Building The Room in Addis Ababa & Abidjan, One Relationship at a Time
As a community that values meaningful relationships and appreciates the power of in-person gatherings, The Room is steadily expanding into new cities throughout the continent. Following months of buzzing activities in Nairobi, The Room was launched in Addis Ababa and Abidjan last year. We caught up with the City Leads, Raphaelle Nemo based in Abidjan and Mirafe Marcos from Addis Ababa, about some of the exciting highlights — including the kickoff of the Young Entrepreneurs Programme — and what they have planned for 2022.
Congratulations to you both for launching The Room in your cities! What have been some of the highlights of this experience for you?
Raphaelle: The big highlight was definitely our launch event on 9th December, where we gathered with current and potential members of The Room and graduates from African Leadership University. It was such a delight to witness members of the community getting to know one another, connect on their work and passions and simply have a good time.
Another highlight was the launch of our first recruitment campaign targeted at young talent in Ivory Coast. We started with a Software Engineering programme, and I was pleasantly surprised by the high interest in an anglophone learning program. So far, we have registered over a thousand applications and admitted hundreds of participants from Ivory Coast. In the coming weeks, we will be launching two other free learning programs: our Young Entrepreneurs Programme (YEP) and our Africa Career Catalyst bootcamp for work-ready talent. Exciting stuff ahead!
Mirafe: I agree. Helping to grow The Room community in Ethiopia promises to be an exciting journey! My high points were the early steps we took in 2021 to expose young leaders and employers to the ALX value proposition. Looking back, I think planting those seeds of community building was our soft launch. We hosted a number of in-person events featuring tech entrepreneurs in fireside chats with young leaders in the Software Engineering program. Our reasons for hosting these events were two-fold — on the one hand, to expose the young leaders to practitioners in their field of study, and on the other hand, to expose the tech entrepreneurs to our talent and to The Room. By having them experience the quality of our talent, we positioned The Room as the community to belong to. We did a similar event for participants in our Young Entrepreneurs Programme, where we brought three leading entrepreneurs to share their wisdom and experience with our community of rising entrepreneurs. The response from the participants was remarkable.
The Room has embarked upon some major expansion plans throughout Africa. Why did you feel it was important to launch in Addis and Abidjan?
Mirafe: We chose Addis for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the traction we made in 2021 demonstrated that our value propositions resonated with young people there. And second, as a thriving mega city, Addis has a growing business community that is wanting both vetted talent and a community of peers with shared experiences.
Raphaelle: We realised it was important for The Room to expand outside of East Africa where we have been active for the past year already. As a global community born from the African continent, it only made sense to expand our reach to other regions of the continent.
It was also important because we have a significant community of Room members and friends of the African Leadership Group here in Abidjan. They had been expecting us for a while, so this was a way of acknowledging their presence and enhancing their experience.
What do you love most about your city?
Raphaelle: Abidjan has a vibrant and joyful chaos about it. It’s a city full of hidden talents and artists in every corner. I love the diverse range of restaurants and that we can see the Ébrié lagoon from almost anywhere in the city! Another of my favourite things is the street slang — Nouchi — which is constantly evolving. I relish every opportunity I get to brush up on it.
Mirafe: I love the smell of eucalyptus trees in the morning; the aroma of coffee as it gets traditionally roasted; the high altitude that always tests the fitness of your lungs when you run; and the vibrant community of youngsters in fast-growing tech and creative industries.
Why do you think it’s a good fit for The Room?
Mirafe: As the second most populous nation in sub-Saharan Africa, next to Nigeria, and with 70% of its population under the age of 30 (i.e ~80million), there is no better country to engage with youth development and employability enhancement products than Ethiopia. But we also know that without social capital, it’s difficult for young people to fulfill their potential, so The Room is a timely resource to offer the youth.
Raphaelle: Our reasons are similar. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Côte d’Ivoire had one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with an annual average growth rate of 8% since 2012. However, the global health situation slowed the growth rate to 5.7% in 2021. In all cases, Abidjan remains the most attractive francophone capital for business in West Africa. It’s a growing city of nearly 10M inhabitants. The market potential for what we offer The Room is huge.
Who are some of the members in your cities that inspire your work?
Mirafe: This might sound like a cliché, but truly everyone that’s in our ALX training programmes and every member of The Room inspires me. You don’t dedicate 70 hours per week (standard working hours are 40hrs) for 12 months if you don’t care about making an impact. And you don’t join The Room and give your fullest if you don’t care about the mission. These are the dedicated individuals that will solve Africa’s biggest challenges!
Raphaelle: I echo your sentiments, Mirafe. All the members in my city inspire me in their own way, but I’d like to give a shout-out to some of them:
- Ralph Olayé, Business Development & Project Management Director at Eranove, for his humility and for being a role model to many young engineers.
