He's seen the light

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| Nairobi Business Monthly September

LIFE • TRAVEL • RESTAURANT REVIEWS • FILM& THEATRE • ART • MUSIC • BOOK REVIEW

Society & Culture

B O O K R E V I E W

BY AAMERA JIWAJI

Matteo Guzzini’s speech is punctu-

ated with pauses as he searches for

the right words to express himself,

whether it is in Italian, English or Swahili.

He begins many of his sentences with Allora,

a colloquial Italian word which means “well

....” And like many people new to the English

language, he prefers the present tense – I

arrive, I take, I go – which adds a sense of

immediacy to his speech.

But the challenges he experiences when

trying to say something melt away when he

communicates through his photographs.

All of a sudden it doesn’t matter that he is

an Italian native who moved to Watamu

three years ago, or that he doesn’t speak

fluent English or Swahili. With his camera,

he conveys the humility of the religion of

Islam, the gracefulness of waves as they carve

He’s seen the lightHeir to lighting empiresettles in coastal townof Watamu and makes

it big in photography

THROUGH THE VIEWFINDER

T he b o o k o ff e r s a g l i m p s e i nt o t he p s y c he o f t hi s E a s t e r n p o w e r , i t s c ul t ur e a nd t he s t o r y b e hi nd t he g r e a t C hi ne s e e c o no my .

CONTENTS►

The hidden story behind China’s success 63 ►

The lastword on Management 64

a pattern on a bed of sand, and the wisdom

etched into the face of a Maasai elder. Pauses,

tenses and slang disappear in this intensely

powerful moment of communication.

Matteo Guzzini is one of the heirs to the

iGuzzini family empire, a 50-year-old compa-

ny that produces Europe’s most exclusively

designed lights. He graduated from univer-

sity and first worked at a marketing agency

in Italy, but had a passion for photography. A

visit to Watamu in 2000 for a holiday with his

family changed his fortunes and his future.

“Twelve years ago, Watamu was empty,”

says Matteo. “There were only two lodges.

After two days in Watamu, my family decided

to buy a house here. For me, it was the reali-

sation of a dream.”

As a young boy, he says, he would look

lustily at pictures from National Geographic

of Maasai Mara and Amboseli. Kenya’s rich

diverse landscapes brought to life his dreams



September Nairobi Business Monthly |

Society & Culture

“This will be the first book to show all the di ff erentMaasais: the ones from Ngorongoro, Lake Natron,

Tanzania, Maasai Mara, Loitokitok and Samburu.”

in a way that Italy’s urban and rural settings

never could.

Matteo’s visions of Kenya stayed with

him as he returned to Italy to trade on

the European and North American stock

exchanges. Some months later, global stockmarkets crashed and he realised he needed

to distance himself from the emotions of

the market, and its allure of “haraka profit”

through hasty buy or sell decisions. “In that

moment I understood that to spend the time

in front of the laptop and to see the stock

market move was to lose time. Instead I

preferred to stay away and look at the stock

market kidogo,” he says.

Matteo “restarted” his life by moving to

Kenya. Initially, he apprenticed for Armando

Tanzini, an Italian artist based in Kenya for

over 30 years. A renowned architect and

sculptor, Tanzini had designed the Safari

Park Hotel in Nairobi and was known in

coastal circles as the man who designed

Malindi. Together, they published a book

called P O Box Kenya Africa, which featured

Matteo’s photographs of Tanzini’s work. “It

was a stimulating start for me,” says Matteo,

and it o ered direction to his passion for

photography.

The second book to carry Matteo’s work

is an Italian publication entitled The Last

Warrior in Africa. It will be published by Skira,

a leading Italian publisher of photography,

followed by an exhibition of Matteo’s photog-

raphy in Milan in January 2013 and in Nairobi

in April or May.

“My passion has always been travel. I have

visited the border of Ethiopia, Somalia, Tana

River, Taveta, Busia, Mumias, Kakamega,

Kisumu,” Matteo says. It was his one-month

long stay with the Maasai in Samburu andMaralal, and the photographs he took during

this time, which gave birth to this second

book.

“This will be the first book to show

all the di erent Maasais: the ones from

Ngorongoro, Lake Natron, Tanzania, Maasai

Mara, Loitokitok and Samburu.”

The national networks that Matteo has

built in Kenya over three years have made

him a port of call for Italian media. So earlier

this year, when journalists from Italy wanted

to do a documentary on the Al Shabaab and

their activities in Lamu, Matteo arranged

interviews with members of the Al Shabaab

group.

For the next phase of the documentary,

they will visit the drought-stricken areas of

Garissa, a conflict-ridden border post.

Parallel to his passion for photography,

Matteo continues to follow the stock

markets. “Everyday I wait for news on what

is happening in the market in Italy, or Spain

or Greece or Germany. In the last months, I

have spent a lot of time in front of the laptop

“My passionhas always been travel. I

have visited the borderof Ethiopia,Somalia,Tana River,Taveta, Busia,Mumias,Kakamega,Kisumu,”Matteo says.It was hisone-month

long stay with the Maasaiin Samburuand Maralal,and thephotographshe tookduring this time, which gave birth to this second book.

Matteo Guzzini’s

photographsdocument the

diff erent Maasaigroups in East

Africa.

Italian born photographer Matteo Guzzini



| Nairobi Business Monthly September

to make trade because the markets, theygo very fast up and down so if you take a

good moment and you buy when they break

some level you can find money. In the same

moment I don’t make speculation for only

one day or today. This is also the time to

invest money in the stocks market because

the prices are very down.”

