At the Intersection of Philanthropy and New Business
Kyoko Ito / Consumer Industry & Agriculture Business Division Foodstuffs Business Department Food Material Section
Aug. 30, 2024
When I was in elementary school, one of my family members passed away from an illness. From that time, I knew I wanted to help those in need. But where was help needed? My first thought was developing countries, and this interest in helping others sparked my interest in working overseas.
In university, I majored in Agriculture Science as I reasoned agriculture would pave a path for me to go abroad. When I was in my junior year, I traveled to Rwanda in Africa through a study abroad program organized by the United Nations. Many new businesses were emerging in Rwanda at the time, and I felt the country’s entrepreneurial energy. Inspired by this economic development, I found myself increasingly drawn to a business approach to aid. The United Nations and other public service organizations are skilled at the negative to neutral approach, while the business approach involves continuously growing a business from 1 to 100. After Rwanda, I later studied abroad in the Philippines doing agricultural research in a rural village, and this experience strengthened my conviction to pursue a career in international business.
My decision to join Sojitz was based on three reasons. First, I felt Sojitz was a place where I could grow as an individual. When I spoke with employees, I learned that Sojitz provides its junior employees with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience. Second, Sojitz was a company that offered work freedom and flexibility. I got the impression that Sojitz’s many unique employees were able to effectively channel their individuality into their work. Third, the last employee I met during my office visit had an inspiring working style and passion for the job, and I could see myself working for such a manager.
After joining Sojitz, I continued to dream of working abroad. I frequently asked my manager to send me to a developing country at the earliest opportunity. I hoped to go abroad again to fulfill my desire from elementary school to help people and to relive the excitement of new business creation in Rwanda. At Sojitz, there is a trainee program that allows junior employees to gain career experience from an early stage. Sojitz is a company with seven business divisions for handling a diverse variety of products. In my case, I had the opportunity to go overseas as an inter-divisional trainee* in my third year to work at a company in Kenya engaged in the instant noodle manufacturing business.
*Various training systems are in place to cultivate management level employees, including an overseas trainee program, a system for dispatching employees to MBA programs, and self-guided programs for language acquisition. Our unique trainee program allows employees to gain experience at organizations with missions that differ from that of their own.
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My assignment was to a joint venture established by Sojitz and one of Kenya’s major consumer goods manufacturers called Kapa Foods Innovations Limited, which was just getting ready to begin sales of its new instant noodle product, Nala Noodles. I can vouch for the deliciousness of Nala’s chicken-flavored noodle product, which is popular in East Africa. Although the product differs from Japan’s major instant noodles, I can proudly vouch for the fact that Nala’s instant noodles are the most delicious product in the instant noodle market not only in Kenya, but in all of East Africa.
When I first arrived in Kenya, I found myself thrown into an entirely new business field, which made it difficult to participate in business talks outside my previous frame of reference. In addition, I did not have clearly defined responsibilities when I arrived. I faced the challenge of creating a job from scratch in an unfamiliar new place. However, I soon realized that I could help to organize and analyze the sales data which was not being utilized. This was an important first step in the process for implementing strategic, data-driven marketing. My efforts paid off and I was entrusted with project management for the develop of the next instant noodle flavor and able to expand the breadth of my work.
In Kenya, I worked under a manager on secondment who also arrived from Japan at the same time as I did, which was a great learning experience. Kapa Foods’ business can largely be divided into four pillars: 1) raw material procurement, 2) manufacturing, 3) marketing, and 4) sales. The manager’s role is to fully comprehend the work of highly specialized staff members active in different fields, lead operations, and determine the next course of action. To be effective, managers must listen carefully to their staff and understand workers’ perspectives, earn the trust of all parties, and be confident in communicating the necessary information at the appropriate time. It was an invaluable experience to learn from a manager building a new business block by block while handling occasional pushback from internal and external parties in the process.
I am still committed to realizing my childhood dream of helping people in developing countries to lead a better life. To realize this dream, I will continue to steadily gain the necessary experience to make a positive contribution. What are the needs of the population and what can facilitate growth in the country? I would like to continue to improve my own skills as I consider these questions in the search for the optimal ways in which to contribute to greater quality of life.
Fortunately, Sojitz is a company able to consider different methods for providing new value based on its existing functions and assets and then pursue the best option. I consider this capability for new value creation to be one of the best things about the company. Moving forward, I will continue to find ways to improve the lives of people in developing countries while working on the front lines of business.
Excitement is my compass for navigating the future. Delivering new value to society is not only about providing humanitarian aid to others, but also personally rewarding for me as an individual. I enjoy jumping into different environments that expose me to new people and products and then taking on the challenge of new business creation under these circumstances. I am overjoyed if a new business benefits people and receives positive feedback from the populations it impacts. What could be better than having fun while helping others through projects that benefit society?
Looking ahead, I hope to continue to pursue new business creation around the world with energy and enthusiasm.