BENEATH KENYA’S RUNNING POWER LIES GREAT OPPORTUNITIES

Looking back in history, over the past ten years or so, a common trend emerges:  the men and women who have dominated the middle and long distance racesare either from Kenya or Ethiopia. This fact was underscored in the just concluded International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) championships held in Moscow, Russia. Kenya once again reaffirmed its supremacy by hauling 12 medals, 5 of which were gold. The women were particularly impressive this time round with newcomers, like Janet Sum rose to the occasion and clinched gold in the 800 meters.

Kenya is in a unique position that allows her to leverage her reputation built on tracks. Sports usually provide a fertile avenue for demonstrating a country’s rich traditions and values, through her established athletes heritage Kenya has a rare platform to show-case her citizen’s treasured attributes such as resilience, optimism, generosity and character.In the long run Kenya can project herself as a warm, respectful and open destination and a place whose environment is conducive to thriving commerce, learning and cultural integration. This is well in line with Brand Kenya’s Board vision and strategy. Countries with a powerful and positive image, attracts attention and can leverage this to promote their country. A good image can boost trade in export produces, unique culture and attributes of the people of a country, thereby attracting more investors and tourists.

Many people would wonder what magic or unique power underlies Kenyans starling performance in athletics, especially the distances.Research has revealed that running at higher elevations builds greater lung capacity, because athletes grow accustomed to the thinner air. Many of the finest runners hail from the hilly region surrounding Eldoret, about 7,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level. This area also possesses a fairly mild climate that allows for year-round running. Given this strategic position, counties in the region could take advantage to position themselves as sports centers to promote tourism. Opening training centers will be a big boost for this venture.

The other factor may be the building and nurturing of a rich sporting tradition. In light of the concept of behavior imitation modeling, it has been argued that the continued breeding of world beating stars from Kenya’s Rift valley owes its heritage to an established running tradition pioneered by such legends as Nyandika Mayora, Kipchoge Keino, Moses Kiptanui, John Ngugi, Billy Konchella, to name but a few. 

These social and ecological factors are just some of the explanations for Kenya’s prowess in athletics. And it’s easy to see why this would make sense since our fiercest competitors, Ethiopia,sharesa more or less similar topography, climate and weather conditions. In fact, many of the athletes who challenge Kenyans at the distances,now frequently train at the ‘golden cradle’ of Kenya’s Rift valley and adjoining escarpments. As a nation well known for its dominance in sports, organizing marathons, throughout the year, attracts notable international figures. This thus presents a good opportunity to market Kenya as a sporting destination.

Inside Kenya’s most expensive school

 GEMS Cambridge International School
The classroom looks like a computer lab. Only that it is eight-year-olds busy on the laptops and iPads as the teacher introduces today’s lesson. It is history for Year 4 pupils.

In an ordinary Kenyan school, one would find them crowding their heads on a dog-eared book that has seen better days. The lesson would probably be about the origins of “our” people, phenomena and what to find in the school’s environment.

Not in this school in Nairobi’s Karen neighbourhood. Here, each of the pupils is glued to a laptop or iPad with Wi-Fi connection.

Their teacher, Ms Rachel Cain, is also working on a laptop. Everyone is tech-savvy at Kenya’s trendiest and most expensive school, the GEMS Cambridge International School. It is arguably Nairobi’s newest school, being only three months old.

In the history class, Ms Cain is teaching her pupils how to create historical timelines. She asks each of them to choose a favourite musician. They are then to search on the Internet and create a timeline of events that define the musician’s career.

“As you can see,” Ms Cain explains, pointing at one of the pupils, “this one is dealing with Michael Jackson. The idea is for them to get creative.”

The pupils trawl the web collecting details and arranging them in a chronological order. No fuss. Everything goes on seamlessly.

The scenario is similar in a separate classroom, where another “social studies” lesson is on-going. Each of the pupils has been assigned a topic such as murder, rape and drug abuse to research on. They are using iPads to obtain information from the Internet on the topics of their choice.

When the information is gathered each will create a PowerPoint document on their laptops and use the projector available in the classroom to make a presentation to the rest of the class.

