Jeffers Miruka discusses how associations can be stronger together

Welcome to Futures Facets, the Associations Edition. My name is Charlotte Kemp, Futures Alchemist. Today we're talking to Jeffers Maruka from Kenya, who is the current president of the African Society for Association Executives. Jeffers is going to tell us how we as associations can be stronger together. Hi, welcome to Futures Facets, the Associations Edition. Futures Facets, the Associations Edition. Our interview today is with Jephthah Maruka from Kenya. Jephthah is somebody who is very involved in associations. He is the current president at the African Society of Association Executives, as well as the CEO of the African Association of Agricultural Economists, and he is the, let's see, director of the African Association Management Company. So we have come to exactly the right person to find out about the state of association work in Africa, in Kenya, and I hope that in the course of our conversation we can distill some value in terms of what the future of associations looks like. So Jeffers, welcome, I'm honored to have you here.

Thanks so much, Charlotte. So it's a great opportunity to have me here with you, and I look forward to our conversation.

Thank you. So, Geoff, you and I met a couple of years ago at the Association Executives Conference run in Pretoria, and it's hosted by an organization from the UK, but it was a really good organization down here in South Africa where a whole lot of association leaders came together, and that kind of really sparked my interest in terms of how associations around the world are coping with our current COVID crisis and what things look like in the future. And I asked you to have a conversation with me, and I'm really honored that you have agreed to do so. But maybe before we get into that, tell us a little bit about your background. Why is it that you have become so involved in association work? What is it that you enjoy about the space?

Thanks, Charlotte, and thanks for asking me that question. Let me start by saying this: it's an interesting opportunity when you speak with everybody whom you work with, whom you network with, or whom you meet in these many association-related meetings. You try to understand their history, and absolutely it's like a story to tell. So we like calling it storytelling in associations, which is also one of the big things that we deal with. So I went to university and I graduated with a degree in computer science. That's way back in 2004. And then I remember at that time I met a certain professor who was my professor in university, who we became friends. And then this professor asked me to help him organize a small meeting, and then the meeting was for an association which was coming up. And since I was out of university, I really didn't have a stable job, so I said, why not? I could do it because I had participated in some meetings. So after that meeting, the professor came back to me and told me, you know what, the association you helped us to run a meeting doesn't have a formal registration. So he asked me, do you have some time you can help me to register it? I said, why not, professor? So I took the documents and I started running. I went to the internet. That time there was not so much information on the internet, you remember that. But I know very well that I was guided by another friend who is a lawyer. He told me how to register a society. So I moved forward and helped him to register the association. So fast forward to about 2006, I got a call from one of the people I was working with. Remember when I was doing system support services in some NGO, there was this senior director who is actually the current president of the African Development Bank. who was at that time working in Kenya. And then he called, since we were offering some services, he called me. He told me, you know what, there is this association which is looking for somebody, and I thought maybe you could be interested to submit your CV. And that was in late 2006. And then I jumped in, I sent the CV to him. So after about 3 weeks, he calls me and tells me, we sat as a board and we agreed that we need to bring you on board. And that was like, okay, so going to manage an association, what does that look like? So that is how I jumped into associations. And I tell you that it's an interesting journey looking at the associations that I've served over time. But somehow it gave me the opportunities to connect with people, gave me opportunities to travel. So to cut the long story short, I got into associations in 2006, late 2006, and up to now it's a story I continue telling people. And anybody I tell also have a version of how they got into this, and it's quite interesting. Yeah, thank you.

