Ideas to Action @ KUSI

Ideas to Action @ KUSI

If you did not attend yesterday’s session at KUSI, make sure you are on the front row today. The interesting mix of, “Pre-COVID, In-COVID- and Post COVID” suggestions and projections are an important melting pot for Eastern African entrepreneurs. COVID has evolved faster as an economic stimulus package than a medical crisis. What may be interesting for researchers to determine is how people define “disease” in our modern world. It would appear that a condition such as COVID-19 cannot be treated or “cured” by a medical vaccine alone or even the entire efforts of the pharmaceutical fraternity to resolve the threat to human life. Human life is much more than having an immune system. Human life consists of occupation, enterprise and socio-economic intercourse. COVID-19 has won attention of the media, politicians and the business community because it has “interfered” with the routine pursuits of a healthy humanity. It has therefore created a point of contemplation, reflection and regeneration. Before we can talk of a post-COVID economy, we need to capture the consummate lessons of the In-COVID-19 bubble. How do we cope, how do we emerge and WHAT CAN WE DO with it? To my fellow entrepreneurs, pre-COVID times are not coming back. Consider the data and dissect the political rhetoric. Rather than debate whether the glass is half full or half empty, think about what to do with the water, the glass- and the people looking at the glass! Consider the opportunity and cut through the ideas to action.

 

First Week of December 2020

First week of December 2020 @ Business Daily

I can empathize with the editor who suddenly realized that December is here and had to start summarizing the “remaining” stories to fit in the paper before the year ends. It is pretty difficult to isolate the top stories from the important ones and then establish which have the highest impact. COVID-19 has probably been the top story throughout the year, but the important stories are the lives impacted and livelihoods changed. John Creswell says research of the future is about “numbers and stories”. The data on layoffs, profit warnings, fatalities, tax and technology give us a heads up on the direction things seem to be taking, but the emerging stories of how people are coping and others moving on with life “regardless” of the pandemic are the ones that create the future. This second group have decided that life cannot be put on hold and therefore are planning, training, developing and working towards the future with hope and determination - whether they get the vaccine or not. Somehow life must go on and that seems to be the message. While scaling back and repositioning is now a major occupation of all industries bracing themselves to operate under depressed economic conditions, there are those who are taking on new challenges with the eyes of visionaries and see opportunity where others see problems. The numbers in 2020 tease and challenge us to examine whether the glass is half empty or if it is half full.

Allan Bukusi

Sources – Business Daily

Innovation & Enterprise @ Academia

 

Innovation & Enterprise @Academia

December always sparks a holiday season. Many minds have already moved out of town and headed to holiday destinations. Those who have to complete their school programs can’t wait for the term to end. But December is also tinged with a hint of hope for a new beginning. The business sector seems to have picked up some end year cheer with the hope of a COVID vaccine becoming available in the Western world. Under a depressed economic cloud, there is a new drive to bring on board technology and innovation to usher in the New Normal. Innovation, Tech conferences, agribusiness initiatives plus a loud discussion of how Kenya can close its Industry-Academia gap. This decades old debate does not seem to get much traction every time it is brought up. Unfortunately, HELB data shows 38,314 (more) education loan defaulters and blamed it on the limping economy. Perhaps it is time that HELB should become more innovative in generating money FROM education and generating money FOR education by appreciating that education is an enterprise that can only grow if it is profitable. Relate these comments to the Industry-Academia gap and you will appreciate that the education industry operates in isolation from economic reality. With treasury backing a plan to triple university fees the gap between Academia and Industry just got wider. It will only come together when Academia starts to feed industry with what it is asking for and when academia becomes an agent of enterprise.

Allan Bukusi

Sources – Business Daily

   

Minimum Tax @ Treasury

 

Minimum Tax @ Treasury

There is a proposal that every business is to pay a mandatory minimum tax of 1% of its turnover. Whichever way you look at that proposal; it does not create any incentive to do business, if I owe the government money for taking the initiative to feed my family. It is unlikely that the proposal was made by an entrepreneur. However, in this regard, I must offer a counter argument to advance the cause of fiscal prudence. One company CEO I worked with a few years ago offered his staff the following advice, “I would rather make 1 shilling from a billion transactions than make a 100 shillings from a thousand customers”. This may be the fundamental logic behind the MAT argument except for one crucial oversight. In the CEOs case, it was the company’s business to generate those transactions. In the government’s case it is not. Safaricom works hard to generate a billion transactions. The government may need to generate productivity before reaping a running harvest. The second nugget is that while a government needs money to run a country, high taxes do not spur economic growth. A survey of tax regimes in African nations indicates that there is a direct negative correlation between high tax rates and economic growth. The tipping point is 8%. Below this figure growth rises exponentially. Above this figure growth declines, stalls and falls between 16-38%. We can learn from available global statistics on tax vs economic growth.