“They are using the iPads to get pictures and videos on these topics and transfer them to the laptop for final presentation,” explains Hannington Mauka, the subject teacher.

This is the trend at the GEMS Cambridge International School, which opened its doors in September this year. The British-system school offers the Cambridge school examinations.

Sitting on 17 acres off Magadi Road in the Karen suburbs, it cost the management Sh3 billion ($35 million) to put up the campus and install all the learning facilities.

The construction lasted just six months between February and August this year.

In its three months of operation, the school, which has a capacity of 1,080, has admitted 70 pupils of 15 nationalities.

A look at the school and the amenities shows not only quality but also affluence.

One of the managers aptly describes it as a home away from home for the pupils.

It is not a school for the children of the average wage earner. It would cost a cool Sh22 million to take a child through the school from the foundation stage (FS) 1 to Year 13. And you won’t even be done with the secondary education.

Under the British system, one needs to study up to Year 18 before going to university.

Mr Raminder Vig, the director of GEMS Africa and the chief academic officer at the school, says they will introduce the remaining five classes from next year.

In Years 12 and 13, the annual fees is Sh1.9 million, tuition being Sh1.2 million and boarding fees Sh700,000.

Between Year 7 and 11, the annual fees is Sh1.7 million, tuition accounting for Sh1.1 million.

The annual fees for Years 3 to 6 is Sh1.6 million, Sh1 million being tuition fees.

Boarding services are not provided to pupils in Year 2 and below, meaning the charges are lower: Sh882,700 for Year 2, Sh646,100 for Year 1 and Sh509,600 and Sh464,100 for FS 2 and FS 1 respectively.

But, even before paying the fees, a parent parts with a non-refundable fee of Sh8,595 ($100) for registration and another Sh42,975 ($500) as non-refundable admission fee.

Registration is done online and, according to the school’s website, “registration does not guarantee your child a place”.

A tour of the school compound and inside the facilities gives one a feel of quality and finesse.

Even with high temperatures, one is welcomed by a cool breeze at a spacious reception with glass doors that opens into an open field.

The imported seats and tables dotting the area underline the ambience at the front office.

Walking along the corridors, you are treated to brightly coloured paintings and murals. Most of these are done by the pupils.

In the classrooms, pupils as young as three years learn using tablets, laptops and projectors. An iPad costs between Sh67,000 (16GB) and Sh87,000 (64GB) while a new laptop costs an average of Sh50,000. The pupils do not share these gadgets during class time. There are enough to go round.

The pupils learn for 30 hours per week, or six hours per day.

There are no dusty blackboards, chalk and dusters. The teachers use interactive whiteboards. By last year, 20 per cent of schools in the UK did not have interactive whiteboards.

A projector beams the computer’s desktop onto the board’s surface where pupils control the computer using a pen, finger, stylus, or other devices.

They can also capture and save notes written on a whiteboard to their personal computers. They also take notes written on a graphics tablet to the whiteboard.

The pupils control their PCs from the whiteboard using “click and drag” markup.

The whiteboard also has an audience response system, where pupils making a presentation can poll a classroom audience or conduct quizzes, capturing feedback onto the whiteboard.

For the extra-curricular activities, the school has a half Olympic-size, 25m swimming pool, a 400m all-weather running track, cricket nets and playing fields which complement the indoor sports arena and multi-purpose hall that includes a drama and dance studio.

The cricket nets are used by batsmen and bowlers. They consist of a cricket pitch which is enclosed by nets on either side, to the rear and optionally the roof. The bowling end of the net is left open.

In addition, there is also a modern auditorium for pupils to use in performances, plus a separate grass playing area for pupils in FS 1 to Year 2.

The school further features a science block and five ICT laboratories with computer access also available in the libraries.

Besides the primary libraries, there are two others for the middle school and senior school.

There are also art studios and a design and technology suite that provides pupils with a wide array of resources for artistic expression, creativity, exploration and design.

A school nurse takes care of the sick at the medical dispensary located within the school and there is a stand-by vehicle to take serious cases to nearby hospitals.

The school’s registrar, Janine Buss, describes the boarding facilities as a “home away from home” where the pupils’ laundry is done for them by the institution’s employees.