- Nabou Fall, speaker, writer, coach and CEO of the advertising agency, VIZEO, for her self-confidence and capacity to inspire.
- Yann-Cedric Lohore, Founder & President of Young Job Network, an NGO working on African youth employability, for his passion and dedication in what he does.
- Laureen Kouassi-Olsson, Founder & CEO at Birimian Ventures, for her determination in celebrating our African heritage and impacting the continent.
- Rukayatou Saka, Director of Amira Global Technologies, for her entrepreneurial mindset and leadership in the tech industry.
These and more are the people pushing me to give the best of myself to make this adventure a beautiful and impactful journey for all of us.
What does relationship building mean to you?
Raphaelle: Relationship building is the fundamental business skill at the core of building a good reputation and sustaining connections. It’s not a one-off action and should not be transactional. It requires time and trust.
I personally love developing new social connections by meeting people (in the real world, preferably), and I believe this is the key to success in both private and professional spheres.
Mirafe: For me, relationship building means forging bonds based on values, principles and trust. Such bonds stand the test of time and lead to partnerships that unlock everything from solutions to challenges to unforeseen opportunities that can change lives. So the power of relationships really cannot be overstated.
How important is this for the success and growth of The Room in your city?
Raphaelle: The Room is all about relationships. What makes us special is that we believe in the power of relationships to unlock human potential and to impact the world.
Mirafe: I couldn’t agree more. I believe it’s the secret sauce in the recipe that will make The Room a success. The Room will be the first of its kind here in Addis, and it must be curated carefully with members that are aligned to our mission. It’s critical that there be a trust and values-based partnership between us and members and among members.
When did you realise the power of relationships? Is there a particular moment or experience that stands out for you?
Raphaelle: In 2012, when I first arrived on the continent, I didn’t have any local connections. After updating my Linkedin page to reflect that I had quit my change management consulting job in Paris and was looking for a new challenge in my move to Johannesburg, South Africa, a former university lecturer of mine messaged me through the platform to share a contact based in Joburg.
On the recommendation of this former teacher, I reached out to a gentleman who invited me to a party at his daughter’s apartment the following week. This lady, who is now a good friend, is a great networker, and she used to host the best parties in the Joburg Central Business District. It was at this party that I heard about African Leadership Academy (ALA) for the first time from a group of guests who were debriefing their visit to the ALA campus the previous day. I was so intrigued by what I heard that I looked up the website the following day and started an application for a role to develop corporate partnerships in Francophone West Africa. After visiting the campus and interviewing for the role, I completely fell in love with the institution and its mission to develop 3 million African leaders. If I had not tapped into my connections on LinkedIn or accepted the party invitation of an acquaintance, I would not have secured that wonderful job that led me to further meaningful work in this organisation.
Mirafe: When I look back at 2021 and the guests we had at our events, I realise that their honouring my invitation had less to do with their knowledge or appreciation of The Room, and more to do with the relationships I had built with them over the years. For the YEP, we were able to enlist 5 CEOs of local companies to serve as mentors to the 16 entrepreneurs in the programme! That’s the power of relationships at work.
What kinds of relationships do you hope to nurture through your work?
Mirafe: I hope to nurture self-reinforcing relationships that will firstly enable the growth of memberships to The Room through word of mouth (no doubt people will soon be reaching out to us with messages asking “how can I join this amazing community I am hearing about from my friends?”) and secondly, work opportunities for young leaders coming out of our training programmes.
Raphaelle: I hope to nurture genuine and sustainable relationships with the members in Abidjan. I hope that with collaboration and shared efforts, we will impact the Ivorian youth and create thousands of opportunities for them.
I hope to start relationships today with people that will last for many years. I would like the founding members of The Room Abidjan to meet in 10 years and share all the stories of what they’ve been able to accomplish together, and what kind of opportunities they have benefited from and shared with the community.
Looking ahead, what are some of your big plans for 2022?
Raphaelle: This year, my main plan is to grow our local pipeline of young talents, in order to satisfy one of the biggest pain points for members: hiring local, strong talents. Members can expect fun and engaging events, as well as opportunities to coach and mentor Young Ivorian Talents and participate as speakers in some of our learning programmes.
Mirafe: In line with the organisation’s vision, we plan to do our part in pumping up the supply of talent. As we do that, one important plan we have is to organise a curated career fair where we hope to invite leading tech companies to come meet our talent in one place. There is an important tech conference happening in Addis in May 2022, and we have already begun discussions on how we can partner with them to have the career fair at the conference. Watch this space!
If you’re based in Addis Ababa or Abidjan and are interested in joining The Room, reach out to mmarcos@theroom.com or abidjan@theroom.com respectively.