I imagine that it's not the kind of thing that young people at university or at school think, oh, I want to grow up and, you know, get involved in associations. So many of us kind of come in sideways later on in our careers. But for myself, what I love, and you kind of alluded to it, is the, you know, the working together with other people and meeting people and connecting and traveling, or at least virtually connecting at the moment. But I love the collaboration, you know, 3 people come together and say, let's do something, and you create something bigger than the sum of yourselves. And that for me is the magic of associations. So I think, you know, at any point in our lives, associations serve a very important role for their industry, for their members. But particularly at the moment, you know, when we have a global crisis and nobody is really sure of what is going to happen, you know, next week, next month, or next year, that the associations have a huge responsibility to try and kind of protect, take care of, nurture their corner of the economy in terms of whatever their space is. So maybe you can tell me, you know, from your experience, how are the associations that you're involved in, you know, the in Kenya or across Africa, how are they responding to the COVID crisis that we're experiencing, recognizing that Africa really hasn't experienced the full impact that Europe and North America have experienced at this stage? We may have a later kind of experience of that, but we certainly have spent a lot more time preparing for it than the other parts of the world. How are the associations that you're aware of responding to that for their members?

Thanks, Charlotte. You know, assuming the presidency of the African Society of Association Executives, number one, I took up that responsibility knowing very well that there is unity in diversity. Yeah. And basically, I was expected to experience all types of diverse backgrounds of people, diverse way of thinking, diverse way of doing things. But you know what brings diversity together is inclusion. So that's why the African Society of Association Executives exists. Since the pandemic broke out, that was in— I remember in late February, I was in South Africa attending the meeting in South Africa. And I was meant to fly from South Africa straight to the US. That was immediately after leaving South Africa. But you know, at that time the pandemic wasn't as it is today, you know, a lot has— as in within a very short time. But I cancelled my travel to the US because I only saw, and I used to follow the news very closely, and I said it couldn't have been the best idea for me. So probably it could have been a bit different case, where either I went ahead and traveled to the US. But when I sit here working from home, still doesn't— gives me that opportunity to continuously work with our members from Africa. And Africa, we have diversity in terms of associations. Remember, we have the Anglophone, as people speak English. We have the Lusophone, people speak I can tell you that the challenges we are all facing are more similar. Number one, we have associations who basically cannot do anything because they had even planned to undertake some of their core activities like events, like educational programs, like seminars around Africa, but your guess is as good as mine, nothing went forward. Many ways, you know, that associations depend a lot on non-deal revenues, especially the money we generate from our conferences, especially the money we generate from our activities, especially the money we generate from other— like, through marketing and branding. And so most of those activities literally stopped. Why? Because you couldn't have a meeting anywhere in Africa, let alone anywhere in the world, let alone within your own country. The meeting stopped. So what does that mean? There are no revenues. Number 2, you couldn't really try to maybe reach out to your members to renew their memberships or to continue their activities. And because most associations had not invested heavily in technology, maybe to push their programs and activities to the virtual world like we're doing now, so it became like a learning curve. So I know some associations in Africa who've reached out to me and they've told me, you know what, We do not have the future, so we don't know what's going to happen. And you know, the most interesting thing is that in Africa we don't have the luxury like we've seen in North America and in Europe where small and medium enterprises are benefiting from stimulus programs. We've seen it huge in America in the tune of almost $25 billion going to American associations. We've seen a lot of that also happening in Europe, but we do not have that in Africa. If there is anything in Africa, you know, sometimes the red tape will even push you out of even benefiting from some of those grants. So we don't have that luxury that we can say we'll still be afloat post-COVID. We have to look at a way that we can survive. So how are we surviving? You realize that some strong associations, and we don't have so many in Africa other than those who have international link to Africa. Some strong associations, they are now actually using the reserve fund. Most associations normally have reserve funds to basically cushion them in the event of something like this, in the event of an unknown like now what we have. So, but the question is, how many of them have the reserve funds to cushion them, and how long can it persist? Because as you and I rightfully know, nobody really knows how long this is likely to take. And even if things were to happen tomorrow for the best, we do not know how long it may take associations to have a turnaround, given that associations are very different in their structure, in their leadership, in their capacity, in their membership base, you know, and also in the industry they represent. So that has really been a big problem. But again, we always believe that, you know, where there is something like COVID, a pandemic, or there's a crisis, it also gives us an opportunity to start actually thinking. So we as FSAE, we've been really doing a lot of advisory. You know, this is the time now we seize on advocacy and try to see how we can be able to help our members. And we offer a lot of advisory on the things We've learned and we continue learning from other international associations, and then sometimes we link them up to the international association to try and see what they are doing, because most of us are now doing everything online. I tell you, if you go to YouTube, you can get so much stuff about associations on YouTube. You can actually watch, you can listen to podcasts like what we do now, and at the end of the day, you will actually have a way that you can navigate your