NIHITO Days
on A Serendipitous Journey (Kenya), 14/May/2009 15:59, 34 days ago
At my last job in Canada, my marketing team took a course called Pragmatic Marketing. One of the key takeaways from the course was the concept of NIHITO(Nothing Important Happens In The Office)and it was proven very true to me today!TheKenya Union of the Blindhas more than 40 branches throughout the country and one of our most successful branches is located in Kibera (one of the largest slums in Africa). This group produces handicrafts (including leather, weaving, knitting and beaded products)as an income generating activity, howeverlacks retail outlets for their products. After months of trying to get through to management of some of the shopping centres and craft fairs in Nairobi by email and phone calls, we just showed up today and we had great success! Without appointments, we secured space for them at a Christmas craft sale, have an agreement pending board approval with a shopping centre and have a stall on a weekly basis a high end shopping centre.This has been one of the most successful days since arriving in Kenya and a very important lesson of how to go about conducting business here.