By Rahul Kochhar
MAY 13 – In a world that celebrates disruption, operations remind us that some of the smartest moves are the ones that keep things steady.
Last week, we celebrated Labour Day, a moment to reflect on the contributions of workers across industries. But there’s one group whose impact still goes unnoticed long after the hashtags fade: the quiet operators.
You’ll rarely find them on stage at conferences or quoted in press interviews. Their wins don’t go viral. Yet they’re often the ones who quietly carry organisations on their backs. These are the operators: the planners, the implementers, the coordinators who make sure that vision becomes reality, that product launches stay on track, and that customers feel what brands promise.
These are the teams that keep things moving when everything else feels stuck. They don’t just manage processes they solve problems before they reach anyone else’s desk. They navigate supply chain snarls, cross-border delays, last-minute regulation changes and they do it all without fanfare.
Globally and across the continent, operations roles are evolving. According to McKinsey, organisations that invest in next-generation operations digital-first, employee-centred, and innovation-aware are seeing as much as a 30–50% increase in productivity and efficiency.
Locally, this shift is happening too. In Kenya and East Africa, where logistics, infrastructure, and customer demands are uniquely complex, it’s often the operations teams that hold it all together. They turn friction into flow, managing real-time challenges while keeping an eye on growth. These are the people who make expansion not just possible, but sustainable.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, this truth became even clearer. As global supply chains strained and ports clogged, it was operations teams, often working quietly behind the scenes who kept things moving. Their foresight and flexibility kept the lights on.
At Samsung East Africa, we see this every day. From warehouse staff and customer service agents to our supply chain teams teams who ensure items reach each market on time, every product delivered is a success story written by operations. Our commitment to supporting this workforce is part of a broader belief in dignity at work, inclusion, and continuous learning.
What’s striking is that the best operations minds don’t chase visibility. They chase results. They focus on the unglamorous, the process-driven, and the deeply necessary. They understand that progress isn’t always loud. Often, it looks like consistency. It looks like the thousandth delivery made on time, the call answered politely at 9 PM, or the system that didn’t crash because someone made sure it wouldn’t.
At the back of the recently celebrated Labour Day, let’s continue to honour the quiet excellence. The steady hands. The minds behind the machine.
In a world that celebrates disruption, operations remind us that some of the smartest moves are the ones that keep things steady.
The writer is HoD Consumer Electronics Division at Samsung Electronics East Africa