“Security is also top-notch, provided by Ultimate Security with high walls, electric fences, CCTV on all exits and egresses as well as day and night security guards patrolling the school compound,” Buss says.

The lawn is well mowed and watered, rivalling the best golf courses in the country.

When Lifestyle toured the school earlier in the week, a group of male and female pupils were playing football with the assistance of two professional coaches.

The school is owned by GEMS Education, which has a global network of schools.

Besides Kenya, GEMS has 80 schools spread in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, United Kingdom, Switzerland, India, China and America.

Mr Vig says this was the first GEMS school in an ambitious expansion programme in Africa. A second one will be opened in Uganda in September next year and others will follow in Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania, he says.

GEMS Education is supported by a network of eminent international advisers, including influential world leaders and experts who are “game-changers” on the global stage.

The school has strategic partnerships with Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum.

Mr Vig said the school is hoping to tap into the expanding African economies and, in Kenya, play a role in the realisation of Vision 2030 by preparing young people to push that dream into reality.

“I believe GEMS Cambridge International School will create leaders of the future. The school embraces the Kenya 2030 Vision and will develop pupils who can make a real practical impact here in Kenya as well as in the world,” Mr Vig says.

To achieve this, he says the school has embraced sports and creative arts as evidenced by the investment in the 400m international-standard running track as well as a modern auditorium.

“We are also offering vocational subjects to include science, business studies, technology and sports as part of the Edexcel BTEC programme,” he adds. “We are going to be creating children who are confident and independent learners who can face the challenges the world offers.”

The programme offers a wide range of career opportunities, including networking, software development, project management, programming and telematics.

Mr Vig defended the high fees saying there is no substitute for quality education.

“Our fee is justified because the quality of teaching is exceptional and we guarantee that, with what we are offering here, every child will succeed,” says the principal.

He says they plan to construct a second, “affordable” institution possibly by September 2014 in Athi River, where they have acquired some land.

“This will be a bit cheaper because the annual fees will be in the region of $1,000 (Sh85,000), $2,000 (Sh170,000) and $3,000 (Sh255,000),” Mr Vig says.

Neeltje Sherwin, a parent whose daughter Maya is in FS 2, paying Sh509,600 per year, says she has been paying almost the same amount in smaller schools that do not match GEMS Education.

She asserts that the quality of education is worth every dollar she is paying.
courtesy of: nation media group

What Is Your Philosophy of Time?