association. Having said that, One thing I know for sure is that we are not as advantaged as what we have seen in other parts of the world. So what is likely to happen post-COVID pandemic for associations, and I've always said this, we need— I've always told our members this— we need to invest a lot in research and development. The associations who are now stabilizing or who are in the the stability curve and probably were resetting, we invested a lot in research and development. But how much could you invest in research and development with a situation which was basically unknown? I like calling it unknown unknown. Nobody knew anything about this. But we continued telling our associations, please invest more in research and development. This is going to help you because you'll learn what has been happening, and you'll see how you can probably turn the curve to your own advantage. The other thing that we've always advised our African associations, and which is basically an advice even globally, is investing a lot in technology. We know that associations are now getting more comfortable and adept in use of technology. You've seen many webinars coming up, you've seen a lot of now programs taking place online. And we truly believe that post-COVID, we're going to be more comfortable in use of technology to advance, to advance our objectives, and even also to have meetings and also to have events. We've seen these virtual events really big and sometimes a better participation than face-to-face meetings. And we've seen that you actually attract people from around the globe. So people will continue knowing what you are doing from far, much, let's say Russia, in Canada, in Chile, whatever, call it anywhere. Unlike face-to-face where you have people who've come from a specific place, you're in a room, in a conference room, we're discussing your stuff. So technology is one of the things. Again, we have now come to discover that we need to be more closer to our members. You know, let me, let me tell you something. The association I run, the African Association of Agricultural Economics, I do realize now the importance of me investing much more in our membership because sometimes I've been so busy traveling around the world, I delegate a lot to my colleagues. But again, I've come to realize there is— that those things I can do that my colleagues cannot do. So I've tried to become more closer to our members, reaching them directly, making them see the value of the value proposition of belonging to our association and ensuring that they feel like this is where they belong because it's only with one voice that we can be much more stronger and I like calling it stronger together. So I can tell you as I sit here many people have been renewing their membership because since I head the association I know what they need, I know how to to actually diplomatically go to them and make sure that they actually open their wallet. I tell them, you know what, if you don't pay your membership fee, how do we exist? Most likely we are not going to be there tomorrow without you. So some people say, no, we can't let our association fall. So they're really investing a lot. So the value of getting much closer to your members is really absolutely fantastic. The other thing, and maybe to, to, to cap before we move on to the next topic, is the value of being innovative. You know, most innovative solutions often arise in the face of the greatest constraints. So we are now looking at how we can be more innovative, not basically what everything— what everybody knows about in terms of belonging transition. So we're looking at what are the innovative ways do we bring into the table. That makes our association thrive and stand out from the crowd. And finally, and I speak about this many, many times, these collaborations and partnerships. Let me tell you, the other day I was in a webinar sponsored by the government, the Ministry of Tourism here in Kenya, and I was one of the speakers. And I told them that, you know, we talk about MICE and people really ask themselves, How do associations fit into the MICE matrix? You know, it's an interesting question which many people ask, and then I took some time to explain. You know, I always tell people, you know, associations must be strong, from local association must be strengthened. Let's let them grow stronger. And how do they grow stronger? You know, a government has a responsibility to actually Make sure that it has strong associations. And I told our minister, I said, if it means the government set aside a stimulus program to make sure that associations are strengthened, let them do that. That money should be given to associations as a grant, and that money should be— we should have an organization like now the Kenya National Convention Bureau who should actually be in charge charge of making sure that associations have a certain amount of money, which number one will make them start realizing and start fulfilling their mission, their vision, and their objectives. Because most associations are dormant here in Kenya. And I said in Kenya we have more than 40,000 associations, but out of 40,000 associations, you only have about 750 associations who are active. Now tell me, if the government targeted in reactivating only 10% of 40,000, which is 4,000, that will mean a lot in the maize market. With strong associations fulfilling our mandates, we start looking at collaborations. And one of the key things I've seen globally when I travel, there is no event which will come to South Africa, there is no event which will come to Kenya, there is no event which will come to Rwanda where you do not have local partners. And who are the local partners? Associations. And how do they become local partners? If they are strong. And if they're strong, they'll attract international partners, international collaborators who probably share a similar objective. And these international collaborators will actually want to bring a meeting to any country in Africa which has strong associations because they know we have local collaborations. And if you have local collaborations, then which means you grow the mice market exponentially. And this is the advice FSA has given to where we've done our trainings in Rwanda, we've done our trainings in Ghana, we've done our trainings in South Africa, we're now doing our trainings in Kenya, and we wanted to do— we've done our training in Uganda, and we were looking forward to more trainings in Ethiopia and other countries. But one of the things I speak more passionately about is having strong local associations, which has a big impact on attracting international associations so they can collaborate and bring these events locally. And when they bring these events locally, the mice market grows. Thank you.

