How my Kenyan upbringing has influenced my leadership style.

A few weeks ago, I gave Boris Plantier a glimpse of my background and work for their ''At Work With...'' series at Efma.

Here is the article he wrote titled ''At work with Martha Mghendi-Fisher''

Q:Tell me a little about your background.

I am a jack of all trades. I do so many things and I am also involved in so many initiatives. I do this intentionally because I can and have the capacity. I am an accountant by profession, though I only really practiced the first few years and stopped. I found accounting very boring, so I decided to pivot.

I am originally from Kenya and moved to the Netherlands 12 years ago. I was born and raised in a typical African village communal family; where the kids belonged to the community and everyone was the other person's keeper and family. The community took care of one another. We shared the little we had. If one lacked flour, they could walk to the neighbours and get a portion of flour. If they lacked milk or sugar or salt, or even such a simple thing like fire, the community always shared. The Ubuntu way of living was so ingrained in us and is/was what makes us. This is something that drives everything I do in life. The importance and power of a community is what drives my passion.

Fortunately or unfortunately for me, I took over my paternal grandfather's entrepreneurship genes combined with my maternal grandmother's genes of wanting to help everyone and trying to solve everyone's problems. My entrepreneurship journey started when I was in primary school, where we used to skip school so we could harvest fruits to sell to fellow students. I always could find things to sell.

This saw me start my first company in 2005- Jumboservers: a website design, search engine optimisation website and email hosting company, that specialised in helping small businesses utilize internet-based technologies to grow their businesses. We did this for a very small and affordable fee, because in that period these services were too highly priced for SMEs to afford. With zero training in any technology, I taught myself web design, hosting, support, etc. and had the opportunity to combine entrepreneurship with helping people.

Fast forward to 2009, where I accidentally got into Fintech & Payments when I moved to the Netherlands. I fell madly in love with the combination of technology and financial services and the magic that happens when the two marry. I worked for one the largest global processors for six years supporting acquirers and issuers before moving to a merchant acquirer for four years.

In 2018, I made the decision to leave corporate life so I can focus on my initiatives that allowed me to combine my expertise and my passion: use technology to bring people together, create impact, help people and change the lives of people while doing things that matter. By doing so, I am now able to focus on all my initiatives including;

- European Women Payments Network (EWPN) - a not-for-profit that brings champions for diversity and inclusion in fintech and payments. A community for women by women.

- African Women in Fintech & Payments (AWFP) - the African sister company of EWPN.

- Beyond Innocence Foundation (BIF) - a not-for-profit that is constructing a rescue center for sexually abused minors in Kenya.

- Dali Spaces - a community and co-working space for female entrepreneurs

- African Female Founders & Innovators (AFFI) - an online and offline community for African Female Founders and entrepreneurs

There is an African proverb that sums this so well:

''If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

By having the charm of bringing people together and creating tribes, I, we, are able to go far by doing many things together as a community.

Q:How do you build a successful team?

1. Diversity in teams:

I bring on board people with different skills and expertise than me, especially my core team. Having people who think, act, do and are exactly like me would be detrimental to the organisation. It’s important to find people that challenge my ideas, bring in ideas of their own, disagree with me, and have different ways of doing things. Having a team with a diverse skill set is something that ensures that we can complement each other on different skills and expertise that each individual has. This has been one of the secrets to our success.

2. Trust.

Giving autonomy to the team but also steering them in the right direction. I strongly believe in hands-off leadership. This will only work if an organisation has the right people. By strongly believing in the goodness, professionalism, expertise and skill that each team member brings on board, every individual has the autonomy and freedom to work the way they do, and knows that they have 100% support. This not only creates the best community, but also taps into the uniqueness of each individual. In return, this enriches the organisation in invaluable ways. As a founder, I focus on getting the right people, smarter than me, different from me, and then allow them the freedom to bring out the best version of themselves. This not only empowers the team, but also creates that sense of belonging and assurance that each team member is valued, respected and equal. Trust also includes giving the team the autonomy to do their work, knowing that they can make mistakes and that is ok, and that no matter what, you will always have their backs. It doesn't mean that they don't take accountability, it means that they can stumble, fail, make mistakes and you will work together as a team to move past them and never throw them under the bus.

See the full article HERE.