Time is money in the West. Workers are paid by the hour, lawyers charge by the minute, and advertising is sold by the second ($117,000 per second at this year's Super Bowl). Think about this: The civilized mind has reduced time, the most obscure and amorphous of all intangibles, to the most objective of all quantities -- money. With time and things on the same value scale, I can tell you how many of my working hours equal the price of the computer I am typing on.
Can I really? As a social scientist, I've spent much of the last 25 years studying the "personalities" of places. Much of this work has focused on the attitudes toward time held by those who inhabit those places. My colleagues and I have found vast cultural differences in definitions of what constitutes early and late, waiting and rushing, the past, the present, and the future.
Perhaps the biggest clash is between cultures that operate on clock time and those that work on event time. Under clock time, the hour on the timepiece governs the beginning and ending of activities. Lunch begins at 12 and ends at 1. Punctuality is the governing principle. When event time predominates, schedules are spontaneous. Events begin and end when, by mutual consensus, participants "feel" the time is right. Many countries exhort event time as a philosophy of life. In Mexico, for example, there is a popular adage, "Give time to time" ("Darle tiempo al tiempo"). In Liberia it is said, "Even the time takes its time." In Trinidad it is something of a cultural bedrock that "any time is Trinidad time."
Our own research has compared the pace of life in different cities. In an early study we conducted field experiments in the largest or other major city in each of 31 countries. One experiment, for example, timed the average walking speed of randomly selected pedestrians over a distance of 60 feet. Another experiment sampled speed in the workplace -- specifically, how long it took postal clerks to fulfill a standard request for stamps. All measurements were taken during main business hours in main downtown areas under similar conditions. More recently, my colleague Stephen Reysen and I replicated these experiments in 24 cities across the United States.
We've found large differences in these studies. The fastest big cities in the international study, for example, tended to come from Western Europe and prosperous Asian countries, while those from traditional event-time countries (such as Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia) tended to be slowest. The differences were often substantial. For example, on the walking-speed measure we found that pedestrians in Rio de Janeiro walked only two-thirds as fast as did pedestrians in Zurich, Switzerland. (For further details, see, for example, Levine, A Geography of Time [Basic Books]). We've found these differences are to at least some degree predictable by demographic, economic, and environmental characteristics of the places, and, more importantly, they have consequences for the well-being of individuals and their communities.
The consequences are mixed. On the positive side, people in faster places tend to say they are happier with their lives. We believe this reflects the economic rewards that result from making every minute "productive": Faster cities in our studies tended to have healthier economies, and we know from other studies that people who have difficulty meeting their minimal needs tend to be less happy. (A sidebar: Money does not, however, appear to affect happiness beyond poverty. There is little difference in happiness between moderately wealthy and very wealthy individuals.)
But a fast pace of life has its costs. In another series of experiments, conducted in many of the same cities, we compared the likelihood that a passerby would assist a stranger in need. In one experiment, for example, we observed the proportion of people who went out of their way to return an inadvertently dropped pen. In another, we observed the proportion who assisted a man with an injured leg trying to pick up a dropped magazine. Not surprisingly, there were strong differences between cities (see "The Kindness of Strangers"). Perhaps the most notable finding was a negative relationship between the pace of life and helping: People in faster places were less likely to take the time to assist a stranger in need.
The problem may not be speed per se so much as feeling rushed. In a now-classic experiment, John Darley and Daniel Batson gathered a group of Princeton University Seminary students for what they understood to be a study about religious education. The students were told they'd be giving a brief talk, either about the types of jobs seminary graduates are suited for or about the parable of the "good Samaritan." They were then directed to walk to a recording studio across campus. Along the way, they passed a man slumped in a doorway who was coughing and groaning loudly. The students were divided into two groups. Half of them were told there was no need to rush in getting to the recording studio. Almost two-thirds of this group stopped to help the suffering man. The other half of the students were told they were late and needed to hurry to the studio. Among this group, only 10 percent helped. Ninety percent were apparently too busy to stop. "Indeed, on several occasions, a seminary student going to give his talk on the parable of the Good Samaritan literally stepped over the victim as he hurried on his way," Darley and Batson recalled.
People may ignore strangers for a variety of reasons. They may be too busy to notice, or too busy to care. They may fear how the stranger will react. Or they might simply be uncaring jerks. To the stranger in need, however, reasons are beside the point. The only thing that matters is whether they get help.
When did it become acceptable in America to treat helping strangers as "wasted time"? Everyone in the world agrees -- they should, anyway -- that time is our most precious commodity. But peoples' definitions of "wasted" are another great cultural divider. To a time-is-money clock-timer it refers to anything that distracts from the task at hand. To an event-timer, however, there is nothing more wasteful than carving one's life into inflexible, inorganic units.
I'll never forget a conversation I once had with an exchange student from Burkina Faso in Eastern Africa. I was complaining that I'd just wasted my morning yakking in a café instead of doing my work. He looked confused. "How can you waste time? If you're not doing one thing, you're doing something else. Even if you're just talking to a friend or sitting around, that's what you're doing." He said he was taught that what's wasteful -- sinful, to some -- is to not make sufficient time available for the people in your life.
What does it say about a culture when schedules take precedent over the life in front of your eyes, when the ticking of a clock discourages compassionate behavior? There are plenty of experts in the United States you can pay to help plan your days more efficiently. Here's another suggestion. Try beginning your day with a question people often ask in Brunei: "What is not going to happen today?" While you're at it, don't forget to give time to time.

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Reprinted with permission. Dr. Robert Levine is a Professor of Psychology at California State University, Fresno. He is the author of the award-winning book "A Geography of Time", and "The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold".

