Kenya has abundant corporate leaders

Conference room with a big polished table and arm-chairs.

Was the celebration of Bob Collymore about his achievement at Safaricom or the rarity of such corporate leaders? While researchers agree Kenya and most African countries suffer from the missing middle - a shortage of medium-sized companies - we have not explored the shortage of corporate leadership.

Why are foreigners snapping up big jobs at corporate level? Can we be bolder and ask if the corporate leadership will transit into political leadership in the long run? Suppose Collymore after retirement offered himself for Senate or MP?

The easiest answer is that we can’t agree on who among us is best suited to lead our corporations. This allows foreigners to get through.

One source of disagreement is our loyalty to our tribes. Governors must balance tribes and clans in the county jobs. At the national level the term ‘regional balance’ is code word for tribal balance. Even supposedly tribeless institutions such as universities can’t escape it, with well-kept statistics on which tribe has which jobs.

Regional balance or face of Kenya seems like a borrowing from Nigeria, an economic giant imprisoned by the spectre of tribes. Remember the Biafra war? Africa may never know how much talent is lost because of her obsession with tribes. Those denied the chance to flourish at home are soon forgotten or die in frustration. More talents leave the continent with other countries benefiting from them. I’m amazed by the number of highly educated Nigerians in the West, from medical doctors to engineers.

While the younger generation is more likely to say they are Kenyans, tribal affiliations are still a strong factor in our social and economic life. We are trying to cover it with foreign names like John Jackson or Veronica Michael. Was the face of Kenya in the constitution a euphemism for tribal balance? It will haunt us for many years to come.

Interestingly, the face of Kenya only comes to life when resources are being shared, not being generated.

Two, it is paradoxical that we love using case studies of big corporations in business schools yet we are complaining about shortage of corporate leaders. Karatina University has tried to focus on small and medium enterprises.

Socio-psychological disconnect

Why the disconnect between our aspirations and reality?  It’s more socio-psychological than academic. Our graduates have the academic knowledge but miss the soft skills and corporate socialisation.

Don’t take offence, but think of a young boy or girl who grew up in Shamakhokho or Ituramiro and came to the university in the big city. In four years, he or she will be so absorbed by academics and seeking accommodation or food that there is no time for corporatisation. That would mean attending corporate seminars, meeting corporate leaders, attending guest lectures and such.

In the past, university years were enough to corporatise undergraduate students. They had money - ‘boom’ - and the confidence from it.  The government took care of their basic needs like food and accommodation, leaving them with enough time to be easily corporatised. Within one semester it was hard to know who grew up in Kanyonyo village or Karen. Today, those differences persist throughout the university years, particularly in public universities.

That is why corporate leadership is slowly shifting to private university graduates. They have the soft skills sought by big corporations. Remember that students in private university started corporatisation early, even in primary school or through parents, including who they socialised with

The shift of corporatisation to private universities is evident at board level. In the past, lots of dons from public universities were in corporate boards. Today? 

Three, the decorporitisation of university students has  created a demand for foreign-educated graduates who are seen as more corporate or easier to corporatise. Check the academic background of boards of big firms. Needless to say, the foreign educated are more likely to think like the owners of the big corporation.

Four, it could be that Kenya has no shortage of corporate leaders; we have too few corporations to serve as seed beds of leadership. After all, the owners of corporations put in the board those they believe will take care of their interests.

One easy way to have Kenyans tested for corporate leadership is to have more big firms. How can we create more corporations instead of fighting for the few? Suppose Nairobi Securities Exchange had a thousand listed firms?

Five, the shortage of corporate leaders should be looked at from the supply side, not demand side. If we grow the economy by reaching the marginal 10 per cent per annum, more young men and women will have opportunities to be corporate leaders.

Unfortunately, it’s easier to create pseudo-corporate leaders through politics than through entrepreneurship. That is why we want more MPs, senators and MCAs.

Protecting positions

Six, the corporate leaders in public sectors and some in private sector spend more time protecting their positions than growing the firm. The much publicised ouster of CEOs will make lots of potential executives shy away. There seems to be a hidden belief that the easiest way to create a CEO is to destroy one first.

Finally, like any other country, Kenya has no shortage of corporate leaders. After all, our intelligence is normally distributed. What we are missing is opportunities for the corporate leadership. If we can’t create such opportunities, we can let the youth create them. They created Facebook, Microsoft, Google and all other admirable firms.

Interestingly, Kenya‘s most profitable firm, Safaricom, was not created by the youth. Why?

- The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi