Building our Community Culture

Last week the Akilah Institute held its annual staff retreat at the Akilah Institute’s Kibagabaga campus followed by an overnight stay at Muhazi Beach Resort.

Our annual retreat is an opportunity for our team to bring our varying perspectives and ideas together to celebrate our past accomplishments and plan for the coming year.

But above all, it’s an opportunity for us to connect as a team to our core values and to the Akilah mission: to leverage education and technology to achieve transformational change in African communities. This year’s retreat gave us the space and time to review our core values and recommit ourselves to the mission.

A group pep talk during our “How to Say Yes” session

So what exactly do Akilah retreats entail? For starters, departments present their successes, growth areas, and future plans. Individual staff lead continuing education courses on their areas of expertise, such as “The Importance of Data Today” and “How to Throw a Wildly Successful Event.” Leaders announce new roadmaps, goals, and promotions.

Here are a few of the big changes we’re eager to share:

• We’re moving to a blended-learning model that will allow us to open more campuses and serve exponentially more women by 2025.

• We’re launching a new #SheIsAkilah recruitment campaign. The details are still under wraps, but expect to see fun videos, photos, and stories about Akilah students.

• We’ve partnered with award-winning filmmaker Laura Waters Hinson on the release of her documentary, Mama Rwanda. The film follows two female entrepreneurs as they rebuild their lives in post-genocide Rwanda. Check out the screening locations here.

• Our partner company, MindSky, unveiled its new talent platform and will expand to Kenya later this month. Search the latest jobs or find top talent in East Africa at www.mindsky.com.

Physical and spiritual health played an important role in the Akilah Group retreat too. Yoga classes and morning walks or runs allowed for reflection and personal mediation. And Akilah’s buoyant chief academic officer, Rick Daniels, let us in on the secret to his perpetual optimism and explained how to turn challenges into opportunities. The Akilah Group also had a chance to flex our collective brain muscles during the Trivia Challenge, where groups were tasked with tackling major world problems, such as education for women in Pakistan and removing land mines in Colombia, within the span of 60 minutes. We had some pretty good ideas, but we’ll stick to addressing women’s education in East Africa for now.

Big challenges require strong teams, so the retreat included team-building activities, too. From an obstacle course to human bingo, we had plenty of opportunities to get to know one another outside of the office.

The retreat culminated in a costume competition and dance-off. From a female ‘moto’ driver to a dancing nun and a lemur, we had a little bit of everything in attendance. Our annual conga line made an appearance and snaked its way through the dance floor. And staffers from around the globe swapped dance moves, with the East African staff learning the “swim” and other throwbacks, while U.S. team members attempted the graceful movements of traditional Rwandan dance with more enthusiasm than success. When you have a team that works hard, learning to relax and enjoy your colleagues is essential too.

Does this sound like a culture you would thrive in? We’re hiring! Check out all of our open positions here.

A big thanks to the Imago Dei Fund for sponsoring the Akilah retreat, and Muhazi Beach Resort for hosting our team.

Beautiful Lake Muhazi at sunset