At home in the bush and in the boardroom

Mark ole Karbolo straddles the traditional and corporate worlds, chairing the board of the oldest cement company in the East Africa and overseeing the operations of a programme that has succeeded in easing the transition of conservative pastoralists to modern life.

Today, the Loita Maasai herd improved livestock that yield more milk and meat besides growing crops to enhance their diet, hence their reluctance to part with him.

How did a university-educated man, born in another part of Maasailand weave his way into the confidence of a culturally conservative people?

Karbolo chuckles, seemingly amused by my question: "I put culture before my education, making sure that I went through all the Maasai rites of passage — from moranism to being a recognised Maasai elder. I am thus one of them despite my education."

Pedestal of acceptance

In his capacity as a senior Maasai elder, Karbolo has presided over the graduation of morans, traditional weddings and helped establish age groups. He belongs to the Ilkitoip age group.

"From that pedestal of acceptance and respect, I impressed upon them that culture could be manipulated to suit prevailing circumstances, all the time maintaining that what we inherited from our forefathers was noble."

His ‘raid the soil’ campaign for food security has been a phenomenal success, emulated in other parts of Maasailand.

"We now have more food, are more secure and economically sound than when morans risked their lives by raiding other communities and seizing livestock for the same purpose — food security," he says.

He attributes his success at Ilkerin Loita Integral Development Programme to discipline acquired from a culture that stresses uprightness and integrity.

"These will serve me well at East African Portland Cement Company together with the hands on leadership approach that won me accolades from the community," he says.

The corporate world, he says, is wrought with challenges that he hopes to overcome with his "prudence and caution" approach that has worked in community service where a leader has to be ahead of the community all the time.