Clean energy for education and health: MSM’s executive education in PDM makes an impact

Mr. Michael Waiyaki Nganga was facing many challenges when he decided to apply for the Project Identification, Development and Management (PDM) executive program at MSM: “The PDM course came exactly when I needed it most. As the manager of a team of 25 in Kenya, it was important for me to get better in working with such a big team distributed across the country and to learn the skills needed to make a solid team. We were growing at a very fast pace and we needed to be able to handle it.”

Mr Nganga works for a non-profit social enterprise, Givewatts East Africa, owned by its parent company Givewatts Sweden, whose mission is to provide clean energy for education and health. At the time of his application, his company Givewatts was planning to expand its operations further in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in early 2015 and was already running tests in other countries.“As the country manager for East Africa, I knew that we really needed to understand more about the new areas we were going to start our projects in order for them to be effective, based on the challenges we had faced in 2013. We needed to understand as an organization how important our stakeholders were, manage the growth and risks, and still be able to balance our lives as we did it. I needed to delegate, equip and train others to help us achieve our goals and objectives,” he explains.

For Mr. Nganga, the PDM course was “just the right thing”: “It was an opportunity to enhance my knowledge, skills and expertise to further go into other countries and implement the same model that has been working here in Kenya.”

When he joined the three week course in September 2014, thanks to a sponsorship from his company, he was keen to learn more on specifically the three aspects of PDM – Project Identification Development and Management. He made the most of his time in Maastricht.

" My experience in Maastricht was one that I will remember many days to come. I met a big group of participants from various countries around the world who to my surprise made a great impact to me not only in a social way but also in what I learned from them. Quickly after arriving I made friends among the residential MaastrichtMBA class and with students from other short courses such as Project Managementand Research Methods and Skills. I booked lunches and private meetings with lecturers and coaches to learn more from them.”

The PDM course also provided for some surprises and unexpected realizations: “The team exercises and group work were an eye opener for me. They enabled me to learn about my weaknesses and strengths. Our group presentation was a really big flop and it made me understand about cross cultural boundaries that are there and how we need to be prepared at Givewatts as we go into Africa and Asia in 2015.”

Now back in Kenya, Mr. Nganga has started implementing his acquired knowledge and skills and is already noticing substantial impact:“There is a big difference here at work. We have had two trainings so far and we have used the same methods as those we learned in the PDM course. We want to create effective managers and officers who will be able to run a solid model for not only Kenya but other countries in need of energy in Africa. We will replicate the model, trainings, flow and project cycles, report to the various stakeholders and maintain a high level of efficiency throughout. We have tailor-made a training manual focusing on all the above and training each officer as well as regional managers to implement it. It will now be possible for the managers to start of new clusters run on the same model, train and equip the teams and allow the cycle to continue.”

Mr Nganga continues with the list of the positive changes in the company: “There were various things that I noticed while we were doing the course that needed immediate action such as gender. Gender was one of the most heated discussions in our class and honestly I couldn’t believe how much in the dark we were. We have already added three ladies into our team, to the one we had before. I believe that’s progress. We have also drawn up organizational processes to help with operations as well as contracts with partners. There has been great improvement in reporting thanks to proper training of the team on how to capture information from the field and how to relay it to the headquarters. This has led to better reporting to stakeholders and growth in the organizations. Our target was 10,000 lamps by December 2014 but we hit 12,028 lamps reaching 649 schools across Kenya. We are going into Tanzania in February 2015 and in March we shall be in Congo – Central African Republic. So there have been great strides in the learning curve for all of us and the PDM course played a role our achievements.”

Mr Nganga’s advice for future participants? “If anyone is looking for a course in Project Management and is focusing on development then this is the course to do. Most importantly students should know what they want to do with the knowledge before they take the course because if they do they will LOVE IT.”

If you would like to participate in the next intake of the Project Identification, Development and Management (PDM) executive program, then apply before 18 February and benefit from the appealing scholarships provided by the Dutch Government!

Besides his responsibilities at Givewatts, Mr Nganga is also a member at Global Shapers, Nairobi Hub. The Global Shapers Community is a network of city-based Hubs developed and led by young leaders between 20 and 30 years old who want to develop their leadership potential towards serving society. To that end, Hubs undertake local projects to improve their communities.

The Global Shapers Community is one of several multi-stakeholder communities at the World Economic Forum. Shapers are highly motivated individuals who have a great potential for future leadership roles in society. They are selected on the basis of their achievements, leadership potential, and commitment to make a difference.