With the healthcare industry being one of the fastest growing and constantly evolving industries in the world, it has to face challenges such as resurgence of old diseases such as tuberculosis as well as an increase in chronic diseases caused by a growing young and aging population such as cancer.

According to the National Health Sector Strategy (NHSSP) 2005-2010, weak management systems are cited as one of the key factors contributing to the decline in the health status of Kenyans. Whereas at national and sub-national levels, coordination has been addressed through various mechanisms such as the Kenya Health SWAp, the Joint Inter-Agency Coordination Committee, the Health Sector Coordination Committee and through provincial and district/county level stakeholders forums and scant investment has been made in improving leadership and management skills for health by government. Is there a gap that can be filled by business schools?

In a study done by Maureen Nafula (2010) 77% of the health managers surveyed thought that business schools have a role in strengthening healthcare management. In this study there were 382 mentions of the benefits of business schools which were perceived to be expert in enhancing leadership and management skills, had higher quality standards, were more flexible, were more responsive to the market and offered more relevant and practical training.

The healthcare programs offered by SBS will enable healthcare providers to understand and evaluate new dynamics in health managed organisations, rapid advancement in the medical and information technology, increased competition and growing demands for greater transparency from patients.

In addition to negotiating the day-to-day demands of a busy and complex organisation, healthcare delivery leaders will be able to evaluate and understand the impact of different healthcare delivery models and major service delivery programs in specific disease areas.

SBS Healthcare Programs

MBA – Healthcare Management

The MBA in Healthcare Management program aims to equip managers with relevant skills for leading and managing the various facets and challenges that confront professional hospital and clinic managers, managers of NGO and faith-based health providers, and professionals in the emerging insurance, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.

The program builds on a combination of the established strength of the SBS MBA programs and students who graduate with an MBA in Healthcare Management will have the academic grounding needed to move throughout health-related industries at different junctures of their career, and more importantly, will have life-long skills to respond to the fundamental changes that characterize African health care.

Leading High-Performing Healthcare Organisations

This program is held in conjunction with the Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and through funding from USAID and is designed for the healthcare leaders of our region and is geared towards improving healthcare delivery – a key criterion of economic development.

In addition to negotiating the day-to-day demands of a busy and complex organisation, healthcare delivery leaders must also be able to evaluate and understand the impact of different healthcare delivery models and major service delivery programs in specific disease areas.

Executive Healthcare Management Program

EHMP was developed to enable healthcare providers to understand and evaluate new dynamics such as health managed organisations, rapid advancement in the medical and information technology, increased competition and growing demands for greater transparency from patients.

The program provides a unique opportunity to healthcare professionals to develop and enhance specific skill sets and leadership qualities that are required to create high performing healthcare organisations.

Bio Entrepreneurship Executive Program

This program explores the role that both entrepreneurship and innovation play in the competitiveness of life science companies and seeks to discern, clarify and delineate the interface of science and business in the life science industry. In addition, the concept of social entrepreneurship and reverse innovation that is currently shaping the business of life science industry especially in the developing world is introduced.

The program will be run in collaboration with KEMRI – Kenya Medical Research Institute and Wharton Business School’s International Institute for Biotechnology Entrepreneurship.

Managing Healthcare Businesses

This dynamic program is designed to develop and enhance the general business, leadership and management skills of owner managers in healthcare-related institutions. It builds on unique healthcare modules that provide deeper insight into the unique elements and issues of the healthcare industry in Africa.

The program emphasizes key dimensions of applied business practice in healthcare, provides a broad knowledge and skill base as well as a range of practical tools and concepts, and imparts practical relevance to the participants through a variety of methods inherent in the content and methods of the program.

For more information, contact Luka on Llukongo@strathmore.edu.

The transaction was which was closed on Friday April 12th has elevated Mr Kinuthia to the billionaires club as the transaction is worth billions of shillings.

Mr Kinuthia began the company in 1995 in Kariobangi by manufacturing shampoos and conditioners with a capital of KShs 3,000. He used to deliver the products using a handcart to the local salons after manually manufacturing the products using drums, a big stick for mixing and heated oils. He faced challenges in the beginning as banks refused to fund his business.

The demand for his products grew among local salons as they were readily available and relatively cheaper than other products in the market. In 1996, Kinuthia expanded his business to produce hair treatments and body lotions and by the 2001, the products were being exported to Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

Currently, Interconsumer Products is East Africa’s leading manufacturer of beauty products with renowned brands such as Nice & Lovely, Queen Elizabeth, Clarion and Bouncy.