Cheetah Raised by Humans Who Loved Her Enough to Set Her Free

Every parent knows the bittersweet ache of watching their children grow and leave the nest, but what happens when your baby is not yet two years old and can already run as fast as a car?
No one knows exactly how a one-month-old cheetah cub made her way under the fence of the Ol Pejeta chimpanzee sanctuary in Kenya in October of 2010. It’s no small miracle that sanctuary workers spotted her before the apes could make a meal out of her, yet great concern set in after an extensive search turned up absolutely no trace of the cub’s natural mother. With nowhere else to turn, sanctuary staff loaded the little cheetah onto a jeep and they set off together on a journey into the world of mankind.
“We have added a new member to the family and we are trying to make friends,” explained Sue Roberts of the Sirikoi game lodge in the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in her very first blog post about her latest wild orphan. As foster mom to all forms of wildlife including a baby giraffe and an infant porcupine, Sue was well prepared to be patient in bonding with the cub.
The Cub’s New Home – Cheetah Paradise

On the northern slopes of Mount Kenya, set in a shady acacia grove overlooking a natural waterhole, Sirikoi is the perfect place for the human race to unwind and an even more perfect place for a young cheetah to grow up. The lodge runs on solar energy, has its own extensive organic vegetable and fruit garden and a crystal clear mountain spring.
Before she could begin to enjoy all that this new land had to offer, the little cub had to gather the courage to connect with her caretakers.
When she arrived she was terrified of humans, lots of hissing and spitting, so it was important to get her trust fast,” Sue explains, adding that they have chosen the name Sheeba for the cub. “To do this we had to be on the same level as her, so we took turns for the first three days to lie next to her and do our office work from the floor. We would sleep with her in a tent on a mattress on the floor and she would gently pat our faces in the morning when she wanted us to wake up.We played classical music which calmed her down enormously, Beethoven was best.”
“This paid off after eight days and we took her outside to play,” Sue continued. “She was no longer frightened or trying to run away. She was now full of fun and joy and confidence and came when called.”

Weeks flew by and Sheeba continued to charm her human companions on their long walks and lazy snoozes together. But her sense of adventure frequently led to mischief. One day, Sheeba decided to go for a climb but was ill prepared to make her way back down the tree.
“We were alerted by her loud chirping cries for help and found her stuck up this  very large tree,” Sue said. “She does not like to be lifted so resisted being rescued by digging her claws into the bark. A tug of war ensued but she was  finally brought down safely.”
Growing by Leaps and Bounds
As Sheeba blossomed into a sleek, lanky build, her interest in exploring widened.

“One morning we found her sitting in the bush breakfast car, hoping for a ride,” Sue said. “Sheba has decided that she loves cars, something we have tried hard to discourage as this could mean disaster for visitors to the conservancy should they come across her in the bush, and she decides to join them!”
But when the humans refused to take her for a drive, Sheeba decided she’d take matters into her own paws and she went for a very long walk.
Sheeba Suddenly Goes Missing
“On Wednesday, her keeper called us to say that she’d disappeared around lunchtime, and two hours later still hadn’t appeared,” Sue recalls of a time when Sue was out of town. “We weren’t unduly worried, as she was becoming more and more independent. But when we went out at 5 pm in vehicles to help look for her, there still was no sign, and by the time darkness fell we had to call off the search.”

“We were hoping she’d caught something and was still feeding, and would reappear at first light,” Sue continued. “She would no doubt be rather wide-eyed after her first night alone in the bush. But she didn’t appear. So then we started wondering if the two males who’ve been around had come by and spirited her away to mate. At over 17 months now, she was bound to be ready for mating. We prepared ourselves for a dishevelled Puddy Puddy to suddenly reappear, with burrs in her fur and a guilty expression. But she didn’t. Nor did she come back on Friday. Nor did she come back on Saturday. We began to imagine the worst.”
And then, suddenly an early morning phone call blew the lid of Sheeba’s caper. “A ranger had found her (or had she found him) wandering along the Marani valley, a long, long way from home. Her keeper Lekoitip was called, and we rushed to the place to reunite him with Sheba. When she heard his voice, and saw him walking down the hill she raced towards him, ecstatic to see him.”
The Time Had Come to Set Her Free
Sheeba was now straddling two worlds and the time was nearing for her to go free. And no matter how much their hearts protested, the team at Sirikoi knew they had to let her go. Lekoitip, a member of the Masai people, was comfortable walking in the bush with wild animals and his excursions with Sheeba helped build her muscles and make her familiar with all the sounds and smells. It gave her a routine that was as close as possible to what she would hold with her natural mother.
“During the day they would nap under a shady tree before returning home,” Sue recalls. “Sheeba would often catch hare on the way back.”

