I was priviledged to be invited to help a group a group of young entrepreneurs and community leaders in Rwanda do some '3D Thinking'! We were invited to the city of Musanze in Northern Rwanda to help local entrepreneurs and community leaders start, grow and develop their businesses and community projects. Working with the The Thousand Hills Hub in Musanze and The Adam Bradford Agency. we ran a specially adapted version of our 3D Leadership programme that has helped thousands of UK leaders take a 'Dramatically and Demonstrably Different' approach.

The passion and enthusiasm from the participants was infectious and it was wonderful to work with them on projects ranging from helping establish an online distribution network to help farmers 'connect' with retailers, schemes to help youngsters maximise their potential in education, a leadership training business, a project to modernise the growing of crops, and the development of a tourist business.  

The programme was based on our successful ALP Programme that we run in Sheffield and was tailored specifically to local participants. I like to use ‘real’ examples of successful leaders and businesses in my keynotes, seminars and programmes and researching and interviewing local success stories was really insightful. There really are some amazing examples of innovative, forward thinking people who are making a big difference in Africa – A ‘Dramatic Difference’ even! It's all very exciting – a key challenge was to speak slowly enough so that people could understand my South Yorkshire accent!

As well as helping people develop their leadership skills, we did also ensure that they learned to say ‘Ey Up’ when they greeted us each morning. We also gave everyone a lovely Bag It Don’t Bin It goodie bag which had some great Sheffield products including a copy of our book (obviously), some Kitlocker T Shirts, Highlander pens, Steel City Marketing rulers, Simpkins Sheffield United sweets, Vitae sweatshirts, SCX screen cleaners and of course, Sheffield's own Hendersons Relish!   

We got some fantastic feedback with 100% of participants saying it met or exceeded their expectations. Just some of the lovely quotes included “I learned lots and got more fun and new friends”, “I was able to thoroughly develop my idea” and “I learnt how to be a professional leader in my business and the values I must have” 

Preparations are now under way for providing some follow up online sessions with participants and  connecting people with local Sheffield City Region entrepreneurs and leaders via our 3D Connect network.  There are also plans for a follow up face to face reunion session in Rwanda in August - Can't wait to see how everyone has got on and moved things forward.

A huge thanks to Adam, Alex and Emanuel for all your help and support, and of course, to all our new Rwandan friends who welcomed us with open arms. Look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Here's a great video that sums up the 3 days wonderfully: