Results
„The balance sheet more than doubled and profit after tax nearly quadrupled. Beyond the numbers, Frank helped us shift the conversation inside the company — from technical compliance to genuine ownership of our values.”
— Jaco Viljoen, Group CEO, FMBcapital Group · 2026
„Stepwise will remain in the history books of our bank."
"For the period Frank has been with Equity, we have seen and felt his contribution in the entire organization. Staff forgot his role of a consultant as he became one of our own. He worked in the way a teacher works — by drawing answers out of us rather than handing them in.
During the first year of working with us, we grew from 252,000 to 413,000 customers — a compound annual growth rate of 70 percent. Our staff grew from 354 to 582. These numbers tell only part of the story. What changed first was how we spoke to one another about our purpose, about our customers, and about the country.
Stepwise will remain in the history books of our bank."
„His communication methodology, while deceptively simple, proved extremely powerful."
"Frank was introduced to us four years ago to support the FMBcapital Group in developing a group-wide strategy. At the time, the organization operated across six countries with six different strategies, and many of us believed that a unified group strategy was simply not achievable.
Through his strong focus on alignment and active listening, Frank brought together a highly diverse group of leaders and personalities. Within days, this resulted in a clear purpose statement — “Growth is our Business” — supported by five critical success factors. His communication methodology, while deceptively simple, proved extremely powerful, enabling the strategy to be effectively cascaded to approximately 2,000 staff and board members. The outcome was a consistent, shared understanding in which people genuinely felt included and heard.
Four years on, the financial results speak for themselves: the balance sheet more than doubled and profit after tax nearly quadrupled. Beyond the numbers, Frank’s work helped shift the organization from a traditional command-and-control leadership style to a far more engaging and inclusive culture. A recent culture survey delivered excellent results across all countries, which I strongly attribute to the strategic, values, and cultural alignment that began with Frank’s facilitation.
Having recently completed a new strategic review, we are confident that an aligned executive team — supported by Frank’s cascading methodology — positions the Group well for the next phase of growth and a continued focus on putting customers first."
‘Frank has a knack for getting participants to focus on the task at hand and coaxing really good phrasing out of them.’
"With Stepwise, we developed a new vision for our global company — and implemented it worldwide across all relevant sites in the form of World Cafés. Even 10 years on, staff still have fond memories of it.
The Strategy Tree and the World Cafés are unique and highly effective tools for management to drive the targeted strategic development of a company, whilst involving and motivating all employees.
Frank has a knack for keeping participants focused on the task at hand and coaxing really good phrasing out of them. On the sidelines of the workshops, individual participants receive one-to-one coaching — providing an opportunity to further develop their personal skills.
The international executive management team was extremely satisfied with the consultancy and the success achieved. It is still spoken of positively even 10 years on. Even 10 years after the strategy was developed and implemented, employees still have fond memories of the World Cafés."
„Frank has been a trusted sparring partner to me from that first conversation in 2006 to this day."
"Frank and I first met at a Leaders Circle in 2006. In our discussion he talked about Stepwise Management and Power of Alignment. He had already done that with the Equity Bank team and it was being effectively used across the whole bank. APA was a small company that was formed with the merger of the General Insurance Business of Apollo Insurance and Pan Africa Insurance — hence the name Apollo Pan Africa. We had staff of 80 people who had come from Apollo and Pan Africa. We carried out a World Café for the cascade. Combined we were number 8 in the Insurance Industry.We implemented Power of Alignment. When we finished, the young team came up with „Big Ambition" — to be a leader in the industry, to expand in the region, to have the best workforce and a brand to be recognised. This became our strategy. Over the following years, Frank guided us through several strategy reviews — most notably in 2016 — always helping us sharpen our focus and evolve with the market. We learned how to cascade strategy to staff using the Structure Tree, how to develop solutions through methods like Gardening, and how to bring our vision to life. What started as „We put smiles on the faces of our stakeholders" matured into our current promise: „We insure happiness."
Today, APA is the largest General Insurer in Kenya. We are also the 4th largest Life Insurer, a significant player in Micro Insurance and Agriculture Insurance (insuring 2,000,000 smallholder farmers), and we manage the health cover of over 500,000 lives under the security service schemes.
