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Lumega delivers LED lighting to the Pearl of Africa

03 May 2018

Lumega delivers LED lighting to the Pearl of Africa

The CEO of Lumega, Rune Larsen, recently went on a business trip to Africa. He started by visiting Kenya, whereupon stopped at the Pearl of Africa, Uganda.

2018 has been a busy year for Rune, and with the trip to Uganda, he has now visited 10 countries within the first four months of the year, exclusively. In Uganda, Rune went to 12 business meeting with anyone from potential clients to collaborators and suppliers and overall, the trip went well.

Rune visited the capital Kampala and assisted by the driver Dennis, Rune was driven around the capital. In this part of the world, it is crucial to travel with a native-born citizen who knows the city well, seeing that you must take your measures accordingly as a European in East Africa.

Reflections

As always, Rune has reflected on the trip. This time, he gives constructive advice on how to enter into the African market as an entrepreneur. However, it is important to note that this is merely Rune’s own observations from his visits to Kenya and Uganda.

1. Trust:
Trust is a crucial factor when doing business with Africans. Usually, Rune puts great effort into showing our products at his business meetings. However, this never became relevant, inasmuch as the first meetings in Kenya and Uganda is always about building trust. Without trust, it is simply impossible to do business in this part of the world.

2. Network:
Furthermore, a strong network is essential in these countries. It can be challenging to enter into these markets without a network, so if you have contacts within the government or the ministries this is a good place to start.

3. Assistance:
This bullet is closely connected to your network. If you intend to do business on the Kenyan or Ugandan market you should not neglect the cultural differences, there undeniably are when you come from a country like Denmark. For this purpose, Rune has found the Danish embassy particularly helpful, so do not hesitate to contact your national embassy if you want to extend into new markets. They can definitely help you.

You can hear more advice in Rune’s vlog from Uganda, which is found at the bottom of this text. Moreover, do not forget to follow the Entrepreneur Behind the Scenes on Youtube. In this way, you will be able to keep up with Lumega’s development.