NMG, KIM in deal to benchmark local enterprises

From Left, Nation Media Group CEO Linus Gitahi, Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) Council Chairman Alfred Lenana, Mabati Rolling Mills Chairman Manu Chandaria, Chairman KIM Board of Fellows Peter Muthoka and KIM Executive Director David Muturi when NMG signed a partnership deal with KIM to sponsor a business conference recognizing competitiveness of Kenyan enterprises.   NATION MEDIA GROUP

By AGGREY MUTAMBO amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Monday, May 6   2013 at  10:56

 

The Nation Media Group has partnered with the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) to sponsor a business conference on competitiveness of African enterprises due to start in Nairobi on Tuesday.

The conference which will be the first in Kenya seeks to bring in small and media enterprises as well as established companies to participate in the Organisation Performance Index (OPI), a type of criteria that will be used to assess how far they are from the global standards.

Speaking during the partnership announcement, NMG chief executive Linus Gitahi said OPI will help participants to improve and compete with other companies globally.

“It is a tool that will help organizations develop their effectiveness leading to more efficiency,” he said.

NMG will finance the conference to the tune of Sh700,000 and will be supported by Crown Paints (Sh250,000) and corporate identity marketer Design One which has put in Sh150,000.

The OPI is a descendant of the annual Company of the Year Awards (Coya) which the KIM has been organizing for the past 13 years.

The organizers now feel it will not be enough to give trophies to top companies if they are not helped to stay within international standards adopted by firms in industrialised countries.

“Local enterprises can no longer afford to be oblivious of the world class standards in the wake of global competition,” said KIM Board of Fellows Chairman Peter Muthoka.

The Index will be based on seven pillars of leadership and management, human resource and welfare of employees, customer orientation and marketing, financial management, innovation and use of technology, corporate social responsibility and environmental conservation as well as productivity and quality of products.

Companies will be assessed on a scale of 1-10 where I is poor and 10 is ‘world class’. Anything between 1 and 10 is ‘competitiveness’.

But according to KIM Chief Executive David Muturi, OPI will not be about ranking of companies, rather it will be about helping companies to attain the required standards.

Although the Index will assess companies that have participated in the Coya, small and medium enterprises are welcome to apply to KIM after which the Institute will send in assessors to check adherence to the seven pillars.

The Index Patron, Dr Manu Chandaria, promised a Sh100, 000 boost for SMEs that will emerge the best in the assessment.