Frank has been a trusted sparring partner to me from that first conversation in 2006 to this day — and the Power of Alignment continues to shape how we lead."
“It is rare for workshops in diverse teams to be so focused, whilst also being designed and facilitated as a positive team experience.”
"Since January 2019, the ECOWAS Cluster has been in place within the GIZ’s external structure (Nigeria & ECOWAS Country Office), bringing together projects from several sectors (peace and security, trade, health), all of which collaborate with the political partner ECOWAS. The establishment of the cluster went hand in hand with the pooling of staff for cross-cluster tasks (finance, administration, security, communication, etc.).
Mr Kretzschmar played a key role in supporting this process of cluster formation and development through a number of measures over an extended period:
- Participatory development of a strategy for the cluster (July 2019) and sharing of the results in a World Café format
- Conducting workshops on quality management in teams (October 2019)
- Cluster review and team-building processes (July 2022)
- Participatory review and reformulation of the cluster strategy (October 2023)
- Sharing of the results in a World Café format (January 2024)
Working with Mr Kretzschmar has marked crucial milestones for the ECOWAS cluster and has greatly benefited its establishment and development. The deliverables produced during this process (strategy tree, objectives, indicators) and the quality management topics were developed with a high degree of professionalism. The methods employed by Mr Kretzschmar were always clear and applicable to all team members, regardless of their position or professional background. The workshops were consistently productive and designed to be effective in day-to-day operations, whilst also strengthening the teams’ culture of reflection and presentation.
It is rare for workshops in diverse teams to be conducted with such focus, whilst also being designed and facilitated as a positive team experience. Mr Kretzschmar achieves this primarily through his many years of experience – which includes a thorough understanding of the GIZ context – and through his keen sense of team dynamics. The large-group facilitation sessions (World Café format) are designed – in terms of methodology, structure and spatial layout – in such a way that they work effectively, are enjoyable and optimally fulfil their purpose of bringing together the prepared outcomes. They come across as light-hearted and inviting, which is only possible thanks to the professionalism of the planning and the processes involved.
Working with Mr Kretzschmar has always been stimulating and productive. Thanks to his skilful facilitation and his ability to involve all participants, the teams have always fully embraced the results. As coordinator of the ECOWAS Cluster, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Kretzschmar for his excellent support."
"Frank Kretzschmar has made a significant contribution to the dynamic development of the MCI in recent years."
"The Management Centre Innsbruck (MCI) is an integral part of the ‘Open University of Innsbruck’ concept, which is unique in Austria, and offers, amongst other things, the General Management Executive MBA Master’s programme and the LL.M. in International Business and Tax Law.
As Managing Director of Stepwise Management, Frank Kretzschmar facilitated and coached the strategic goal-setting process at MCI — beginning in January 2004 with one-to-one discussions with senior managers, followed by three workshops facilitated by Mr Kretzschmar.
Even during the one-to-one meetings, Mr Kretzschmar demonstrated competence, insight, integrity and professionalism. As an external consultant, he brought the expertise required for all aspects of the high-level and detailed design necessary for the individual stages of the goal-setting process.
Mr Kretzschmar established himself as an extremely competent, balanced and results-oriented process facilitator and enjoyed the full trust of all participants. Thanks to Mr Kretzschmar’s strong methodological expertise and his many years of experience across various industries, the goal-setting process at the MCI was successfully driven forward and brought to the desired conclusion.
Frank Kretzschmar subsequently taught courses at the MCI for four summer semesters: “Strategy Implementation” (summer semesters 2006 and 2007) and “Strategic Management II” (summer semesters 2008 and 2009) — each comprising two hours per week. Frank Kretzschmar has made a significant contribution to the dynamic development of the MCI in recent years.”
“You should be feeling very proud about Equity since you immensely contributed to make Equity what it is. I will always be indebted.”
I am pleased to share our experience with Stepwise Management Consultants in Managing Change and Growth.
Equity Bank has in the past decade experienced exceptional growth in all sectors which included customer base, deposits, staff levels and outreach. The growth brought along major changes in its key operating areas. At the same time, Equity’s strategic plan was to convert into a commercial bank from a Building Society. These issues demanded that the bank invests in the management of this growth and change to ensure competitiveness and a seamless transition.