Lekoitip stayed with Sheba at her new home for a couple of months as she settled in completely and with the help of a tracking collar deploying Google Earth technology, the team was able to pinpoint her location at any given time for weeks after her official release.
Once they were compeletely certain of Sheeba’s established territory and full capacity to fend for herself as a wild cheetah, the ‘parents’ knew their primary role was done. Sheeba’s new home is about two hours away from Sirikoi in an area without tourist vehicles as she still has a proclivity for jumping into the backseat of cars, despite their best efforts to discourage her from doing so.
“We really wanted her to live a natural life so yes, it was heartbreaking to leave her but she was with Lekoitip and she felt totally at home in her new place,” explained Sue, adding that Sheeba was at the age when cubs in the wild would normally leave their mothers and go out on their own.

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This article was reprinted here with permission from the author. More from Laura Simpson, a tireless advocate for animals and  founder of The Great Animal Rescue Chase.

Kenya's Vice President’s residence opened

Eight years and Shs. 383 million later, the palatial home that would the vice presidents now stands magnificently, expectantly awaiting its first occupant to enjoy its luxuries and comforts. Sitting atop 10-acre lush green grass in Nairobi’s Karen area, the official residence for the VP was officially unveiled by president Kibaki today in a function attended by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka among other dignitaries.

Despite being marred by controversies and delays, the residence promises its occupant total luxury, it has spacious bedrooms for VP, his family and guests. This includes a master bedroom, three children’s bedrooms and two guest wings in the main house.

The VP’s bathroom has a classy Jacuzzi as well as shower cubicle that allows soft, calming music to filter in as the VP’s enjoys a shower or a leisurely bath. There is also a separate guesthouse to accommodate visiting dignitaries. The ground floor of the posh house has a library, washrooms and another visitor’s bedroom complete with a Jacuzzi and a shower cubicle.

The first floor houses the living room, two bedrooms for children and the VP’s. The VP’s vehicles and those of his visitors will be parked in a garage capable of holding at least six cars attached to the main house. The complex also has an office block, which consists of the VP’s office, a board room, press center, interpreter’s room, lounge and caretaker’s office.

The comptroller’s block has several offices, bedrooms and a study room. It also has six security rooms, a common sitting room and kitchen and an armory whose walls are reinforced with steel. All the floor finishing comprises of high – quality marble, while the doors are made of dark hardwood. 

The manicured lush gardens at the back of the house will be a perfect venue for official functions such as dinners, luncheons and cocktails.

The expansive office block can accommodate all staff working in the VP’s office. Today, Kalonzo would not confirm if he would move into his new official home. “I am sure everyone now wants to be a running mate of some of the presidential candidates so they can end up occupying this wonderful facility.” He joked. He also admitted that even if he moves in, he may not utilize some of the house’s facilities such as the large swimming pool as he cannot swim.

Unfortunately, even if the current VP wanted to move in tomorrow, he wouldn’t since the complex is still being furnished. This is expected to take several weeks and millions more shillings taking the total budget to over Shs. 400 Million.

Kalonzo said the imposing residence would not only boost the country’s image, but also cut the huge costs of hosting visiting foreign dignitaries, especially VPs. In his speech, the president said the residence couldn’t have come at a better time, saying the VP will now have a convenient location from which to serve Kenyans.

“We have not had an official residence for the VP; the government has had to renovate the personal residences of those appointed to the position of VP, mainly to upgrade security.” Said Kibaki. He added: “to avoid the inconveniences and recurrent expenditures associated with this approach, we took the strategic decision to construct this official residence.”

Jeff Koinange Given Sh 80 Million Salary To Leave K24

we told you that Jeff Koinange's departure from K24 is imminent, after he was given a much better deal than his current, by an international station. It can now been revealed that the offer given to the Emmy award winning journalist is much bigger than we anticipated.

