Remi took real ‘bride’ in helping Third World business (From This Is Lancashire)

Remi took real ‘bride’ in helping Third World business

12:01pm Friday 14th March 2008 in

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BUSINESSMAN Remi Thackrey swapped a life of luxury to live in a Kenyan hut for two years - and found himself a fiancee in the process.

Two years ago the 31-year-old sold his Accrington marketing business, rented out his Rossendale home and left it all behind to join VSO and share his life skills with people who really needed him.

Remi went to work as a business and marketing adviser at the Kwetu Training Centre in Mombasa.

But he returned with more than he was bargaining for when he fell in love and came home last December complete with a fiancee and son to meet his Lancashire family.

Remi said: "Jackie was a neighbour of my VSO colleague working in Kenya at the same time as me.

"I remember first seeing her in the car park outside her house. I thought, I'm going to introduce myself to her' and the rest, as they say, is history.

"We met not long after I arrived and when it was time for me to leave there was no way I was going without her and of course by then our son Xavier, who turned one last week, had arrived too."

But it was not just his fiancee who had an effect on him while in Kenya, for Remi transformed a training centre struggling for cash into a profitable business which could compete in a competitive industry.

The Kwetu Training Centre supports disadvantaged communities by training them to use natural resources to earn a sustainable income.

Recent projects have included honey bee farming, mango drying, crab farming and chilli production.

The centre also trains the local disadvantaged community, mainly women, young people, and those affected by HIV and AIDS, in areas such as bookkeeping, administration, marketing and business.

When Remi arrived, the centre itself was not making enough money to survive and so relied on donations to sustain it. Remi's business experience in the UK stood him in good stead for the challenges of developing the centre's ability to become self-suficient.

It meant he could adapt his knowledge and skills to train and support the management team at Kwetu in finding a product, branding the product and then identifying a need for it in Kenya and eventually abroad.

Remi created a new sales department for the centre and created a unique selling point for its products - advertising them as handmade organic goods - in order for them to compete with other larger producers.

During his stay in Kenya the centre went from losing money to making a 50 per cent profit.

"A typical day" said Remi, now of Burnley Road, Loveclough, "started at about 8 o'clock in the morning with a trip through the village past the chief's camp to the centre itself.

"On arrival we either had a team meeting or got on with the day's activities.

"I generally worked with the management in solving day-to-day issues, satisfying customers and producing the products that we had.

"We also spent a lot of time visiting customers and doing market research together.

"Basic stuff really but not for them as they were not trained in the field.

"This kind of work is very important in creating a self-sustaining centre.

"The main aim of the Kwetu Training Centre is to teach people from rural communities how to make money from natural resources. My role as a volunteer was to support the training centre in making money for itself.

"So when we talk about secure livelihood we talk both in terms of the community making money for itself and projects like this that support the community also making money for itself.

"By the time I left, the Kwetu Centre had the ability to generate 80 per cent of the cash it needs to keep going.

"The impact our work's had in Kwetu, especially in supporting the management, is that it helps build confidence, knowledge, and understanding of the market that they're in.

"It's very important for a centre like Kwetu not to rely on handouts."

It was when he was just 18 that Remi's love affair with Africa was born when he visited Johannesburg with the Project Trust.

He had a passion for travelling and this, combined with a need to give something back lead him to overseas charity work and VSO.

Remi believes that working in Kwetu was an incredibly valuable personal and professional experience.

He added: "The kind of skills I have learnt from working there are the skills I believe everyone needs in life: flexibility, adaptability, and empathy.

"Placing myself in a position in a different country, in a different culture in a different context helps me understand different people. Personally, I brought home with me a bride, my new baby, friendship, fun times, good memories and some sunshine."

Now back in his native Lancashire, Remi is looking for a new job with plans for a summer wedding.