The Last Few Days

There are projects that finish according to the programme.

Then there are projects where the programme, the budget and reality eventually sit down and agree to stop fighting.

Ndagani Modern Market belongs firmly in the second category.

We have finally handed over the market to the wonderful people of Tharaka-Nithi. A few finishing touches remain, including the creche and some civil works, but the important part is done. The traders and vendors are already in the market, their stalls occupied and their wares on display.

That feels good.

The last few days were anything but easy.

We had a very clear deadline. Chuka University was about to open for a new session, and we needed the market substantially ready before the town got even busier.

So we crashed the programme.

In construction language, project crashing is the polite way of saying, "We have run out of time, so everybody needs to move faster."

Money was tight.

Time was tighter.

And, as construction sites tend to do, problems appeared with almost perfect timing.

We pushed hard.

People worked long hours. Decisions had to be made quickly. Teams were moved around. Materials had to arrive when they were needed, rather than when suppliers felt ready to send them. There were moments when the deadline looked more like an aspiration than a date.

But somehow, we got there.

Looking back, two things stand out for me: grit and grace.

Grit, because there were several points when it would have been easier to accept that the deadline was simply unrealistic and let the project roll into another week.

Grace, because construction has a way of reminding you that planning only takes you so far. You can have a programme, drawings and a budget, but sometimes you also need a little help from above when reality refuses to cooperate.

And then there was Grace.

It is rather fitting that the person who carried much of the responsibility for the final push is actually called Grace.

She ran the show with a quiet determination that could easily be mistaken for calmness.

I doubt it was always calm.

Behind that quiet exterior were long days, difficult conversations, stubborn teams, last-minute problems and, I suspect, a few sleepless nights that the rest of us never saw.

Yet she made the whole thing look almost seamless.

That is one of the things I have come to appreciate about good leadership. You don't always see the pressure because somebody is carrying it.

Grace carried a fair amount of it.

She kept following up. She kept people focused. She dealt with problems as they came. She pushed when pushing was necessary and somehow managed to keep the whole operation moving without turning every problem into a crisis meeting.

There is something powerful about quiet competence.

It doesn't need a microphone.

It doesn't make much noise.

It simply gets things done.

So, although there are still a few items to tidy up, I am happy to call this particular battle won.

The traders are in.

The vendors are trading.

The county has taken over.

And the construction team can finally breathe.

To everyone who put in the long hours and helped us cross the line, kudos.

And to Grace, our undisputed MVP, thank you.

You made a very difficult final stretch look much easier than it actually was.

I suspect the rest of us slept a little better because you didn't.