Owner Manager Program (OMP)

Kinuthia joined the SBS OMP program in 2010. This program is designed to help owner managers to harness their talent and key economic driver that can be captured through best-practice knowledge from resources such as faculty, industry experts and experience in a forum of rich learning.

OMP helps entrepreneurs to develop long-term strategies, achieve faster growth both professionally and personally, manage equity stakes, understand business opportunities and improve executive decision making capabilities and succession planning.

Interconsumer Products was ranked 3rd as the most family friendly company of 2011 by the Center for Research on Organizations, Work and Family (CROWF), a research institution within Strathmore Business School that has the task of developing strategies that help organizations in Kenya improve employee retention, commitment and personality through enabling employee engagement.

For more information about OMP, click here.

Strathmore Business School

Strathmore Business School offers management training to business executives in an environment that allows for sharing use of real life case studies. This assists participants seek ways of resolving real business dilemmas in the business environment. SBS partnerships with global partners in Lagos Business School, IESE Business School and GIBS provide exposure for the participants in these programs.

Speaking at the ceremony, Permanent Secretary Eng. Carey O. Orege, CBS, affirmed his belief in research and development and stated that the partnership between MoRDA and SBS will help to develop the initiatives of the ministry and address the imbalances in the region. “The cooperation between MoRDA and SBS will ensure that the projects become self sustainable.” This partnership will spearhead integral development in the region as the ministry will be able to gain from the specialized skills offered by SBS to overcome challenges in managing various projects.

Dr. George Njenga, Dean of Strathmore Business School (SBS) stressed on the importance of the training which will enhance the capacity to negotiate when handling the projects that have been initiated. He pledged SBS’ support of the RDAs by analyzing and influencing the different aspects of their projects. “This partnership will help develop good strategies and foster succession planning which will ensure continuity”, stated Dr. Njenga.

The training will aid in building linkages with international experience in the management of large scale development projects and will include research and coaching of RDA executives to ensure internalization of leadership and strategic skills.

MORDA provides policy guidance, builds capacities, and ensures oversight management, coordination and development support to Regional Development Authorities which promote integrated development through the implementation of integrated programs and projects such as the provision of hydro-power, flood control, water supply for irrigation, domestic and industrial use as well as environmental conservation.

SBS has been providing capacity building programs in business, healthcare, NGOs and the public service with a bias in leadership and management. The business school promotes ethical leaders tantamount with its mission to develop transformative business leaders. SBS provides its participants with a world-class learning environment, where they can share and reflect on their experiences and develop new ideas that will lead their companies into a new era.

The enlightening breakfast session which was sponsored by the Institute of Directors Kenya (IOD), a professional organisation of individual Corporate Directors and senior managers, began with a presentation from Dr. Robert Mudida – Senior Lecturer, SBS, who highlighted the changing political and economic environment in Africa with a focus on the growth of the continent which now has a fast-growing middle class. This growth, he noted has been widespread across all sectors and has been faster than that of East Asia including Japan. This has been attributed to the improved macroeconomic conditions, decrease in public debt, increased labour productivity and other factors.

The breakfast event also included a panel session comprising of Dr. Mudida, Dr. Martin Oduor-Otieno – Former CEO, KCB Bank Group, Rose Lumumba – Director, Capital Markets Authority and was moderated by Dr. George Njenga – Dean, Strathmore Business School.

It was noted that organisations have visions and goals, which need to be met efficiently and effectively through well planned and executed strategies. The board has the mandate to oversee the organisation and ensure that it operates in the best interest of its stakeholders.

Being in a board of any organisation is a challenge especially with the intricacies of the current corporate structures and flexible markets. Rose stated that organisations must deliver and the responsibility is upon directors to ensure this. The board should therefore be trained on how to carry out their roles, duties and responsibilities. Training the board is becoming more crucial as the boards are now being held accountable for the failure and or success of organisations.

Indeed it is true that effective boards add real value to organisations and for a board to be effective, a healthy relationship between the CEO and board members needs to thrive. Dr. Martin Oduor-Otieno stated that the relationship between the chairman and the CEO is a key relationship which should not be adversarial. The chairman should create an atmosphere of trust, transparency and respect to enable the board to thrive. Building the right relationship however takes time and effort.

Board evaluations in now common practice as boards seek ways to improve their organisations. Evaluations should be carried out to enable the board to become increasingly strategic and practice better governance in a bid to ensure continuous improvement in their performance. “It would be advisable to use a third parties to evaluate the board as they will be able to delve into issues and strategize on circumventing them,” said Dr. Oduor-Otieno.

The issue of fewer women sitting on boards in Kenya was raised, to which Rose affirmed that the Institute of Directors has compiled a list of women directors who have been trained on corporate governance to assist those interested in hiring board members.