Allan Bukusi

Sources – Business Daily

How to Negotiate Share-Share Outcomes - in 2021

 

COVID-19 has created a temperamental and insecure business negotiating environment in which, “Win-Win” outcomes are impractical and “Win-Loss” outcomes are unacceptable. You can’t have “Win-Win” because both parties won’t get what they want and you don’t want “Win-Loss”, because one party then takes advantage of the other. But there is s third option discussed in this book in which both parties work together for mutual success. To access that option you must think beyond yourself; think about what is good for you, but also what is good for your negotiating partners – and what is best for everyone in the environment.  But this book is not about COVID-19, it is about coming through a  crisis – any crisis! First, reflect on the nature of the crisis and carefully frame the issues that need to be addressed. Second; examine the ecosystem and empathize with how the situation affects all the stakeholders within it. Third; reach out and build a trusting relationship with your negotiating partners. Fourth; agree on the principles and strategies that will anchor “business continuity” for both parties. And fifth; negotiate and share responsibility for sustainable outcomes in the New Normal.

This book is based on the findings of a research study to establish how some business were able to remain open in spite of the harsh economic impact of the pandemic on society, trade and travel. The book offers important crisis survival and sustainability tool kits for individuals and businesses everywhere.  We are all going to need a whole new set of negotiating skills in the New Normal. The book launches in January 2021 @ Kshs1,000/=  (10USD) plus shipping rates outside Nairobi. Email the author for details.

Yes, Its December!

 

Yes, it’s December!

If you are like me, then this has been the longest year you have ever lived or can ever remember. I thought it would never end. For many it has been a year that has tested our faith in friends, family, finances and ultimately faith in God to the very core! There are many who may not have visited Church for most of the year. The English say that you need to call a spade a spade and not use euphemisms like a big spoon, if you want to deal with reality and move on with life. There has been plenty of pain all around. And this is not a griping post. First, I would like to help you see that you are no alone and that the challenges have actually been universal. That means many of the hopes, dreams and resolutions you had for the year may not have materialized. However, when I look back there were somethings I never would have done, had the year not turned out as it did. I picked up an exercise routine that moved me from an unfit, paltry 3 kilometers a week to a modest 8 Kilometers a day in 8 months! – bring on the marathon! (or at least the half-marathon). Sitting at home, without a job, I have written and published more papers than I have had the time, concentration and focus to come up with in the past decade! My prayers have shifted from “God I want this” and “God, I need that”, to “God, what would you have me do?”. Of course, I can’t remember the last time I was this broke. I don’t know how that can be counted as an achievement, but many rich people seem to think it is important to acknowledge the starting point. Look back, and you will see some of the good in you (or to you) too! So what has this got to do with December? Well it’s the season, a reminder that, no matter how rough the road or great has been the load, No Season Lasts Forever! And so my wish for you this year is to have a Happy Christmas.

Negotiate @ Chief Justice

 

Negotiate! @Chief Justice

Chief Justice David Maraga, shared some interesting data that indicates “out of court” settlements are the way to go. In one sense, the Chief Justice is happy to work himself out of a job if people can sit down and negotiate among themselves. This seems like a growing sense of maturity, but the data shows that it also makes huge business sense. 2905 cases settled out of court means that there were more than 11 cases settled for every business day of the year. Those cases turned over Shillings 33.9 Billion in value that would have been tied up in non-productive assets awaiting court direction for at least one year. That means the economy was injected with “liquidity agreements” of 2.83 Billion shillings a month. Money which would not have been available to anyone. This is a concept that is not always appreciated by those seeking justice, but clearly understood by entrepreneurs. It has been said that “justice delayed is justice denied”, but entrepreneurs know that “payments delayed is as good as business denied”. Thus, I laud the courts for offloading those cases from their corridors and roundly I applaud those citizens who chose not to put their lives on hold, and sat down to negotiate terms that helped everyone move on with life. Given the hurdles presented by COVID-19 in the prevailing economic season, I urge companies to take direction from the Chief Justice, polish their negotiation skills and agree on terms with business partners.

Allan Bukusi

Sources – Business Daily