Teachers and Doctors strike

The unions representing doctors and teachers and the government must learn to negotiate on the basis of balancing the competing interests and rights. Hard line positions will not serve our nation any good. Thats good sense.

Insecurity: What is the real problem

The insecurity and tension we face in our country is a result of unequal distribution of resources. It is the high time that as a nation we learn how to balance between the rights of corporations and human rights.

Responsible Investing: CSR

As a country we cannot take pride in economic growth and progression, while our people still fight over resources and struggle to feed our children.

Corporate Social responsibility projects by corporate organisations must now, like never before, address the fundamental needs of the majority.

Corporate Environmentalism: Voluntary Environmental conservation

CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTALISM

Laws are meant to govern relations between people in society. What then happens to a society that already has a high form of organization? Is it possible to have a society that does not require strict legal regulation?

I came across the term ‘corporate environmentalism’ that provokes my thoughts about this broad topic.

The term simply means corporate organizations investing in environmental conservation without waiting for the ‘hawk eye’ of the law. It means that companies voluntarily taking steps to ensure that their activities are environmentally friendly. It means that citizens who have come together as a corporate body, taking individual steps to conserve the environment. It avoids a hostile approach to environmental conservation and in contrast emphasizes partnerships and co-operation.

I hope we can learn from this.

Want to buy a company, what about employees..

I recently highlighted the tussle between Kenon Kobil and its employee's relating to the acquisition of majority stake by Puma Energy.

Well this is the point. It is important to ensure a balance between the Kenol Kobil's rights and the right of the employees to fair labour practises.

So what should other companies learn from this. First, i support investments since they are a necessary part of our livelihoods. However i also believe that investments must be people-focused. As such a company cannot be stopped from entering into strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions and other forms of take overs. This is an important right for every corporation, since it ensures profitable growth by establishing new business lines or growing existing ones. If the deal has the necessary legal approval, the directors shake hand and move on.

Secondly, as executives shake hands and toast to a deal, they must be reminded that their decisions will directly affect employees. In this regard, the Talent Acquisition/Human Resource department should bring its employees to understand the deal. They should ensure that employees are well protected and make them know this. If employees will be retrenched, give them good send off packages, recommend them to prospective employers, help them develop business plans (to start their own small and medium ventures) and ensure that they leave peacefully.

Lastly, updating employees on the progress made in the deal on matters affecting them will also help avoid conflict (real or imagined). I have laernt that in life, people relax when given the right information and panic when kept in the dark.

I strongly believe that resulting to courts to resolve anticipated disputes is not good for the corporation or employees. The matter will most likely delay in court and both parties bear the costs. In addittion in a global business world, the reputation of the company may be dented if such a process is handled carelessly.

All in all a focussed balance of rights, entitlements and interests will go along way to ensure investors reap from their investments.

Rio+20: Business, Human Rights and Sustainable Development

The UN experts on business and human rights are not pleased with the outcome of the Rio+20 conference. This an interesting subject for CROPRI knowing the critical role businesses play in our economies and the need to balance their interests with human rights, so as to have a stable society that guarantees sustainable liveliohoods for present and future generations.

Enjoy reading it.

Business must respect human rights for truly sustainable development – UN expert body on Rio+20

GENEVA (28 June 2012) – A United Nations expert body* charged with the promotion of respect for human rights by business of all sizes, in all sectors, and in all countries, expressed concern that the outcome document of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, failed to explicitly mention that business should respect human rights in the drive to a green economy and sustainable development.


“Businesses will play a major role in developing the green economy and human rights safeguards are necessary to ensure that policies and business plans intended to advance environmental or development goals do not negatively impact people, communities and their livelihoods,” said Puvan Selvanathan, who currently heads the five-strong UN Working Group on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises.
“Inclusive, equitable and sustainable development can only become a reality when human beings are the central concern and their rights are realized and respected,” Mr. Selvanathan stressed. “Human rights must be internalized in both principle and practice, especially in the transition to a green economy.”
For the Working Group, internalizing human rights means at a minimum implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (see below), a set of internationally accepted guidelines, which provide a global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse human rights impacts linked to business activity.
“States need to send clear and coherent messages that companies should respect human rights as the world creates a green economy, by exercising due diligence and ensuring access to effective remedies for those whose rights are adversely affected by business activity,” Mr. Selvanathan underscored.
Besides promoting and disseminating these Guiding Principles, the Working Group ensures that they are effectively implemented by both governments and business, and that they result in improved outcomes for individuals and groups around the world whose rights have been affected by business activity.
The UN Working Group called on States and business to work with it, civil society and other stakeholders, on ensuring that the path to sustainable development set up at Rio+20 is undertaken, while protecting and respecting human rights

Where do employees stand when a company is bought?

Puma Energy is in the process of buying KenolKobil. It remains to be seen how this deal will be finalised and how KenolKobil prospect will change with such huge capital injection. However and most importantly is the various players in the entire deal, both direct and indirect participants and stakeholders. In this regard several questions came to mind after i read that employees at KenolKobil have sued to stop the sale.

So, do the employees have a stake in the deal? If, yes what is the extent of their interest? How do we balance the rights of the corporation to seek strategic shareholders through such a deal and the rights of employees? What is the best mechanism of balancing such rights; negotiations or litigation in court? These thoughts will occupy my mind in the coming days and i hope to address all of them.

Become an E-Coach

Association of African Entrepreneurs - Become an E-Coach
The Youth Employment Network (YEN) is a partnership of the United Nations, International Labour Organziation, and the World Bank set up after the Millennium Summit in 2001 to find new and durable solutions to the youth employment challenge. YEN is managed by a permanent secretariat hosted by the ILO in Geneva with field offices in Dakar, Senegal, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The Association of African Entrepreneurs is a Pipeline partner of the YEN Marketplace E-Coaching Program, where our specific role is to help attract young entrepreneurs and e-coaches from around the world by sharing the opportunity to apply for the E-Coaching programme.
Volunteers are invited to serve as AAE E-Coaches on the YEN program, where they provide crucial mentorship for young entrepreneurs with lots of ambition but not much experience.



Read More

http://wp.me/p2lINC-3R

Corporate (Bank) bailouts; Whose interests?

When a company is in need of a bailout, to avoid collapse or near-collapse, for whose benefit is this being carried out. How to we balance between the interests of the company, shareholders and the general public during such bailouts.

It is important that bailouts are not done for the mere reason of saving a corporations. Behind the corporate entity are people who should be put to account. Shareholders and the general public matter and must be considered.

Here is a short piece i found on forbes

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2012/06/11/the-worst-bailout-yet/

hope you enjoy reading.

Common Linkedin passwords hacked

Here is an interesting piece on securing passwords "Top ten Linkedin hacked passwords"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/06/11/unbelievable-top-10-hacked-linkedin-passwords/

A good image will to along way in safeguarding your professional image in Linkedin.

Cheers.

Condolences

Corpri sends sincere condolences and God's peace to the families, relatives, friends, colleagues and indeed all Kenyans for the loss of six Kenyans in the Ngong Helicopter Crash.

Let us continue to make the security of all Kenyans and the various enterprises they operate a primary concern for us all. Let us also continuously pay close attention to the security of our aircrafts.

Internet Security and Business

Last week i had the misfortune of my email account being hacked. My personal data was compromised and i still cannot fully detail the extent of the damage. I also regret that this may have caused a ripple effect of abuse on my friend's, colleague's and associate's accounts.

It all started with an innocent looking email from a friend. It was so enticing since it related to business and online trading. I fell for it and the results were a disaster. I quickly tried rectifying the account while away from Nairobi over the weekend but the same proved futile i had to wait as the criminals vandalised my account. I am glad that the error has now been rectified.