SBS differentiates itself from other Business Schools by using participant centred learning, having personalised attention to its program participants, having a strong alumni, having regional participation in its programs and having faculty who are well exposed to industry.

According to the report, it was noted that the SBS is doing well in line with the AABS criteria on the aspect of staffing as it has adequate, well trained, experienced and competent faculty to manage the programs offered. It was further noted that, unlike other business schools, SBS has a positive impact on the quality of output especially in the MBA program due to the faculty – student ratio. In addition, within three years, the faculty had made significant intellectual contributions in the form of books, written articles, case studies and conference papers.

It was noted that a bulk of the case studies used in the MBA program are Kenyan or Africa based with guest speaker sessions from seasoned industry leaders invited to address the students on current pertinent issues. A feature to be applauded was the participation of the SBS MBA students in a global business module in IESE Business School, Spain.

AABS mission is to enable business schools in Africa to contribute towards economic growth and development in Africa by promoting excellence and responsibility in business and management education through capacity building, collaboration and quality improvement. SBS has been a member of AABS since 2006. Other members who are also SBS partners include Lagos Business School and Gordon Institute of Business Science.

Few scientists experience the unique honor of receiving an unexpected phone call with a foreign voice on the other line. Once the message becomes clear that they’ve won the Nobel Prize, life ceases to be the same. The Nobel Prize is an award honoring the best work in physics, literature, chemistry, medicine, peace and economics;is viewed as the highest intellectual honor in the world. Alfred Nobel, Peace Advocate and Inventor of dynamite, left the money for the first five awards in his will. In 1901, the Nobel prizes were born. What does it take to win a Nobel Prize?

Though there’s no clear formula for success, there are certain traits common to many Nobel laureates. Above all, the prize favors people who seek to advance human knowledge or create solutions to the world’s problems, with accomplishments ranging from Robert Koch’s discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis to Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership of the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1960s.

People, who create paradigm shifts, or major shifts in thinking for a field, are more likely to receive a Nobel Prize for their work. For instance, it would be tough to imagine where theoretical physics would be without Albert Einstein’s contributions that earned him the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921.

Dr. Scholes on his part created a paradigm shift in finance that had been dominated by Obligatory model of derivatives or valuation through inventing the option model and its method of valuation, widely known as Black Scholes model.

This, for a while, kept me thinking that the Chief Guest’s presentation would have been on how to boost one’s chances of scoring a Nobel prize. Little did I know that there would be surprises coming my way and some tangible benefits for SBS, the entire Strathmore University and Kenya in the long-term.

Before his presentations, many people knew that Dr. Scholes was the inventor of the Black Scholes model, but most of them could not even dare try to explain what exactly it was. I did not know what it was either. One attendee complained of the sleepless nights he received regarding the model, to which the Nobel Laureate responded jokingly that “don’t just be thinking of how many sleepless nights the Black Scholes model has caused you, but how many sleepless nights it caused me and it continues to cause me in advancing it.”

This reminded me of the time I was studying philosophy when I enjoyed various theoretical schools of thought including Rene’ Descartes philosophy of clear and distinct ideas. But one Philosophy that made my life harder was Emmanuel Kant’s categorical imperatives. When it dawned on me that the author must have spent more time, energy and resources in coming up with their models, I shifted my attention from the author to the situation that worried them and made them work toward demystifying the reality. Even more worrying is our ignorance of models that ought to make the world, and Kenya for that matter, a better place. This was like a revelation to me.

I came to pity myself at the moments I have given up on theories or ideologies just because they were complex to understand, yet they have already been demystified by someone who took more time doing that than the time we need to understand these theories and models. This made me search for Dr. Scholes during the networking cocktail held after his talk and asked him to explain to me in a paragraph what Scholes model is. He made it so clear to me. Since then, I have been able to explain to more than ten people what the model is. I realized that even the most complex things in the world have their basics; therefore, to understand them, one needs to know its basic foundation. I discovered that there is a lot of simplicity in complexity that makes one sophisticated.

Black Scholes model is a complex and sophisticated framework built on basic real life issues. May be that’s what makes Dr. Scholes simple and humble but sophisticated.

In that regard, the key message from Dr. Schole’s visit is that we just need to observe the basic realities in all we do and come up with models and frameworks that can solve them and in this way, can end up as the ideas that if Kenyan businesses employ, would help our country in its prosperity as recognized in our vision 2030. From this, Kenya will be able to achieve its goal by responding to its realities, which are basic and lead to sophisticated models.