It has been reported that the former CNN reporter has been given a 'million dollar contract' to dump K24 and set base in either South Africa or London, and he has taken it ( though not officially yet). According to the sketchy details, Jeff will be making close to Sh 80 million a year at his new base, at the yet to be launched TV network. Though its unclear when he'll be leaving, his current station K24, is reported to be in panic mode, knowing too well that without their star journalist, they will be worse than they are now. His show, Capital Talk, has lifted the station's profile greatly but it ends at that.

So which is this new station ready to make Jeff Africa's highest paid journalist? Its name is Arise Television Network. Its launch date is only a few months away and they have been recruiting heavily. Arise TV or ATN as it might soon become, is owned by Nigerian billionaire Nduka Obaigbena. 

When he publicly announced of his upcoming station in July this year, Nduka said that he was going to give CNN, Aljazeera and Sky News a run for their money. The seriousness of those words became clear, when he revealed what Arise TV had lined up. The station will be headquartered in London, with news centres in Johannesburg, Rio De Janeiro, Delhi, Beijing and bureaus in New york, Nairobi Lagos and Dakar. Just like CNN, it Arise TV will be capable of broadcasting live from any part of the world, without much of an effort.

[Credits: Jackal News]

© nairobiwire.com

Kenyan Employers Now Prefer Hiring Diploma To Degree Holders

A recent survey shows that employers now prefer Diploma graduates over the Degree holders. A total shift in recruitment, which may see University degree holders staying longer in the job market before getting a job.  Most employers argue they prefer Diploma holders mainly due to cost cutting on the production, are competent in manual/ technical work and that they stay longer in a given job. Degree holders on the other hand are known to have high expectations in terms of salaries, choose on the jobs they can do, are incompetent, and ambitious thus will keep moving from one job to the next. For this reason employers are now training the Diploma holders on what the graduates should do.

The employers agree that people should be paid for their productivity not mere papers. However, those with Degrees earn more than the Diploma holders for the same job/ position. Safaricom and Nakumatt Ltd already have positions for Diploma holders. In fact Bob Collymore is not a Degree holder himself yet he heads the biggest telecommunication firm in East and central Africa.
These questions begs: Is the quality of degrees from Kenyan universities lacking ? Is a degree is not an automatic guarantee of a job anymore? Is working with Degree graduate so difficult because of their superior know it all attitude?

I read this article and thought of sharing it with you.

Source: Daily Nation
Ms Sarah Otieno pulls out her iPad during a mid-morning coffee meeting to check her e-mail. “Give me a minute. I am looking at job applications,” she says. At least 10 young hopefuls, with formidable technology degrees from some of Kenya’s best universities, have applied for the position she advertised. She discards all of them. 

Otieno runs a medium-sized IT services outsourcing firm targeting small businesses that cannot afford to pay IBM or Oracle to manage their data centres.
She has set high recruitment standards and is unwilling to bend any of them. She does not want any “entitled degree-holders” working for her company. She would rather have a diploma holder, or even a high-school drop-out, as long as they can demonstrate skill and passion.

This aversion to hiring degree holders for some positions is not unique. It stretches well beyond Otieno’s small outfit to one of Kenya’s largest employers. Safaricom has been pursuing a deliberate policy to expand the recruitment net for entrants into its customer care department.  This department constitutes about 40 to 50 per cent of the telecom company’s workforce. “I don’t have a degree. I am running a pretty large company and it would be hypocritical of me to run this company while telling diploma holders that they can’t work in the call centre,” Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore told Saturday Nation in a telephone interview.

The company is also working to bridge the remuneration and benefits gap between employees with diplomas and their colleagues in similar positions who have degree qualifications.  Mr Collymore wants to ensure that diploma holders get a fair chance at promotions and on-the-job training if they demonstrate ambition and merit. He, however, adds that for some technical and engineering positions in his company, the highest educational qualifications would always be the preferred norm.

In a society with an almost rabid desire for academic titles, why would any right thinking employer compromise on education qualifications?  Ms Otieno is afraid that young degree holders will not invest themselves in the growth of her small company, prompted by their ambition to always eye the next big thing.