Yeah, wow, Jeff. First of all, you're absolutely very passionate about associations. I love the depth of knowledge and insight, but that last part is, I think, really, really significant. That strong associations working in collaboration with the meetings industry can certainly make a significant impact in turning things around as we go back into more economic activity in the future. I think it's definitely something to explore. There's a whole element of business tourism there as well, which can restart a company's country's economy. So it's an interesting concept to explore there. Yeah, I also loved what you said about membership. Members really are very close to my heart. I mean, obviously associations are only going to exist if they have members. They might be serving, you know, various stakeholders and people who have, or institutions or sectors that have an interest in that area, but their members are the lifeblood of the association. It's significant for us to note, I think, that there are going to be some companies and some associations that cannot survive the current pandemic, and it's not necessarily their fault. Not that they necessarily did not have things in place or did not have enough of a financial cushion, they did not have a good enough strategy, but, you know, if their sector is hit really hard with lockdowns or travel bans and things like that, they're going to find it very difficult to respond. So are you experiencing at all— you know, I know when we resell the value of our association to members, members do want to participate, they do want to pay their membership dues, but there are going to be some people, some companies that can't do that. Are you experiencing any of that at the moment where Where members are just not able to actually meet their commitments in terms of financial commitments of membership?

Yes, yes, that's normally— we're experiencing that especially from our student members who are maybe on the lower because, you know, they are students, they do not have the capacity to continue paying their membership. But you know what, if you have somebody who has been a member of your association for the last 5 to even 10 years when you look at the records. This is not the time to lock them out. And we have always told our associations, don't be so hard on your members. Number one, try to think of a way that you can actually even waive a certain amount of money, and maybe even if it's 25% or even worst-case scenario, 50%. You know, for me, I know that it's more of a big advantage for me to waive 50% and retain that member because, you know, through that member I'll get another member. They'll speak about, you know, we were members of this association and our fee was waived. So there is that face of humanity where, you know, we are all in this together. If we are all in this together, then we don't need to treat the other person like, you know what, it's either you take it or you leave it. You know, there must be that face of humanity which they see. And, you know, we know that the strongest marketing tool is word of mouth. That is the most strong. We can do everything, but word of mouth is very strong. So for me, if I waive— we waive 50%, and I've advised our board, Weigh 50% of the membership fee for our members who are not able to renew their membership, and they bring 2 more people who will more or less also pay half what they pay, then you are better off having more members who are diverse in their thinking and who really want to be recognized as belonging to your association. The other thing is we try to give some scholarships. We have some very good members who say that if you, if you have about 20 members of your association, especially students who are not able to raise a certain amount of money, if the membership fee is, for example, $100, let them pay $50 and I'll pay the other $50. So that we have some members who are that generous. We have said we will take care of anybody who is not able to renew their membership and pay for them if they pay a certain amount of money. But in the best-case scenario, there is somebody who came and said, identify 10 young students who are not able to pay their membership. Let me know. I will pay their fee. You know, that is one way of really making sure that you still have your members and their fee has been covered. And that's creates cohesiveness. And, you know, associations are all about communities, you know, building strong communities. So if you want to build strong communities, it's for there being somebody who can actually help the other one when they are not able to do what this other person is doing. So those are some of the things that I will always encourage our members to really look into. in making sure that they maintain their association base and their members.

