The Everyday Leader podcast features inspiring individuals building and leading teams across Africa.
About our Guest
This episode’s conversation is with Hillary Sang. His career has spanned a range of countries and industries. This includes operational management, technology, and business intelligence roles at companies in the agriculture, insurance, solar and health sectors, such as Pula, TotoHealth and Azuri. He has helped set up and scale operations in a number of countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Zambia. Hillary most recently joined Apollo Agriculture where he serves as the Collections and Repayments Lead.
Everyday Leadership in Action
Hillary has experience in managing and rapidly training large numbers of staff, which has taught him leadership lessons which he shared with us during our conversation:
There’s no better way to learn about leadership than being thrust into managing a team: Hillary tells us about his “baptism by fire” experience in managing one of his first field teams and how an open culture of rapid feedback helped him recognize and correct challenges he was having with his team around timelines and communication.
More naturally build relationships with your team by working alongside them: Hillary also shares about a habit he has developed in making sure he spends time sitting alongside his lowest-level staff and doing their same tasks to build empathy and strong connections.
Set and communicate fair targets by putting yourself in your team’s shoes: Based on early feedback he received from past managers and teams he worked with, Hillary now tries to always think about his decisions and communication style through his team’s perspective.
The Everyday Leader is a podcast featuring conversations with leaders from across Africa’s companies, organizations, and governments about their experience managing teams and projects throughout their careers.
Know of an everyday leader in your company or network? Nominate them here.
Hillary Sang: Collections & Repayments Lead, Apollo Agriculture