[Startup Interview] Isaac Muigai, CEO, Humanum Ratings, Kenya

Isaac Muigai is the brains behind Humanum Ratings, a Kenya-based management consultancy startup that advises companies on potential risks and noteworthy strengths that they should focus on in order to fortify organizational culture and boost performance. Its clientele spans banks, NGOs and hospitals. Among the services the startup offers include ratings, advice and research.

Introduce your company

Humanum Ratings is a management consulting agency that empowers Kenyan businesses with cutting edge ratings, advising and research

Since setting up shop in 2017, our main focus is Organisational development whereby a comprehensive regime of diagnosis and change initiatives is done in order to fortify the state of organizational culture/behavior. Through this, organizations are able to identify their salient strengths and soar higher, while also identifying areas to build on and improve.

Who are the founders and what are their professional backgrounds?

We are a team of 4.

At the initial stages, I came up with the idea. After consultation with my friend and Professor at the United States International University, Dr. Scott Bellows we fine-tuned it to a rating firm.

Later on Steve Muriithi and Sela Mumuli who are both experts at organizational health check came onboard. We have since been working together.

Sela Mumuli is our Director of Partnerships. She spends her time shepherding clients through the ratings, advisory, and research processes. An entrepreneur and writer, Sela also has experience managing startup incubators and working in donor foundations.

Steve Muriithi is our Director of Finance. He makes sure we stay within budget, forecast, and plan. He has entrepreneurial startup, training, coaching, and finance experience. In addition to startups, Steve worked with a large Kenyan media house and coordinated entrepreneurship training programs in a Kenyan university.

Dr. Scott Bellows a Ratings and Organizational Advisor holds vast experience in organizational health checks, surveys, and ratings across dozens of countries. A popular columnist in Kenya's Business Daily newspaper, he also holds academic and leadership appointments with a major international university and has served as CEO and Director in banks and NGOs.

What industry does your company operate in?

Management Consultancy

Why did you start Humanum Ratings? What opportunities did you see?

A while back I came across a study by PWc's NextGen on the growing concern of fundamental transformations in our society and the way we work. Automation and thinking machines are replacing human tasks and jobs, changing the skills that organizations are looking for. The momentous changes raise huge organizational, talent and HR challenges at a time when business leaders are already wrestling with unprecedented risks, disruption, and political and social upheaval. I had to ask myself tough questions such as; What next for organizations? What is the situation for millenials ? The questions birthed Humanum Ratings.

What problem or problems does Humanum Ratings solve?

Through an extensive diagnosis of a company, we advise companies on potential risks and noteworthy strengths that they should focus in, to fortify organizational culture and boost performance.

Tell us about your clientele base?

We have been able to work with major banks in Kenya, sizable fast food chains, Kenya’s leading hospitals, NGOs funded by USAID, UKaid and Foundations.

What issues define and shape the management consultancy industry?

This is a very polymorphous industry. It changes every now and then. It grows from one form to another. Solutions that were used a decade ago will terribly fail now. This is the reason why business and any entity that has a human workforce, should invest more in research or get caught by the unforgiving horror of time.

What does Humanum Ratings need to grow?

We need more strategic partnerships in order to access wider market both in Kenya and across the continent.

What are the ambitions of your company?

Technological advancements dubbed as 4th Industrial Revolution have hugely affected all developing countries. Therefore, our target and ambition is to work with companies based in these areas and help them decipher this mystery that is yet to hit the business community.

www.humanumratings.com

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