Swiss Contact, one of our development partners recommended Stepwise Management Consultants as one of the known professional trainers in this field. This recommendation was echoed by the Steering Committee which comprises of other development partners.
In February 2004, Frank Kretzschmar, of Stepwise Management Consultants began associating with us to understand why change and growth management was a priority in Equity. This was followed by several meetings with both staff and management then training.
For the period Frank has been with Equity, we have seen and felt his contribution in the entire organization. Frank is very professional in what he does. While we hold him very highly especially in change management, his biggest asset is in planning and organization. Frank is very experienced, exposed and energetic. He takes work seriously and displays a great deal of enthusiasm.
While working with us, it was with ease that Frank assimilated into the teams and often times, staff forgot his role of a consultant as he became one of our own. The speed at which he adapted to the culture of Equity and that of Kenya in general is exemplary. He spent long nights passionately preparing staff for the following day’s presentations either to other staff, their managers or the board together with key stakeholders in Equity.
During the first year of working with Frank, we managed to maintain our compounded annual growth rate of 70 % on Total Assets, Loans, Deposits and Profitability. Staff increased from 354 to 582 and Equity converted from a Building Society into a Commercial Bank. The number of customers increased from 252,000 to 413,000.
We are honored to have worked with Frank and in general Stepwise Management Consultants who now share the pride of a successful conversion. Stepwise, therefore will remain in the history books of our bank as it has through Frank made a great contribution in ensuring that change and growth is now managed effectively with the use of one single effective tool – The Structure Tree.
Incase you wish to receive more detailed information on what Stepwise Management Consultants covered, we will be pleased to give you a report.
"We embarked on an adventure that would introduce us – as analytical, fact-based and speed-driven Microsofties – to a whole new world."
"When we decided in 2006 to support the organisational changes with interval training, we didn’t realise that we were embarking on an adventure. An adventure that would introduce us – as analytical, fact-based and speed-driven Microsofties – to a whole new world.
We began our collaboration with Frank Kretzschmar under the motto ‘Forward-thinking and sustainable action in the project’ and were initially taken aback — no strict agenda, no fixed procedures, no pre-set goals — rather, a trainer who allowed for developments and an open-ended daily schedule.
Over the 12 months of working with Frank Kretzschmar, we learnt to engage with one another, to listen to one another and also to draw on much of Frank’s experience as a trainer in Africa. Today, our organisation has rituals that help us exchange information extremely quickly, analyse complex situations and develop a course of action together — we learnt this from the Maasai elders, as conveyed by Frank Kretzschmar.
But why not ask him yourself what the Rungus and storytelling are all about?"
“Learning from Africa – Africa meets Kleinwalsertal”
“Learning from Africa – Africa meets Kleinwalsertal” was the theme of this year’s management retreat. Our aim was to gain fresh inspiration to better navigate the future. To foster a willingness to forge our own, unconventional paths and thereby enable successful, values-driven growth at Raiffeisenbank Kleinwalsertal AG.
They faced the demanding challenge of transferring the experiences of Equity Bank Ltd. from Kenya – which has achieved successful growth in recent years, not least due to its distinctive management approach – to our company. Both banks, Raiffeisenbank Kleinwalsertal AG and Equity Bank Ltd., share the fact that they are unique in their respective environments and highly successful in their markets.
The design and delivery of the workshop were perfectly tailored to the needs and strategies of our company. The methodology, supported by African drum rhythms and your enthusiasm and passion for the subject, ensured that our management days were both entertaining and engaging. In doing so, you opened up new and different approaches to the topic of ‘change management’, which achieve particular sustainability through sound, credible and lived values such as community, respect and tolerance."
‘Frank is a true master of the art of change management and organisational development.’
"Frank achieved through a series of short change management workshops and interventions over about 18 months to put EBS safely back on a sustainable growth path that is likely to make EBS one of the most successful microfinance banks in Africa. A similar process has been mapped out for ACB.
Frank is a real master of the art of change management and organisational development. He applies a wide range of tools in a virtuous and flexible way so that he can achieve the desired outcome. He communicates and impresses people through his whole personality, his skills, and his knowledge of change management.
We can definitely and wholeheartedly recommend Frank to all his new clients as a consultant who delivers result even in very difficult situations and who might become a friend(..)."
