“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well’.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

I am often asked if service excellence is possible in Rwanda and in Africa, because as a continent, many argue, we have primary challenges to cater for first. Challenges such as not having basics such as water at home for several weeks, difficulty in getting transport to office, low pay for service industry jobs renders service personnel unable to meet high expectations of service excellence.

My response has always been the same – excellence is an attitude. We can aim at being good at everything we do no matter the circumstances. Service excellence is possible if we all aim to be the best we can be at every stage of the service chain.

We all know that it costs more to gain a new client than to keep the loyalty of an existing customer. That means that service providers should aim at being professional with customers and try to solve their issues.

We can achieve good service, in fact, we should demand excellent service. If we are not demanding and accept mediocrity, nothing will change. The world is changing very fast and so is Rwanda and the rest of Africa. We cannot remain static and always blame our unprofessional manners and attitudes on the fact that we are in Rwanda or Africa. Let’s all aim at excellence in all we do and we will see the change in the service industry. Let‘s all be the change we want to see in the service industry.

As we bring you the twenty-sixth issue of your magazine, we hope the selection of articles offered by our numerous contributors will push you to always do your best. We thank all those who share their knowledge with us through the pages of the magazine. You too can join us. We accept articles in English, French and Kinyarwanda that can sensitize us on issues related to service.

Enjoy the reading.