Energy in Africa

Objectives

Assess “Smart agriculture” awareness and interest among key opinion leaders.

Countries/Markets

Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Germany, Spain, France, India, Norway, New Zealand, UK, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Guinea. We will mainly focus on Rwanda here.

Target Audience

Highly educated and high-income individuals. There must also be news engaged, interested in agriculture, natural resources, and active in their communities.

Methodology

Two 90 minutes focus groups in each market.

Do’s and Don’ts

• When working on global studies, especially in Africa or Central America:
• Don’t assume that your vendor will get back to you in a timely manner. Do email, text, call, whatever it takes to get updates.
• Don’t assume the study will be conducted in national language, be extra cautious of countries with multiple official languages.
• Do check and check again which language your respondents are most comfortable using.
• Don’t assume when traveling internationally, it is as easy as booking a flight.
• Do check on the Visa process for each country, some may simply require a Visa letter while others require paperwork filing and approval before you can get your Visa. Factor in extra time for this.
• Do make sure you get your local PM’s celle phone as they tend to be much more responsive on Whatsapp for instance.

Challenges, thinking outside the box

We’re not in the US anymore! Power outages, poor internet connection, slow paced work culture, all this can happen when in Rwanda and developing nations in general. We need to manage our expectations. These countries are not as well equipped, therefore you need to take some precautions. Check with your facility if they have backup generators in case of power outages. If you need to present materials to the respondent, make sure to keep a copy on your hard drive and/or a USB key as relying solely on Internet could be hazardous. The internet is unreliable and can be extremely slow. Last but not least, in countries like Rwanda or Guinea, the business culture is very much different from the US or any European nations. People are much more laid back, less stressed then we are, and therefore do not have the same sense of urgency that we may have, nor feel the need to naturally get back to your emails within a couple of hours or even a day! There isn’t much you can do about that, hence the importance of being diligent in your follow ups.

Personal Learnings and Key Take-aways

When working on global studies, every market can be very different. Problems you encounter in one market can be smooth sailing in another, and vice versa. Don’t take anything for granted, what seems obvious may not be for some, so always spell everything out. For slow pace countries, be persistent to the point of annoying. If you have to repeat yourself over and over again, do it. That is the only way you get heard. As mention previously regarding the language a study is conducted in, never assume which language respondents would rather use during he interview. Always confirm a ahead of time. Obviously, it’s not possible to anticipate everything. There are just some things not within our control. Do your due diligence and roll with the punches.