Organizational Culture

http://hifadhiafrica.org/

Google, the brainchild of Larry Page, then 22 and Sergey Brin then 21 from Stanford University had its first office in a garage in the suburbs. Larry and Brin had no food and other necessities but succeeded in building one of the best Organizations in the Planet. Google was founded with the idea that work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun. The Founders believed that great, creative things are more likely to happen with the right company culture. Over the years therefore, the technology giant firm have emphasized on team achievements and pride in individual accomplishments. They stressed on employees’ contribution towards their quest to change the world more than looks and dresses. A part from that, the company provides free food to all its employees worldwide because their founders relates to lack of the same.  

One may ask what is an organizational culture and its relation to performance or simply why it matters. Well, Organizational culture is that shared belief or tradition that all members of a particular organization identifies with and prides in. In layman’s language, it’s the binding bond developed overtime that unites the organization towards its ultimate vision. You may have probably heard someone saying, “We at Safaricom do this way…” or “That is not how we do it here.”

This culture is critical for serious and competitive companies because it rallies employees’ positive energies en route to the realization of their missions and ultimate goals. 

In the last decades, confusion and panic rocked many established organizations with the emergence of what is now famously known as generation Y. The Dot Coms as they were earlier referred to defied bluntly an existing definition and mind frames of what and how Organizational Culture should be. A generation that had tremendous believes in their capabilities had emerged. They believed less in the mighty institutions and knew that they depended on their individual skills if they are to knock new heights. Understandably, the new definition was reluctantly adapted. It was more of a survival issue for most managers. It was a losing debate.

Like most subsequent Institutions that were formed after this turbulent period and importantly by the same generation Y, Hifadhi Africa Organization’s position on the raging debate that has since shied from subsiding, is one that is employee centered. HAO is a youth-inspired vision and our ultimate goal is to transform societies. Assembling a team with the right passion for change, integrity, professional qualification and the desire to achieve personal development are our emphasis, more than the individual’s social life, dressing code or working hours. We are determined to power societies to prosperity and our team must be the one with the right ingredients to doing exactly that. 

The Organization is investing in healthy interaction among our members, the communities around us and the world at large because these are some of the things that shall define our culture. Being developing as the organization is, our Directors have and are continuing to lay fundamental foundations that shall captivate sense of common understanding and origin. 

At Hifadhi Africa, members are empowered to contribute intellectually towards innovative ideas that shall gear the institution’s wheel and take lead in their implementations. At the same time, our programs are designed to accommodate the communities we are engaging. Managing talented, visionary young team and uniquely diverse African Communities only serves to make our job fun.  

Organizations must enrich performance-led environment that seeks to explore individual growth and hence contribution instead of the traditional “formal outlook”. Employees must be empowered to run programs that they love and have passion to doing them. There is also need for open communication and freedom of expression as well as breeding the right mix with the old generation. 

To quote Joe Mucheru, the Google Kenya Country Lead, “the fact that you are paying someone a big salary is not the issue anymore. They want to know if they are making a difference.”           

      

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

I would wish to take you, my reader through a journey, a process of Hifadhi Africa Organization’s achievements and stakes ahead. In respect to our celebration of 8 months of existence, our experience has been exciting and one with a lot of notes to take, as a family and individually. Of interest are the opportunities that our involvement has presented.

To start with, we have a growing team of twelve visionary, proactive professionals who believe in the power of IMPACT and CHANGE. To us, those words are irreplaceable. For that reason, we’ve dedicated our efforts, time and resources towards the same-Impacting Lives. We Transform Societies for Prosperity.

Our Organization believes that education is the start of human empowerment. Education enables people to appreciate other cultures, environment, gender and races that might be in one way different from theirs or what they were used to. Though we do not dismiss the importance of other aspects of life, knowledge aid self-awareness and self-hygiene which in turn creates a vibrant and civilized society we hanker for. That is the reason, ladies and gentlemen as to why we strive to offer “sustainable equal educational opportunities” supported by other pillars and strategies outlined by the team. 

Our approach is simple. For Africa to stand on its feet, Africans must shoulder responsibility. We must be in the frontline and sacrifice more. We must champion innovation-breakthroughs and participate in issues that will lead to essential transformation of our dear continent. Africans, both leaders and their followers, must collaborate with the rest of the World to build a just society. Wearing a sorry face and always expecting without making enough effort has not worked in the last fifty years. 

The Organization has so far sponsored FOUR bright unprivileged students from pastoral communities in the northern Kenya. Through Hifadhi Africa Scholarship Program and Jerry Isaac Memorial Fund teams, we intend to mentor, nurture and churn a generation of great young Africans. By championing and supporting embracement of education in seemingly marginalized communities, we are preparing a Kenya envisioned in the Vision 2030 where high quality life to all is a promise. Our target, through your support is giving 20 full scholarships annually to potentially tomorrow’s trend setters.

The team has also registered great successes on various fronts including conducting events and more importantly establishing the house and creating the fan base and followership that we now enjoy. These milestones have been made with our fans moral support.   

HAO has just started and our table is ever full. Our intent is to transform education sector in Africa. We want Fred, Halima, Antony and Sharon to be taking their University lessons while herding. We are envisioning systems that enables our interaction with youth in Namibia and Cairo without physical contact. We shall then pride in being the link between societies and prosperity.  

               

YOUNG PEOPLE TRANSFORMING SOCIETIES THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP

I have many friends, and many of them are working. Some are students while others are busy building businesses. All of them are my friends because they have some kind of motivation. I have not known why I’m in their friendship circles, but what I know is, you rarely hung around me if you know nothing to do with your tomorrow. Tomorrow is so special to me that I suffocate promising friendships just because of it. In short, I appreciate people who make efforts to doing something because they are driven by conviction that it can grow. 

Building a successful enterprise needs a lot of patience, risks taking and energy among others. You’ve heard stories of persons who built multinationals bottom-up. The story will not normally end without describing their ages and traits. But more important is the answer to the question after that, “And what is driving you?” Often, our attractions towards reading these stories are the catchy headlines and use of language. The answer to this question in most cases is in past tense. Meaning, motivation comes before success. 

Contrary to the last century, a good number of young people are running well performing and growing ventures. Despite high competition and the complexity of the industry each day, opportunities still exist for more young entrepreneurs to exploit. We only need to accommodate more flexible approaches that appreciate the communities around. CSR is becoming a necessity and young blood like Hesham Da Silva, Facebook Founder among many others are taking the philanthropy game to all time philanthropists.

Many young entrepreneurs are proving each moment their intent of creating a better future by inventing and innovating solutions. It’s critical that youth-led organizations like Hifadhi Africa champions the devolvement of issues like community service and mentorship at Primary and Secondary level, this way, we shall be churning a generation of social entrepreneurs. They exist, but they can be more.