Empowering African Leaders for Sustainable Impact: The Hatch Africa Story

The story behind the journey

Imagine achieving a 30% reduction in missed deadlines, increasing task completion rates from 60% to 80%, and seeing sales growth in 5 out of 7 countries, all within months. This isn't just a hypothetical; it's the tangible impact Hatch Africa, a leading distributor of high-yielding chickens across six Sub-Saharan African countries, realised after investing in strategic corporate training.

Hatch Africa, founded in 2010, is driven by a powerful purpose: to make Sub-Saharan Africa households healthier and wealthier by distributing high-yielding, tropically adapted chicken. Hatch Africa aims to distribute one chicken per person per year in each market, ensuring every family has enough affordable protein in the home. 

Contributing over $520 million in additional profit for smallholder farmers in 2024, Hatch Africa understood that scaling their profound impact on 2.6+ million farmers annually hinged on equipping their leaders for real-world results.

Nurturing Leadership for Scalable Growth

As Hatch expanded into Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, and Ivory Coast, middle managers faced challenges balancing corporate strategy with on-the-ground realities. As is typical of many first-time or new managers, leaders defaulted to doing the work themselves, issuing one-way directives, or firefighting daily crises. Unaddressed, these challenges could hinder Hatch Africa's ability to efficiently scale operations and maximise its profound impact on rural communities. A critical need emerged to support its management team with advanced leadership and operational skills.

A Transformational Journey: The Management Development Programme

Hatch Africa implemented AMI Enterprise’s comprehensive Management Development Programme, focused on the practical, real-world application of leadership principles. A core element was the "Change Challenge", where managers identified and directly tackled critical issues within their teams. Through this practical application and peer feedback, participants immediately translated learning into measurable on-the-job improvements.

Impact

• Enhanced Accountability and Ownership: 

Euniter Jemutai, a  Regional Sales Manager in Kenya, wanted to build leadership skills to help her rally a successful team. “What stood out as amazing during the online courses was how directly it addressed the real challenges I was facing as a Regional Sales Manager,” she remarked. “ One standout moment was realising how much of our performance gaps were linked to unclear communication and lack of structured follow-through. After applying the planning tools and accountability frameworks, I noticed my team became more focused, responsive, and aligned.”

At the end of the programme, she successfully built accountability and ownership within her sales team, leading to increased ownership in 5 out of 7 team members and improved KPIs in 3 months. Team actions now align with regional goals, and sales growth was observed in 5 out of 7 counties. 

• Improved Recruitment and Sales Performance

Ndyona Patricia, a  Regional Sales Manager in Uganda, wanted to build her team. After the programme, her efforts in recruiting quality Area Sales Managers (ASMs) resulted in the recruitment of 3 new ASMs and a consistent onboarding of 2+ Direct Sales Representatives per month by ASMs. Sales also crossed 10,000 day-old chicks per month. This was achieved through clarifying communication goals and tailoring messages using AMI's "Getting the Message Across" tool.

• Optimized Procurement Efficiency

The true measure of a program lies in its ability to transform individuals, a sentiment perfectly captured by Sabrine Izibyose, the Senior Procurement Officer in Rwanda. 

"AMI gave me a special mix of self-reflection, useful tools, and leadership training. I found it inspiring and full of energy. It helped me grow, not just in what I know, but also in my confidence and in understanding the kind of leader I want to become in the future."She significantly improved procurement approval efficiency by setting clear guidelines, providing team training, and utilising AMI tools like "Managing Up" and "Sources of Influence". This led to reduced approval errors, improved team responsiveness, faster procurement approvals, and increased on-time processing of purchase orders.

• Improved Operations and Project Delivery

Kofi Annan, the Operations Manager in Ghana, was keen on managing his direct reports efficiently to meet set organizational targets. With guidance from the programme, he focused on improving cross-functional collaboration, utilizing AMI tools like the Work Empowerment Questionnaire and Goal Planner Template, which resulted in a 30% reduction in missed deadlines and increased task completion rates from 60% to 80%. Task reassignment was cut by 60% through clearer roles, and team assessment scores reached 100% last quarter due to improved collaboration.

Tangible Results

The Management Development Programme yielded significant and measurable improvements across various operational aspects at Hatch Africa, demonstrating the direct correlation between investing in leadership and achieving organizational goals.

• Increased Sales & Onboarding: Sales crossed 10,000 DOCs per month, with ASMs consistently onboarding 2+ DSRs per month.

• Enhanced Team Ownership: 5 out of 7 team members showed increased ownership in 3 months.

• Improved Sales Performance: Sales growth was observed in 5 out of 7 counties.

• Reduced Missed Deadlines: A 30% reduction in missed deadlines was achieved.

• Higher Task Completion Rate: Task completion rate increased from 60% to 80%.

• Reduced Task Reassignment: Task reassignment was cut by 60%.

• Improved Team Assessment Scores: Team assessment scores reached 100% last quarter.

  
  

The success of the Management Development Programme at Hatch Africa underscores the profound impact of investing in human capital. By empowering its managers with essential skills and fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement, Hatch Africa is not only achieving its ambitious business goals but also strengthening its core mission of making farmers healthier and wealthier across sub-Saharan Africa.