Strategic Leadership Development International, Inc. Opens Kigali Offices

Aug. 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Dallas, TX -- Dallas-based Strategic Leadership Development International, Inc. (SLDI) has opened its first overseas offices in Kigali, Rwanda. The company moved into its office space in July and now has a full local staff in place.

SLDI (http://www.leaderperfect.com) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leadership Development Corporation, also located in Dallas. Dr. Mike Armour, the Chairman of Leadership Development Corporation, is also president of SLDI.

For almost a decade SLDI has provided executive development services for dozens of companies in the U.S. and abroad. SLDI's clients include some of America's largest corporations.

In Rwanda, SLDI is configuring its programs around the leadership development priorities of Vision 2020, the nation's long-range strategic plan. The plan's ambitious goals put a premium on dynamic, effective leadership.

From its office in Kigali, SLDI will also coordinate its recently-announced initiative called Leadership Development Africa. The initiative targets leadership needs in all countries of the region. The endeavor is a joint undertaking with Leadership Training Associates International of Nairobi, Kenya. In Rwanda

Leadership Development Africa seeks to combine best practices of business leadership in the U.S. and Europe with the economic opportunities of Africa. The first three seminars under this initiative are slated for late September in Kigali.

The seminars will draw hundreds of business and government leaders from around the country and will center on the overall theme, “What Great Leaders Do.” Armour will be the primary presenter for all three seminars.

In April he provided training on project execution for the staff of Rwanda’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Mr. Protais Musoni. During this visit Armour met with several government leaders, including Prime Minister Bernard Makuza, to identify the most pressing leadership development needs in Rwanda.

Meetings with leaders in Rwanda's private sector also gave him a deeper grasp of specific challenges faced by business owners and management teams as Rwanda builds for the future. Input from these conversations has shaped the curriculum for his upcoming seminars in September at Kigali's Serena Hotel.

In a morning seminar on September 22 Armour will lay out principles for building organizations that are able to maintain peak performance. The next day he will begin a two-day seminar to examine “Five Essentials for Leadership Success.” This seminar will be repeated the following week on September 28-29.

Details of these seminars, as well as registration information, can be found at http://www.LeadershipDevelopmentAfrica.com.

SLDI will soon schedule additional programs in Rwanda, as well as in neighboring Uganda and Kenya. Initial trainings in Uganda and Kenya are tentatively planned for the early part of 2012.

In addition, Armour is exploring ways to address leadership training needs in the more remote areas and smaller communities of Rwanda. One possibility under consideration is to prepare Rwandan graduate students, enrolled in American universities, to serve as leadership trainers in the smaller communities of Rwanda once they return home.

“Many of these students are pursuing MBAs,“ Armour notes. “As trainers they would couple the credibility of an American MBA with a thorough knowledge of Rwandan culture and local languages. This combination of factors could make them highly qualified trainers.”

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Founded in 2001, Strategic Leadership Development International, Inc. provides comprehensive business and leadership development services for clients of all sizes, from small start-ups to Fortune 100 corporations, both in the U.S. and abroad. Its founder and president, Dr. Mike Armour, is a renowned author and keynote speaker on themes related to trust-building, ethics, communication, and strategy.