Yeah, that's such an interesting approach and really valuable, and it talks as well to diversity of thought you're talking about, because it's easy for a group of people to hang around together if they all have the same opinions and the same values and the same worldview. But when you intentionally give opportunities specifically to younger people to join an association when they are starting their careers out and they don't have necessarily anything of value to add. I mean, they can help with events and they can help behind the scenes, but they don't have that experience of an industry to add yet. But what you're doing is you're challenging yourself to not think that yours is the only point of view about an industry. So when you're allowing young thought to come in, you know, the younger generations, they're going to challenge the older generations with, you know, why do we do it this way? Just because we've done it this way for 2 decades doesn't mean it's the right way. And that can be difficult to handle, but I think really valuable, and it indicates a really strong foundation of collaboration and wanting to create a stronger industry, a stronger association. So I absolutely applaud any association that is willing to take that risk of inviting younger people in and giving opportunities to people who otherwise wouldn't be part of that association. Really good. I've got another question just before we wrap up. Now, obviously, a lot of people in associations, people like yourself, you know, this is your full-time job and you play various roles in it. But for many people in associations, they volunteer for a leadership role while they still have their own business, or they might be self-employed, but they're employed somewhere else in their industry. And for those people in particular, there's a lot of stress at the moment where you know, there's a lot of uncertainty and we don't know where our industry is going, where our association is going, where our country is going, where is the world going, and there's a lot on the shoulders of those people. And I know already some association executives who are saying they cannot cope with the stress and anxiety of the association as well as their own careers and their own families. So do you have any advice or any examples of how we can help our association leaders, whether they're volunteers or whether they're paid staff, how do we help those association leaders to actually cope with the anxiety of the current period of time?

