The saying “there is no
substitute for experience” is one that is often used in the business world
because managers with a thorough understanding of their businesses not only
easily gain the respect of their employees, but they are usually good at navigating
business crises too.Today, GE Reports Africa interviews Vini Dall’Armellina, GE
Mozambique’s Country Manager for Transportation. As the first GE employee in
Mozambique, he was responsible for establishing the GE office in that country
in 2012 and growing operations. As he prepares for his next role in GE Transportation’s
global risk team, he looks back over the last couple of years.“My main
responsibility was to grow GE business in the country and that included setting
up a permanent business for GE in Mozambique as well as building a network
within both private and public environments that would support all GE
businesses to pursue opportunities in the country,” says Dall’Armellina.While
this sounds like a daunting task, setting up an office would also provide the
opportunity to create brand awareness. “When I first came to Mozambique in
2010, GE was thought of as an appliances company and people would ask me if I
sold refrigerators. They just could not believe the size of GE and the
businesses we were involved in. Now, after a few short years, GE is recognised
as an important player in Mozambique’s development and most importantly, GE is
now known as a brand that can be trusted.”GE has sold more than 120 locomotives
to four different customers in Mozambique and signed a maintenance agreement
that created a strong parts flow to the country, thereby turning Mozambique
into the second-largest rail transportation market in Sub-Saharan Africa.“Our
first sale was to CFM, the state-owned railway company and it was the first
purchase of a new locomotive for the country in over 20 years. The new C30ACi
is able to pull trains that are 30% longer than the trains the old locomotives
could pull. We also delivered more than 100 locomotives that will be operating
in coal transportation because coal is the second-largest mineral resource in
Mozambique, and is a key enabler to the country’s development and job
generation,” he says.
Getting started was not
easy. “In the beginning, getting people to open doors for an unknown company
was very challenging. The government relations team had a key role in helping
to build the necessary relations. And then, creating an understanding of the
local business culture and explaining it to GE was probably more challenging
than building a team,” says Dall’Armellina.Finding the right people took time,
but the office now has 49 employees, of which over 40% had little to no work
experience before joining GE, and have now been able to grow their skills and
experience.“Delegating and developing talent is critical for everyone’s growth.
We have to empower ourselves by understanding what has to be done and by
proving we can do it. Discourage people from working in silos because we
experience more success when we tackle problems as a team,” he says.
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