Despite some of the most progressive employee benefits at its customer care centre, Mr Collymore admits that Safaricom faces challenges managing the aspirations of university graduates. “At the end of the day, we will only utilise 60 to 70 per cent of this person’s potential. They will obviously have ambitions to utilise their skills more effectively,” said Mr Collymore.

Human resource professionals have an answer that is blunter. Degree holders in Kenya are expensive, restless and not always qualified to perform the jobs that they are seeking. Ms Winnie Kenduiywa, the director of Kenya Recruitment Consultants, notes that many graduates rely too heavily on their education and fail to work on other areas that are critically needed, especially their attitude towards work and life. Their financial expectations are also far above what other job seekers hope for. The employers reason that it is more strategic to hire people at diploma level.  “Employers can build company loyalty in diploma holders through providing them with on-the-job training. This provides the employers with fairly cheap and qualified labour,” she said.

This is the tale of East Africa’s largest retail chain. Nakumatt’s minimum job requirement is a post-secondary certificate. The company is investing up to Sh100 million in in-house training to turn these recruits into management material since educational institutions, it claims, do not cater to its specific needs.

“There is only one retail management training school run by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. This means that to feed our human resource needs, we have to cast our net wider to capture non-retail management diploma holders,” said Nakumatt’s managing director Atul Shah.

Although there is not enough scientific evidence to justify calling these employment preferences a trend, recruitment officials at Deloitte have professed to seeing employers in more developed economies increasingly opting for recruits with lower education levels. “In South Africa, we have seen large retail chains and cellphone companies start to lower their academic requirements. It is mostly about costs and trying to keep the wage bill down. However, they are unwilling to compromise on experience. Kenya may be going down the same path,” said Deloitte consulting director Robbie Quercia.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), there are more than 20 million people in the 15-64 age group.  The economic survey 2012 reports that there were about 11 million people employed in the country last year. Seventy per cent of the unemployed are the youth.

At the same time, the country is churning out an increasing number of university graduates. Student enrolment in universities grew from 118,239 in 2007 to 198,260 last year. The number of registered universities and degree offering institutions also shot up from 41 in 2007 to 120 in 2011.
Ironically, these numbers were not necessarily driven by demand from the job market. “The job market is not demanding these degrees. Individuals who want certificates and papers are demanding these degrees,” said Mr Patrick Mutisya, a senior human resources consultant at recruitment firm Manpower Services.

A curious phenomenon emerges from this situation. The market is over-saturated with degrees and some segments are characterised by high unemployment. Yet, practitioners in certain fields are still complaining of gaps in skills. In 2011, the fastest growing job segment was building and construction. As Kenya pursues an ambitious infrastructure plan under the Vision 2030 umbrella, it is expected that jobs in this segment will continue to grow.

Unfortunately, “self-respecting” graduates would not consider working in the emerging jobs. More tragically, most of them are unemployable in this sector. “Walk into a typical construction site and try to find out how many qualified architects and engineers are working there. It’s mostly self-trained people,” said Prof Alfred Omenya, a dean at Kenya Polytechnic.

The gap is also evident in other less technical sectors. In an academic paper published earlier this year in the Baraton Interdisciplinary Journal, researcher Catherine Amimo notes that the inability of the educational sector in the country to meet the needs of the job market has been worsening since the early 1970s.

Kenya’s institutions of higher education are producing graduates who do not have the problem solving expertise and the independence to thrive in today’s job market. Further, the creativity that is vital to post-industrial, information driven economies has been systematically conditioned out of them. “No wonder, a significant number of graduates cannot easily find jobs and are often forced to compete for lower skilled jobs,” Ms Amimo concludes.

In the past, job applicants with lower qualifications always tended to be on the losing side of this competition. However, if preferences witnessed in Safaricom and Nakumatt continue, this trend may be reversed.

Historically, according to Mr Omenya, Kenya’s education system was designed to train bureaucrats. An architect could receive a degree then proceed to the Public Works ministry in the government where she would receive hands-on skills.

Offerings in the educational system are now mismatched with a ballooning private sector that is unwilling to spend precious resources imparting skills that ought to have been developed during education.