Had the account contained any business data and  information, it would call for a declaration of a Personal Investment Disaster.

Now i have come to think about it, today we can literally trade at the comfort of our office or house thanks to Mobile and Online Trading.

You can make offshore investments as you work here in Kenya at the click of a button. Today you can invest in a public company through Mpesa. For instance AIB Capital has recently introduced AIB Mobile service for trading in stocks. This is possible due to enhanced Internet connectivity and the magic of mobile money (what i call the 'pesa mkononi' revolution).

Large and Small enterprises are now turning to e-solutions to manage their ventures in a more cost-effective means. Cloud computing is now the preferred solution to handle shared data within an organisation and has revolutionalised application of computer programmes. Internet providers and software developers are competing to introduce new and innovative produsts by the minute.

The above brief exposition is the reason why we must take On-line security most seriously. Imagine the loss a business can incur if its systems are compromised or the government if a hacker infringes its system, as it happened for the Kenya Police Website awhile back. Confidential information can be shared with and billions lost through to criminals.

Let us all take Internet security seriously and this includes the security of our mobile phones, tablets, PCs the list is endless....atleast i am now very keen on this and have learnt valuable lessons the hard way.

Moi Avenue Blast: Business and Security

My empathy to the victims and entrepreneurs of yesterday's blast along Nairobi's Moi Avenue. Let us work hard to make our country a safe haven for investments and trade.

I hope that entrepreneurs take individual and collective measures to ensure the security of their enterprises. May God restore the hopes and dreams represented by the hardworking business men and women who were affected.

Wise Advice for Small Entreprenuers

Murori Kiunga has very sober advice for small enterprises on the best strategy to grow their business though focus and determination as opposed to what i call 'jumpy - jumpy' joe. Enjoy reading the article in the Business Daily

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Make+sure+your+businesses+have+distinct+legal+identities+/-/1248928/1415338/-/6lifsa/-/index.html

Corporate governance for parastatals

There is ongoing debate on the role of the Board of Directors in state corporations in Kenya. The Boards seem to have unending conflicts with the management. The role of the state through the minister is also very confusing since ministers seem to hire and fire at will.

The suggestion of an oversight body to supervise all parastatals has come up strongly. The Prime Minister has opposed the creation of an oversight body to supervise Parastatals since this would only create government bureaucracy.

I must say that i buy the Prime Minister's suggestion since government bureaucracy does not attract investment both from local and foreign investors.

I believe that it is the high time the government embraced corporate governance principles in all corporations. If for no other reason, since these state corporations belong to the Kenyan public. The Board of Directors need to be appointed independently and its role separated from that of management. Interference from other state agents needs to be eradicated.

Business investment: Views from UN Experts

South-East Asia / Agrofuel: UN rights experts raise alarm on land development mega-projects







GENEVA (23 May 2012) – Two United Nations experts on food and indigenous peoples today urged South-East Asian states not to sideline the human rights of communities across the region who derive their livelihoods, traditions and ways of life directly from their natural environments.






“Governments must not be seduced by the promises of developers when assessing large-scale land acquisitions for export-led crops and agrofuel production,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, highlighting acute cases of competing land interests in South-East Asia, where agrofuel developments are rapidly expanding.






“Development is not always the outcome, however many jobs and export dollars a project promises to yield,” the independent experts stressed. “New economic opportunities, and new, more intensive uses of land, must not be at the expense of the human rights of local populations.”






“Governments must step up their vigilance in regard to large-scale land acquisitions to ensure that the fundamental rights of these communities are not violated, be they small-farmers, fishers, hunters, foragers or craftsmen,” they said.






Moves to convert 1-2 million hectares of rainforest and small-scale farming plots to an export-led crop and agrofuel plantation in the Meruake region of Indonesia could affect the food security of 50,000 people. Some 3,000 hectares of so-called ‘idle’ land has been converted to sugar cane for agrofuel production in the Isabela region of the Philippines, with a further 8,000 hectares due to be added, meaning a major land transformation and uncertain impacts for the municipality’s 45,000 inhabitants.