Matteo says he invests in a basket of stocks

but sees a lot of potential in financials,

and is focusing on a Russian hedge fund,

which recently bought 70% of the stocks of

Unicredit, one of the largest Italian banks.

He sees clear parallels between his photog-

raphy and his passion for stock trading: both

demand patience, and quick action at the

perfect moment.

“To take a picture you have to be very

relaxed because sometimes you have only

five seconds,” he says. “You have to have a

nice light on the face, on the eyes; you have

to see the things that happen around you

and if you are stressed you don’t see nothing

around you. You become selfish, you don’t

see the soul of what is happening.”

He started taking photographs 15 years

ago when he was 25, and gradually honed

his skills. Today, he describes himself as a

portrait photographer: a genre where you

“take the perfect moment when people show

an emotion”. “In the photograph you describe

the moment,” he says. “I want to be like a

hunter. Someone who goes around with a

gun, you weigh the moment and you shoot.”

Matteo is well aware of the enormity of the

decision and the great sacrifice that it took

when he chose life as a photographer over the

Guzzini family empire. “When you have a big

business like my family which is worth Sh40

billion and you have 2,500 people work-

ing you have to be really professional and

serious. You can’t just go there to try and be a

good manager. If you are in such an industry

Society & Culture

Muslim

childre

peer

throug

doorw

Lamu



September Nairobi Business Monthly |

BOOK REVIEW

A train trip from Hong Kong

through Shenzhen, Dong-

guan to Qaungzhou doesn’t

reveal the factories adjacent to these cities and

the people inside. These are industrial cities, like

other coastal cities of China. Yet the people in the

factories are the most important resource of China’s

success. And 70% are women, while over 95% are

migrants from distant villages in interior China. And

hundreds of items like shoes, handbags, beauty

products, and materials which are today supplied

to developing and developed world are created by

these women.

Author Leslie T Chang, an American of Chinese

origin and a correspondent for the Wall Street

Journal, follows the lives of two ordinary girls in her

book Factory Girls. Lu Qingmin and Wu Chunming

grow up in the village; leave home in their mid teens

partly because the boys are respected more than

them and because there is “nothing to do at home”.Like 130 million others, they go to the cities to earn

a living. They are an explanation of what China is

today. Migrants create the economy of China, earn-

ing as little as 200 Yuan a month, (Sh2400). They

learn English, Mandarin and basic computer courses

which catapults them to success and save thou-

sands and even millions of shillings in a few years.

They send home over Sh80,000 a year and change

their lives and those of their families. They soon call

the shots back home. A few years later they begin

to date, start a business, get married and even buy

homes in the cities. The long-held dream of “going

back home and getting married to a local man”

fades.

Factory Girls is about the self-improvement,

ambition and resilience of the human spirit. Beyond

that, the book off ers a glimpse into the psyche of

this Eastern power, its culture, and through the

narratives of a group of women, the story behind the

great Chinese economy. It is about the triumph of a

disadvantaged people in a competitive world.

Mr. Kipchumba is a Consultant with Quest Works and

adjunct faculty at Strathmore’s Executive Education

Author: Leslie T Chang

Factory Girls

The hidden story

behind China’s

Success

About iGuzzini

The Guzzini family business has

worked with light for over 50

years. A company that makes indoor

lighting and outdoor lighting luminar-

ies, it was established in 1959 and is

now the leading Italian company in

the lighting design sector.

Since its inception, the company

has focused on the idea that the qual-

ity of a designed light is fundamental

to contributing to the quality of the

environment and so its applications

across the world are developed in

collaboration with leading architects

and designers, and known for their

subtlety and elegance. As a result,the company has received numer-

ous international design awards

including the coveted Guggenheim

Prize. iGuzzini’s designs illuminate

the most popular locations in the

world including Leicester Square in

London, Cathedral of Resurrection in

St Petersburg, Rolex tower in Dubai,

and the Shirvanshahs in Azerbaijan.

Their designs are also displayed at

international museums, which trace

the changing fortunes of the industry

and the transition from copper to

plastic casings.

iGuzzini is a family business owned

and managed by the Guzzini families

who took over the business after the

demise of its founder, Mariano Guzzi-

ni. It is the leading lighting companyin Europe, and recently established

subsidiary offi ces in Shanghai but it is

yet to expand into Africa.

you have to work 365 days a year, 24 hours a

day, you have to put 2,000% in the industry.”

At 40, Matteo is the youngest amongst his

brothers and his 19 cousins, and the only one

who has not been absorbed into the industry.

“Not all of us are born to be on the frontline,

to be a manager, to sacrifice all his life to the

business. I was born free. I want freedom. I

am like a bird, I like to fly here, there.”

His parents had nurtured hope that Matteo

would eventually return to the fold: “My

mother and father had a lot of dream for my

future but I was not clear. So it was a very

strong decision to go away and take my life

and do what I wanted to do.”

In a characteristic shrug, Matteo shakes o

any regrets and di cult memories from the

past, and says, “Allora, I know that here I can

do something good for myself. Something

good for the Kenyans who are my friends.”

“When you havea big business likemy family whichis worth Sh40 billion and youhave 2,500 people working you

have to be reallyprofessional andserious. You can’t just go there to try and be a goodmanager. If you arein such an industry you have to work365 days a year, 24hours a day, youhave to put 2,000%in the industry.”

As a portrait photographer, he exercises a great deal of

patience to capture the perfect moment.

He's seen the light

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