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Where we do it > Kenya - Remy Thackrey - Business
30-year-old Remi Thackrey was a marketing consultant with his own company in the UK until he left it all behind to work as a Business and Marketing Adviser at the Kwetu Training Centre in Kenya.
The Kwetu Training Centre supports disadvantaged communities by training them to use natural resources to earn a sustainable income. Recent projects have included honeybee farming, mango drying, crab farming and chilli production. The centre also trains the local disadvantaged community (mainly women, young people, and people affected by HIV & AIDS) in areas such as bookkeeping, administration, marketing and business. When Remi arrived, the Centre itself wasn’t making enough money to survive and so relied on donor funds to sustain it.
Remi’s business experience in the UK stood him in good stead for the challenges of developing the Centre’s ability to sustain itself. It meant he could adapt his knowledge and skills to train and support management at Kwetu in finding a product, branding the product and then identifying a need for it in Kenya and eventually abroad. The ultimate aim of Remi’s work, through marketing products with a recognisable brand and standard of quality, is to ensure a self-sustaining Centre.
‘A typical day’ says Remi, ‘starts at about 8 o’clock in the morning with a trip through the village past the chief’s camp to the Centre itself. On arrival we either have a team meeting or get on with the day’s activities. I generally work with the management in solving day-to-day issues, satisfying customers and producing the products that we have got. We also spend a lot of time in the field visiting customers, doing market research together, finding out what the clients want from us.’
‘This kind of work is very important in creating a self-sustaining Centre. The main aim of the Kwetu Training Centre is to teach people from rural communities how to make money from natural resources. My role as a volunteer is to support the training centre in making money for itself. So when we talk about secure livelihoods we talk both in the terms of community making money for itself and projects like this that support the community also making money for itself. By the time I leave here I’m hoping the Kwetu Centre will have the ability to generate 80% of the cash it needs to keep going.’
‘The impact our work’s had in Kwetu, especially in supporting the management, is that it helps build confidence, it helps build knowledge, it helps build understanding of the market that they’re in. It’s very important for a centre like Kwetu not to rely on hand-outs but to actually generate income for itself.’
Remi believes that working in Kwetu was an incredibly valuable personal and professional experience. ‘The kind of skills I have learnt from working here are the skills I believe everyone needs in life: flexibility, adaptability, and empathy. Placing myself in a position in a different country, in a different culture in a different context helps me understand different people. Personally, I’ll take with me some friendship, some fun times, some good memories and some sunshine.’
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