“Large-scale monocrop developments mean a wholesale shift in land use and land access,” warned the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, noting that the benefits of these projects accrue principally to multinational firms who export agrofuels or food crops to international markets.






“All too often, this is to the detriment of existing land users. If the environment they depend upon is repurposed, degraded and placed off limits, their ability to produce or to procure food – and thus their right to food – will be severely threatened,” De Schutter said.










“These are mostly indigenous families whose traditional livelihoods are rooted in their local environment,” Anaya warned. “Communities are often ancestrally tied to the areas in question and may not possess official deeds to the land, making their tenure highly vulnerable in the face of land conversion deals.”






”Converting bio-diverse forest land to intensive monocropping can entail wide environmental impacts, from the loss of forest-dwelling game species in Meruake, to reduced resistance to flooding and landslides in Isabela,” the Special Rapporteurs noted. “We must also be sensitive to the impacts of sudden influxes of workers on local food access, traditions and ways of life.”






The UN experts expressed concerns about an apparent lack of adequate consultation and transparency in both land acquisition processes. In neither case are indigenous communities believed to have been sufficiently informed and consulted about the land acquisitions and their repercussions on local life.






They also noted that major question marks hang over the land lease and compensation arrangements through which land is changing hands in Isabela, while in Meruake police intimidation and the signing away of land rights under coercion have been alleged.






Both experts urged the South-East Asian Governments “to align – as a matter of urgency – their biofuels and investment policies with the need to respect land users’ rights as detailed the voluntary guidelines on land tenure*, as adopted by States this month in Rome within the Committee on World Food Security.”






(*) Check the Voluntary Guidelines: http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/voluntary-guidelines/en/

Facebook IPO

Hi, of course you know that the buzz word relating to Initial Public Offers (IPO) in the recent days has been the facebook IPO. An IPO in simple terms means through which the public buys a portion of a company. both small (retail) and large investors (institutions) invest through an IPO. The attention generated from this IPO probably resembles that generated by Safaricom in East Africa. I believe that we can all learn from facebook's history and progress.

 You can read information on the IPO on Forbes.com just follow the link below.

http://www.forbes.com/facebook-ipo/

Visionary Business Structure

I have had very insightful discussions with friends on political Leadership in Africa. I however i believe that as business leaders we can draw a lesson or two from our discussion. 

Our main point of discussion was that effective leaders must have a vision. They must then come up with a strategy for achieving the vision and move to implement it. A leader must be sensitive hand over to the next generation of leaders once their vision is achieved so that we can have a cycle of good and effective leaders.

A business whose corporate structure is organised around my simple guide on leadership, and focuses on people is bound to enjoy prosperity in the long haul.

True Kenyan Spirit

I was taking an evening walk on Government street in Machakos. At 6:00pm a whistle was blown and everybody stood still. Motorists also stopped to respect the flag. Cyclists also halted. An old man went further, he took off his cap. I was the only person walking but then i also stopped to observe the residents. I have not done that in a long-while and enjoyed respecting the Kenyan flag together with fellow Kenyans. We all stood irrespective of our tribe, political affiliations or social status. We were truly one.

Human face to justice and Business

Just back from a training on trial advocacy. Well im just tired from the study lessons and insightful interactive sessions that were intensive.

The main lesson from the training was that i need to put a human face to my work as an advocate. Our profession has been described as hostile. We cant wait to win to prove that we are the best. We are highly competitive. We treasure using legal lunguage to prove that we know it all. We intimidate both inside and outside our legal engagements. The conclusion is this, we must tell stories that people can relate to. Like telling a story to a grand mother.

On the same note business and investments is all about people. Corporations are run for and by people. Businesses exist through people and for the benefit of communities. We cannot delink our businesses from the communities we operate them from.

Have a people-oriented week.