You Cannot Build Where You Do Not Understand

You Cannot Build Where You Do Not Understand

Welcome to the Mellow Madness update, a space for thinking out loud about strategy, execution, and how systems translate into real life.

There is a mistake I have seen many businesses make, especially when entering new markets. They arrive with energy, with plans, and with a strong desire to execute. But they do not arrive with understanding.

And in certain environments, that is not just a strategic gap. It is a fundamental misstep.

When I moved to Rwanda in 2022, I carried instincts shaped by where I come from. In many markets, Easter is a commercial moment. Campaigns, activations, brands competing for attention. Naturally, I pushed for the same. A visible campaign. Community engagement. Something that would drive momentum.

It made sense on paper.

But Rwanda is not just a market. It is a country that remembers.

From April 7th to July 4th, the country enters a 100-day period of national commemoration known as Kwibuka, which means “to remember.” It marks the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and during this time the tone of the country shifts. It is not that business stops. It is that the environment becomes more reflective, more intentional, more aware of its history.

Public life continues. People work. Markets function. But there is a different rhythm. A different sensitivity to how things are communicated and expressed.

And in that context, a loud campaign is not just ineffective.

It is misaligned.  It is a lack of Empathy. It is Disrespectful!

That moment stayed with me, because it revealed something deeper than marketing. It showed how easy it is to bring a solution into a place you do not fully understand.

In business, we often assume that what works in one environment will translate into another. The thinking is logical. The models are proven. The playbook feels solid. But markets are not defined by economics alone. They are shaped by memory, by history, and by shared experiences that influence how people respond to timing, messaging, and intent.

This is where many businesses, especially foreign ones, struggle. They invest in research, but not in understanding. They analyse data, but not context. They prepare strategies, but not empathy. And without empathy, even the best strategy can land poorly.

There is a principle often attributed to Mao Zedong: the people are like water, and those who operate among them must be like fish. You cannot function effectively if you are not immersed in the environment you depend on. You cannot move naturally if you do not understand the currents.

The same applies to business. You cannot build in a market you do not understand. You cannot scale something you have not taken time to sit with. You cannot lead where you have not first learned.

Whether you are operating in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, or anywhere else, the principle holds. Every market has its own rhythms, its own sensitivities, its own way of making meaning. Some of these are visible. Many are not. But they shape how people respond to your presence.

There is no single playbook that fits every environment.

The strongest businesses I have seen across African markets share one characteristic. They pay attention. Not just to customers, but to context. They understand that timing is not just a calendar decision, that messaging is not just creative, and that presence is not just operational. Everything sits within a broader system of meaning.

This requires discipline. The discipline to slow down when you feel ready to accelerate. The discipline to ask questions when you think you already have answers. The discipline to observe before you act.

Because speed without understanding is not efficiency.

It is risk.

There is also a deeper layer here for leaders. Respect is not a communication strategy. It is a way of operating. It shows up in when you choose to speak, what you choose to say, and when you choose to step back.

If there is one shift worth making, it is this.

Do not enter a market with answers. Enter with the intention to understand.

Because the environments we build in are not empty spaces waiting for solutions. They are living systems, shaped by people, history, and memory.

And the businesses that last are not the ones that move the fastest. They are the ones that learn how to move in rhythm with the environment they are part of.

Thank you for reading.

Warm regards,