to make bad decisions! Contrast the above with another company that I know of. One of the foreign *wadosis* was spending hundreds of millions of Kenya shillings on something that could be acquired locally at a very small price. She convinced most of her C-level friends to do the same and in no time they started the process of 'retrenching in an effort to cut costs'! As we speak(or type on our keyboards), the company is no more - went belly-up in the shortest time ever! Look at our leading telco. It's never had a Kenyan C.E.O and I doubt that will happen soon. Does that make them evil? I do not think so! The 'expats' there have learnt to listen to the Kenyans who work with them and the results are clear for all to see. My 2.16 cents (inclusive of V.A.T)... On 7 June 2012 17:38, ndungu stephen <ndungustephen@gmail.com> wrote:
It seems this crap is happening in every other company integrated in Kenya.
- First of all; a foreign company is started and successfully takes off.. Things are working OK, they get clients and are quite poised for growth.
- Then the foreign company that dint quite believe they would make it in Kenya starts to take notice. "It seems there is a lot of cash to made after all !!!!
- Then they send 'expats' to come and 'improve' the company.
- They push out the locals and the foreign incumbents into lower management positions - claiming the need for 'streamlining' and 'efficiency' which they have brought from lands far far away!
- These 'expats' increase company expenses, and consume salaries of more than 20 local people - for their 'messiah' foreign leadership they have brought from lands far far away.
- Most of them are involved in several 'luxurious' ventures in the Country instead of working and advancing the culture that the starters put forth.
- They hire boot-licking cronies that destroy the existing culture that made the company an initial local success.
- Cost of Opex goes up;
- Retrenchment aka Cost-Cutting comes
- They lose good talents.
- They lose their former clients.
- The 'expats' take the first plane out.
- The company is left to sink in the wake of the 'expat' and 'know-it-all' management.
Look around.. Its happening in some of these once successful foreign Tech Companies.
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