All Across Africa
Deliverable
Success in the West. This deliverable includes a Cultural Context Report, Supply Chain Analysis, and Operational Scaling Plan for Ghana. In The Cultural Context Report, we lay out a framework of what life in Bolgatanga looks like in order to enable AAA to make informed business decisions in Ghana. The first half of the Supply Chain Analysis serves as a descriptive asset for AAA to fully understand each step of the supply chain, and the second half analyzes where the four opportunity areas can be addressed throughout the supply chain. The Operational Scaling Plan for Ghana, lays out 11 recommendations that address all four opportunity areas and help AAA scale effectively to and in Ghana.
Mission
Creating jobs and markets to alleviate poverty in Africa.
Challenge
Analyze artisanal production in the context of Ghana and make recommendations to support scaling goals.
Research Activities
To fulfill its vision to alleviate poverty, All Across Africa has scaled its production facilities to Bolgatanga, Ghana. To support its expansion we spent two months interviewing 187 artisans in group settings and held 33 meetings in eight different villages. We used ethnographic and participatory observation methods to learn about the artisans’ work, needs, and aspirations.
Key Findings:
- Scaling requires processes. For the Bolgatanga production center to scale up, it will need to focus on creating replicable processes to ease decision-making challenges. Examples of processes necessary to scale effectively in Ghana include: growing the Bolgatanga team, completing an ethical certification process, and creating and offering training programs to its artisans.
- Local culture can throw curveballs. Many cultural norms in and around Bolgatanga, —Â such as multi-day funerals, farming practices, and distrust of institutions — lead to challenges in everyday operations.
- Human resource management opportunities. The team in Bolgatanga must evolve and grow as the company scales up its operations to better accommodate the higher demand for Ghanaian products being ordered.
What the Entrepreneurs Are Saying
Faolan and Andrea did a fantastic job for us in Ghana figuring out the key components of AAA’s recipe for success, learning about Ghana’s specific cultural context and making a plan and key recommendations for us to efficiently and quickly scale in Ghana given it’s unique context. Their patient and outside perspective has helped us quickly remedy many of the underlying issues to scaling that have been presenting themselves.
They explored and recommended confidential pieces to our business model and in doing so, have added significant value to AAA’s scaling plans that would typically take extra funding or Executive level staff to produce. These are key components in making AAA stand out and are what set us apart from standard artisan businesses and therefore need to remain confidential to AAA.
The plan they recommended is currently being followed by our team in Ghana and will have substantial impact on thousands of men and women in Ghana in the years to come.
-Alicia Wallace, Chief Operating Officer All Across Africa + Kazi
Team
2019
Social Enterprise:
All Across Africa
Fellows:
Andrea Feltz
Management, Studio Art
LinkedIn
Blog
Faolan Sugarman-Lash
Management
LinkedIn
Blog
Faculty Research Mentor:
Gina Firenze, Marketing