This is where Strathmore University has a role, to observe basic realities/ challenges that our path to prosperity faces and develop models to guide the country in this path. If this happens, we shall be sure that at least one Strathmore University Scientist will join the exclusive club of Nobel Laureate and imitate Dr. Scholes. This would be win for all, win-win-win-win…

By Dr. Fred Ogolla

The program has also broken distance barriers as participants from other countries in Africa are enlisting in to pursue the program. The program runs using a 12 day modular session every quarter of the year.

Watch four students from the inaugural Modular MBA class of 2012 as they share their insights on the program.

Organisations mostly communicate with their employees on news and information, policy, recruitment, staff development, conditions and other announcements. In the current competitive work place, employees play a bigger role than just working for the organisation. They are also key stakeholders of the organisation as they take up other roles such as customers, members of the local community and shareholders. Communication with employees has now evolved to play a more diverse role in fostering good relations to the point that it ceases to be a simple matter of communicating on work related issues.

Good communication lays a good foundation for the success of the organisation. Poor communication creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and vacillation in the workplace. By effecting strategic communication practices in place, employees feel more motivated and committed to the organisation. It is crucial to consider the message when formulating its content as employees are likely to be concerned with what affects them. The first step in enhancing employee relations is to conduct a communication audit to find out how the staff feels, how they perceive their organisation’s culture and the way it communicates. This aids in the formulation of effective and efficient communication strategies.

To maintain positive employee relations, organisations should employ an array of tactics for employees to communicate their suggestions and apprehensions to management. This helps employees to feel more engaged with the organisation and it minimizes the chances of issues developing into crises.

The management should strive to engage with employees by meeting and talking with them. This can be achieved by using a ‘management by walking around’ style whereby management walk around the entire organisation, talking to the employees, organising social events which helps create bonds and creating employee recognition and reward systems.

Important information and decisions should be circulated amongst all concerned employees to ensure that they are all in the know. This helps to strengthen management-employee relations. Create a systematic and transparent method of communicating with employees such as newsletters, emails, bulletins and intranet.

Finally, make information manageable and not overwhelming with too much unnecessary information.

By Christine Mbwayo

So how exactly do you reach for quality in any organisation?

A few years back, Sunny Bindra, an Advisory Board of Strathmore Business School (SBS), made a presentation titled ‘Building a world-class Business school.’Sunny demystified strategy by stating that ‘strategy is less about grandiose, brilliant, complex plans, and more about doing a few things extremely well.’ The ability to do ‘ a few things extremely well’ calls upon the individual to have the personal discipline and commitment to expect nothing less than their very best at fulfilling their duties and tasks.

Quite often the practice has been to rush through our tasks and duties. We very easily tend to subscribe to what has been termed as a ‘minimalistic ethic’ to get things done. Moreover, it is amazing that there will always be the excuse of doing something for little or no money at all, or to presume that the recipient of our actions either does not deserve excellence from us or is not expecting anything next to excellence. One way to combat this tendency to fall back on the bare minimum is to strive to consistently demand more of ourselves than others do, as well as to consistently strive to exceed expectations.

All of us have the battle of moulding our character and it has been stated, rightly so, that our actions consistently performed gradually become habits, which also transform into our character, and eventually determines our destiny. There is the subtle temptation and misconception to presume and imagine that when the moment calls for it we shall bring forth our desired traits of excellence and munificence. The late Stephen Covey, the author of ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, said that ‘ you cannot talk yourself out of a situation you have behaved yourself into’. Habits, be they positive or negative, can be learned or unlearned, and the more they are entertained, the more ingrained they become in our system. Excellence, therefore, will be significantly the result of a conscious effort on our part to do everything well, both the big things and the little things.

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher gave a quote that is oft-repeated and has depths of wisdom. He said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” The standards that we choose to entertain on a day-to-day basis are what eventually become our habitual way of being even when we do not think about them consciously.

Sunny also pointed out that success is about sacrifice. Why sacrifice? This is probably because any goal or endeavor that will be worth reaching for will require individual as well as collective effort. Even as we wish that we can be able to manifest quality, we will have to be ready to sacrifice our comforts and conveniences to be able to deliver world-class standards in each and everything that we do from answering an anonymous caller to doing research on an emerging medium-sized enterprise that is here today but may not be operational tomorrow. He further linked this sacrifice to success which entails to the idea that strategy is fundamentally about choice and sacrifice. This is important to appreciate since we will not be able to do everything that is feasible therefore, we shall require the discipline to choose what fits into our mission and vision, and let go of that which does not no matter how attractive it may look at the time. Sunny connected this idea to the sad but true reality that any organisation that tries to be all things to all people, and to do all things at once, will always fail. This failure can therefore be avoided by having the organisation maintain the discipline of adhering to their strategic focus, what sometimes has been referred to as sticking to the knitting.

