Business in Kenya

The longer I'm here, the more I realize how little I truly know about Kenyan culture. Business is run in a completely different way. I've learned how important it is to be hands-on in every step of the process to ensure everything is done properly. This naturally makes any project much more labor and time intensive. For example, yesterday Kevin and I spent all day at Empakasi School overseeing the team that was laying concrete on the chicken coop floor.
In Kenya, to save money, you have to individually buy cement, sand, and aggregate, then mix them by hand before laying the mixture. Kevin learned that he could get cheaper prices for materials at the hardware shops if he was a frequent customer so he has taken the time to go to the hardware store, purchase a small amount of the total material needed at the "new customer rate" then return to the store a few days later to purchase the remaining material needed at the "frequent customer rate." He also learned that contractors will usually overestimate the amount of materials needed for a project because their labor costs are 30% of the total cost of materials. For example, the contractor estimated we would need 20 bags of cement to finish the floor in the chicken coop, so Kevin bough 12 bags of cement. Unfortunately this time, we actually needed 15 bags of cement, so we had to return to the school this morning with the remaining 3 bags of cement so they could finish the floor. Nothing about this is efficient, but it must be done in order to save money.
The rest of the day Kevin and I spent reviewing the books, compiling receipts, and crunching numbers. I couldn't have imagined a better project manager, he is trustworthy and strives for accountability. He actually handmade receipts for the labor costs, which are rarely ever documented by receipt, and had each worker sign his payment receipt. I am genuinely pleased with the work that has been accomplished here and I am confident the construction will continue in a reliable manner under Kevin's supervision.

Chicken Coop Floor