That's an interesting question, and, you know, I've had that question a couple of times, and sometimes, you know, you really want to think on how that can really work. But let's come to associations. People who work in associations, as you said, many of them are volunteers. I can tell you that many boards, many association boards are served by volunteer leaders. Those are people in the industry who have their full-time jobs somewhere, who have offered themselves to be of service to this association because number one, They want to see the industry grow. Number 2, they want to give back to the communities, you know, from what basically they have been doing. You know, you can give back to communities in many ways, not only in monetary form, but also in offering time and your services, maybe if you are an expert. But as you said, there are stresses, and I've seen it. Not only in other associations, but in my association, the African Society of Association Executives, where I serve, I serve as a volunteer leader. I don't have any paycheck at the end of the day. I do not have, but I'm serving as a volunteer leader. Now I'm the president of the society, but I look forward to— I have about 2 years to leave office. But you know what, number one, When there's a crisis, people handle crisis in different ways. There are those people who stay the course. There are those people who don't have the capacity to stay the course when other things are not working. There are those people who look at such a crisis as the best opportunity to actually hang the book and do something else. So number one, you need to ask yourself before anything, where do you want to fit? Do you want to fit in those people who will stay the course and do something for your association or for your society, or are you going to be that person who will want the earliest opportunity to leave? If your answer is, for example, staying in, you need to know that you are doing this not because you are gaining anything, but because of the love of your industry and of your society. So you have to stay because that's where now the mental strength, your mental strength is tested. But again, you also need to make sure that the people who work with you see things the same way you see it. And if you all see things the same way I'm seeing it, if my board is able to see things the same way I see them, then we'll continue to be stronger together. We will have unity of purpose to make sure that when there is a crisis, let us show leadership. And you know, We have seen this also not only in associations but also in leadership across the board. You know, look at the type of leaderships that we have around the world. You've seen those leaders who can be counted as being strong leaders to lead people out of a crisis, and you've seen those leaders who really don't even think that this crisis is worth their salt. And you've seen leaders who want to take a back seat. They just want to It's like this thing should just disappear, or they basically paint the incorrect picture that things are rosy when they are really not rosy. So that is basically the mental strength and the capacity to go through these things. And Charlotte, you can agree with me that if you have basic education— basic education, I mean you have high school diploma, whatever— There was always something we were taught, those common units we were taught about having the mental capacity to actually face a crisis. We know that our lives are full of crises and the best person who comes out of it much stronger is the person who is able to think on how to go about it. But look at it, we have people who work full-time as association executives who are not able to put food on the table for their families. who are basically agonizing on how to do that next. What we tell them is, you know, what you are experiencing, you are not alone. Somebody in another industry is experiencing the same thing that you are experiencing. And the best thing is to make sure that this crisis doesn't really, really push you to the wall where you give up. Because if I remove everything from you, you still remain a human being, you still remain committed to your family, and you still remain somebody who wants to come bounce back in a more stronger way. So think like all these things are not happening to you alone, they're happening to everybody, and try to really look at the best way to navigate, have mental strength and power, and to come out of it. The other way is also there are some people whom you need to actually— to make sure that they have mental mental health, you know, designating maybe psychologists and psychiatrists. And I was talking to a friend of mine in South Africa who's a psychiatrist, and he told me he has been doing a lot of counseling to people who have lost their jobs, people who do not know how tomorrow is going to be, people who've lost their investments. You know, this crisis has really made people lose so many hundreds of millions of of dollars in the investment. So he's been doing a lot of that and people are taking a different route. But you know what, at the end of the day, assume you didn't own anything in this world, where do you remain? Do you close your eyes and say, let this crisis go and let nobody bother me? Or do you stand strong and say, let's all face it because we are not doing— we are not in this alone, everybody is in this together. We know this crisis is not going to last forever. We know that at some point you're going to come back and come out in a stronger way and having learned. Because this is the first crisis of our generation, so you need to have a story to tell your generation. So the way you now get through it is really what matters.

Yeah, no, that's very true. That's, uh, and I think your, your theme of being stronger together, I think, is a really important one. You know, um, I know in various teams you're gonna have one person who's struggling a little bit, but the rest of the team can pick it up until that person has you know, regained their footing and they're ready to participate again. And I think that's the only way that we're going to get through this period of time. Great. Japhas, thank you. You've offered so much value and insight. I really do appreciate it. If anybody wants to find you online, where can they find you?

Yes, and I like using Twitter. I can be found on my full name, @JaphasMeruka. That's my Twitter And if you search me on LinkedIn, you'll find me. You search me on Facebook, you'll find me. You come to FSA website, you'll get my email address. I think I'm the easiest person you can find online. If you know my name correctly, you'll find me in so many channels online.

Good. Well, we'll make sure that the links to those various sites are also available in the show notes and people will be able to find you. Japheth, thank you very much. I wish you and your association and the African Society for Association Executives all the best for the future and all strength to you. Thank you very much.

I wanted to say thank you for having me and I look forward to more future engagements with you.

Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you. And if anyone else wants to contact me in order to discuss some strategy, future strategy for your associations, then you can find me as well at charlotte@charlottekemp.co.za. Jeffers, thank you very much. Both Jeffers Maruka and myself can be found on LinkedIn. Please feel free to contact me if you too would like to discuss how your association and your members can be stronger together.