The need for patience in the pursuit of greatness and success is closely linked to the idea of the essential need of sacrifice. Sunny used the example of Walmart to demonstrate how greatness takes time. With over two million employees worldwide and touted as the world’s third largest corporation as well as the largest retailer in the world, Walmart’s emergence and dominance was patiently built by Sam Walton from 1945 with a single super store that has grown over the years to be in 8,970 locations by 2011 and reported revenues of USD 447 billion in 2012. This example showed how Sam Walton grew from having a single store in 1945 to opening the second one seven years later, to having 40+ stores in the 1970s, to having 1, 528 stores by 1990, which were estimated to be 6,800 by 2008. The story demonstrated patience towards achieving the greatness that is manifested in Walmart, which also maintained dominance as the world’s largest private employer at the time. This patience in pursuing greatness is nevertheless counterbalanced by a certain demand on oneself and on others to pursue greatness every day and at each moment without settling for mediocrity.

The example of Sam Waltorn and the Walmart stores also connected well with the quote Sunny shared from Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale who said, ‘Nice people may appear to finish last, but they are running in a different race.’ Faithful adherence to the strategy to inform daily actions and choices in the organisation may at times manifest an apparent dullness or lack of expected activity but this nevertheless bears fruit in due time. There is consistency that champions do which often go unnoticed but contribute towards their greatness. Joe Frazier, who was recognised among the ten greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, was once asked by a reporter before a match whether the champion in him was going to be made in the ring he was about to enter. Joe responded by saying, ‘Champions are not made in the ring. They are recognised there.’ Joe Frazier explained that the champion was made in his daily commitment to the grind and practice, the grueling exercise routines and reps day in and day out. This implies that much of what accounts for greatness will be what each one will perform that is seemingly humdrum and unspectacular but contributes to the greatness that is recognised later.

Sunny then delivered a slide that answered the question ‘How will we beat the world?’ The how is achieved in the following ways:

• By building uniqueness
• By continuously improving our product
• By reminding ourselves of our goal
• By setting high standards
• By building personal excellence

Each one of these suggestions is indeed a gem of wisdom to ruminate over and to digest, with tons of wisdom and insight behind it. In a manner this resonates with a question that Sunny proposed for each one to examine himself at the end of each day and ask, ‘Have I operated at world-class levels today?’

The different efforts that staff members put in at their respective designations resonate and complement one another much better when carried out with consistency and constancy. Benjamin Disraeli, a former British Prime Minister, said that the secret of success is constancy of purpose. In spite of all the efforts that different team members may be putting in an organisation they would still need to continually see the link between what they are doing and the overarching mission of the organisation. This then brings us back to the initial sentences of Sunny’s presentation: do we understand the overall strategy, the mission, and the vision of the organisation? Is it simple enough in our minds to comprehend and to see the connection to what we do in the organisation on a day-to-day basis? If not, what can we do about? The journey begins with you and me.

By Roy Were.

Prof. Anne Muigai recounted her experiences as a career and family woman. She gave the participants advice on how to balance work and family as they are both important spheres during in their lives the guest speaker session.

She acknowledged that women are often trying to balance their personal lives as well as their professional lives and urged them to begin by defining what they really want and what really matters to them.

“I have found that as a woman in the professional field, men have already defined where you fit and your roles. Do not present yourself as a man because you are a woman. Be a woman first and view your femininity as strength and get to know more about your employees and their families,” said Prof. Muigai.

She encouraged the women to set some time aside to reflect on the decisions they have made in their lives by stating that they should not wait until things go wrong to do so.

“Family is very important,” she said, “make it the focus of your life. Analyse the amount of time you spend with them and find a way to touch base with them. For example I drop and pick my children from school because the one hour spent in traffic allows me to know what is happening in their lives. Support the passions and talents of each family member.

She urged the women to be pillars of support for those who are around them but also take care of themselves by taking personal time to rejuvenate, refresh and recharge. “In life, you are always beginning again. Make an impact wherever you are. Be passionate about what you do. If you lack the passion, do not do it as you will. Know what success means to you and define it. Once you define it, work towards it,” concluded Prof. Muigai.

About Prof. Anne Muigai

Prof. Anne Muigai is a molecular population geneticist with over 13 years’ experience in the field of Genetics and Biotechnology. She holds a doctorate in Population Genetics and Molecular Biology from JKUAT, Kenya. She is currently an Associate Professor of Genetics in the Department of Botany, and is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Agriculture Science and Technology. She is also the Coordinator of the postgraduate programmes in the Department of Botany.