TanzaniaInvest had the pleasure of interviewing Deogratius Kilawe, Managing Director of Excel Management and Outsourcing, a company offering a comprehensive range of HR, Investments and Corporate Branding advisory services in Tanzania.
Mr Deogratius Kilawe talks about the state of human capital market in Tanzania and discusses the role of his company in its development.
TanzaniaInvest (TI): Can you brief us about Excel Management and Outsourcing? Why and when did you start in Tanzania?
Deogratius Kilawe (DK): Around 2012, we identified a gap in human capital skills and competence in Africa.
This is why we decided to form Excel Management and Outsourcing.
Till date, we have trained over 140,000 people to be best skilled, in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
TI: What is your take about the human capital market of Tanzania?
DK: Tanzania used to be a socialist economy until it opened to capitalism in the mid ‘80s.
In the quest for liberalization, extensive know-how was needed.
Most of the universities used to enroll lecturers lacking experience in the private sector, but nowadays, they outsource part-time lecturers who have worked in the private sector.
This helps in filling the skill gap in Tanzania. Excel Management contributes to skill development by providing coaching, training and mentoring.
Tanzania has big potential, because the government wants to industrialize the country by 2025.
However, in Tanzania, 96% of the CEOs of large companies that are working with us are foreigners and only 4% are local Tanzanians. In Kenya, about 45% are local CEOs and 53% are foreigners.
This is because we don’t have a system of producing the best skilled people, which is an obstacle for local entrepreneurs.
Because we don’t have enough Tanzanian CEOs, we end up owning small businesses in this country.
We need to develop CEOs who can, at least, fill the gap to about a 50-50 balance.
And we want Tanzania to have the best human capital, as this represents a huge advantage.
I would advise the Government of Tanzania to ease working permits for foreigners since they share their experiences with Tanzania.
If foreigners are evicted in Tanzania, the skills gap is going to continually increase.
TI: What is the type of training and coaching that you provide? Which other services do you supply?
DK: Excel Management specializes in recruitment, as well as providing different forms of coaching services like executive coaching and corporate coaching.
In executive coaching, we coach CEOs and top executives on a one-on-one basis, while in corporate coaching we assist a company and coach its CEOs on a regular basis throughout the year.
We also organize workshops, open to everyone looking to improve their skills.
We partner with Mikono Speakers, our sister company, in arranging public conference trainings and in-house training, tailored to the needs of the client.
And we work with some of the best trainers like Brian Tracy mostly for self-development conferences.
Soon next year we expect to work with Robert Kiyosaki, Victor Antonio and John Maxwell.
In addition to all that, we conduct market researches and assist companies in collecting financial data and analysing reports.
Finally, we help business in their establishment, helping them in registering, getting certificates from the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), securing intellectual property rights, and creating brands.
TI: In your experience, what do you find that the Tanzanian market demands the most in terms of training?
DK: In Tanzania like other African nations and world we have leadership skills deficit.
Thus why every two years we host world leadership conference with world top trainers like Brian Tracy and also each quarter we conduct leadership training.
Companies in Tanzania are mostly looking for sales and business presentation skills.
Some of them, especially non-profit organizations and large corporates, are also asking for team building activities.
TI: And how do you ensure that you have the capacity to provide the adequate training for that?
DK: Our team is of international standards.
All the trainers that work with Excel Management are qualified and have facilitated big organizations around Africa and other part of the world.
Earlier in 2016, we assisted CRDB Bank Tanzania and other top companies in South Africa with whom we have more trainings coming up, and many more in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.
TI: What are your ambitions and development vision?
DK: Our vision is to become the leading consulting firm in Africa in HR, Investment, and Brand Consultation by 2020.
This is why we are targeting the whole Africa and not just Tanzania in the training calendar that we launched.
Last year, we recorded revenue of TZS2.7bn and we are now exploring markets in South Africa, Mauritius, and others to achieve our 2020 vision.
Our goal is to make sure that Africa becomes the best human capital continent in the world.