Is there a word that means slower than slow?

    

After getting back from the crusade I finally got to start truly working on Akuna. The factory was set up and ready to go; appliances were connected, lighting done, oil ordered, with everything in perfect order. I was ready to have a schedule, to have a mission and to serve a purpose. I walked in bright and early that Monday morning and started looking into different Akuna documents, delving into what needed to happen in order to make Akuna successful. 

    What actually happened...

    My coworker/supervisor/friend Anna walked in around 8 and we headed over to the factory to pick up some soap from the drying container. I walked in to the factory and nothing had changed.  I had been gone for over 3 weeks and nothing had changed; unconnected wires hung from the ceiling, mixers rested on the floor exactly where they had been. The office was still a dark dungeon of a room and there was zero oil to continue the production of any soap. This was not what I had imagined.

    I was frustrated. All of my plans for mass production and shipment to the US flew out the window. I spent the rest of the day resetting and laying out big picture goals that our tiny team of 5 could accomplish: Factory, ZABS(Zambian Bureau of Standards), Production, Sales and Shipment. First step, we have to get the factory completed. In order to sell to the big stores in Zambia you have to have a certification from ZABS.  Then we have to produce and sell, in both the American and Zambian Markets. Getting these goals set, helped us to visualize how we can make Akuna successful and allowed me to feel organized and productive. 

That night I talked to the US team at Southern. I heard all of their incredible successes, including prospects with a large hospital and at the 423 Market on the college campus. I then had to tell them we were no where near where we thought we would be. That we weren’t even producing soap, because our vats of oil had spoiled. Nothing. It was the hardest meeting I’ve ever been in. I felt so useless. I had shown up to Africa expecting that things were going to be perfect, that I would walk into an already moving and growing business.  It was a really hard day and I felt so powerless. It was also the first day I really cried. 

The next day we had a staff meeting at 7:00 AM. I had printed out my strategy and handed it out to everyone. We discussed it and together figured out how to make it work. I had affirmation from the Director that things in the factory would get done within a few weeks and that he would push people to get it done.  Isaac was tasked with contacting ZABS. We had a plan and were executing!

        Later that week, our Airtel(Zambia’s CashApp and Internet Service) account was shut off. So we made a trip into Lusaka to reactivate our account. The whole process took a week, but now it's back on. We reached out to more oil companies to trying to get a response and finally did...2 weeks later! Everything takes so long here! 

We ended up having to restructure and restart Akuna. Thursday, I sat down and calculated our Cost of Goods Manufactured/Sold. It was much more than anticipated. Labor and electricity weren’t calculated into previous spreadsheets and it doubled our costs. I then looked at other costs and tried to figure out what could we cut?  What could we do to fix this problem? The amount of bars of soap we would have to sell in order to break even in September was insane! Anna and I put together a presentation for our Director and walked him through the problems and we all worked towards a solution. That solution ended up being what I suspected, but didn't necessarily like. Without oil for production and the factory not being ready, we had to furlough two factory workers. We had no work for them and wasn’t expecting to for a while. I let our production manager know. That was a new and very difficult experience for me, understanding how business decisions affected peoples life and jobs.  I will be doing the best I can, to get them back to work.  

That same day, we made an offer for a sales manager to work with our sales agents across the country. A position we don’t have the budget for, but can’t be successful without. She starts the 1st of November and I look forward to walking her through what it means to work for Akuna. 

        God really decided to show me that this is not just my project. It's his. It's been His since the beginning and Akuna was started for a reason. He sent me here for a reason. There are days that I let the emotional rollercoaster of relying on my own strength catch me off guard and lead me down paths I'm not intended to tred. Those are the days I don't let God have the business, don't let Him have me. I have to trust Him and stop pulling it by my strength, but let Him have it. My worries about the success of Akuna. My fear that I will fail. My belief that I don't have enough skills or experience. But He equipped me, He ordained this business and He will not fail. He is enough and I don't have to be. I will do my best in everything and give it to Him, because I know He will carry me, Akuna, and the rest of the world. 

        Over the past two weeks I have learned so much. I have learned I am better at finance than I thought I was and that I have the capacity to make changes in a company. God reminded me that everything is His and He is in control. But mostly, I learned that everything in Zambia moves realllllly slow.