Our small team started off by seeking out the top business characterstics that lead to sustainable success. Books such as "Good to Great" and "Developing the Leader Within You" discuss the importance of leadership within an organization. But surprisingly the key to great leadership is not what most expect of a leader. Instead, the business leaders who most often generate success show the following characteristics...

• Humility and servant leadership
• Unwavering diligence toward achieving goals (often quiet but steadfast)
• Effective leadership and inspiration (modest) - focused on the people on their team
• Asking for help from collegues

We believe that helping businesses to grow is the key to unemployment. We can training every person in Machakos to have amazing skills and help them earn degrees until they cannot carry them all. Yet that is not helpful if there are no jobs for them to fill - if there are no successful businesses that require their skills. Infact, they would be more likely to leave the area to find a reasonable job opporutniy - and take all that knowledge with them! By building up successful businesses with a growing need for employees, the job opportunities will increase and the skills needed to fulfill those opportunities will be clear. If we want to have a sustainable impact on unemployment, we need to not only continue to develope highly skilled individuals, but also grow the size and strength of businesses in Machakos.

Building a business and growing/sustaining a business are actually two very different skill sets...