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USIU-Africa and EMCA College of Animation partner to develop the first undergraduate program curriculum for film animation in Kenya
No full textA Press Release on USIU-Africa and EMCA College of Animation partnering to develop the first undergraduate program curriculum for film animation in KenyaUSIU-Africa and EMCA College of Animation College of Animation (EMCA) Managed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Angouleme have signed a Memorundum of Agreement (MOU) to develop an undergraduate program curriculum in film animation.
The animation program, which will be offered by USIU-Africa’s School of Science and Technology, seeks to fill a gap that the Kenya film industry is currently facing in developing content especially with the transition from analogue to digital transmission. It is estimated that 100 new channels will come to the market in 2016 and will be required to meet up to 40% local content quotas by 2016 and 60% by 2018.
“Our part here is to create a world of opportunity for the youth, by not only developing and deploying skills for animating African stories but in also training and passing our real-time industrial experience through training programs ” The Ambassador of France to Kenya, Rémi Maréchaux, said at the signing of the MoU.
He emphasized that there are now greater opportunities for local artistes to fill the newly created gap by the digital migration, as well as for Kenya to narrate its own stories.
“USIU-Africa’s mission for achieving global excellence has put the institution at the fore front of cutting edge developments and this unique collaboration will increase and continue giving our students the endless opportunities they need to fit in the local and global market of film and animation,” USIU-Africa Vice Chancellor Prof. Paul Tiyambe Zeleza added
Behavioral Finance: Delay to Recognize Losses
No full textAn article on the Business Daily Newspaper by Professor Scott serves as the Director of the New Economy Venture Accelerator (NEVA) and Chair of the Faculty Senate at the United States International University-Africa,The cataclysmic battle between capitalism and communism defined much of the late twentieth century. Capitalism proved more efficient at providing stable supplies of goods and services and increasing living standards. Communism, apart from difficult to centrally manage, failed to identify, foster, and make use of basic elements of human psychology. Communism only partially incorporated what truly motivates people. Personal gain, advancement, pride, stability, mastery, purpose, autonomy, trust, and community all deeply stimulate workers.
Historically, East Africans know the post-independence rivalry between Kenya and Tanzania during the same period as the former embraced more American-style capitalism and the latter Soviet-inspired socialism. Many scholars attribute Kenya’s regional economic dominance in large part to our capitalistic orientation as well as a plethora of other antecedents and moderating variables, such as peace, freedoms, civil society, strong education system, etc.
While Karl Marx and later the Soviets misunderstood human motivation, China too reformed to produce its economic ascension after embracing post-Mao Tse-tung pro-capitalist, albeit controlled, policies. As much as nations try to develop utopian societies based on magnificent theories, human psychological motivations are hard to change and can derail even the most desired outcomes.
So in the capitalist framework that now dominates the world economy, executives from Nairobi to Bishkek, Ulaanbaatar, and Tbilisi to Prague, Tunis, and Newcastle, to Lima, Shreveport, and St. Louis try to accentuate positive organizational outcomes, such as profitability, return on assets, sales growth, employee retention, and job satisfaction.
Organizational behaviorists research multitudes of data to determine the optimal causes that lead to the desirable effects that every executive wants for his or her firm. Kurt Lewin famously devised the formula for behaviour in 1936 as: B=f(P/E). Behaviour is a function of both the person and the environment or system around them.
Part of human behaviour involves irrationality. Why do people sometimes act against their own interests? Inasmuch, why do citizens vote for politicians who do not help their lives, from here in Kenya, to American southern uninsured Republicans, to Russian nationalists struggling economically? Why do students sometimes cheat on assignments even though completion of the projects would enhance their knowledge and employability? Why do various people wait on some untested religious rituals to heal them instead of turning to medical science?
Inasmuch, we must build in human irrationality into our assumptions as leaders, managers, and parents. Psychologist Leon Festinger developed the theory of cognitive dissonance as a new theme in social psychology back in 1956. When two incompatible inconsistent observations are made by an individual, it produces a state of cognitive dissonance. Since dissonance is unpleasant, then the person seeks to diminish the feeling and therefore alters his or her belief. As an example, an employee who dislikes his boss but realizes that she has helped boost his career will subsequently alter his previous negative view of his manager
Stamping Out Selfishness
No full textAn article on the Business Daily Newspaper by Professor Scott serves as the Director of the New Economy Venture Accelerator (NEVA) and Chair of the Faculty Senate at the United States International University-Africa,Imagine yourself sitting behind the driving wheel of your car. You waited patiently in the long queue of cars on Uhuru Highway waiting to turn up Valley Road at the Kenyatta Avenue roundabout in Nairobi. Then when traffic starts to move, you find multiple other drivers who did not wait and drive up quickly in other lanes selfishly pushing into your lane, thus making the law abiding citizen even more disadvantaged by waiting even longer all for merely following the rules.
Now switch gears and focus on your office setting. All of us can picture at least one person in our workplaces who always seems selfish in every endeavor. Every decision and action that the individual takes seems purely to gain for their own short-term or long-term selfish interest. The fact that as a result of their selfish behavior, coworkers no longer trust them, seems not to bother them in the least. How does someone’s selfishness impact the rest of an office or the rest of society at large? Life and job satisfaction drops precipitously.
Social scientists and philosophers stress the importance of altruism. Altruism stands in stark contrast as the opposite of selfishness whereby we help our fellow humanity without any expectation of personal gain. So ask yourself, is there ever a truly selfless deed? Do people ever help others purely for the sake of helping and never for their good? The 1990s sitcom Friends highlighted the issue with characters Joey and Phoebe debating and searching for ways to help others and not feel a sense of good and fulfillment in the process.
Would you donate a kidney to a non-relative if you would become sicker as a result and no one else would ever find out about your good deed? How about would you stop and assist a car accident victim on the side of the road and take them to the hospital even though the police may incorrectly accuse you of culpability in the accident if you help? Would you assist a neighbor at night as they scream if thieves break into their home and risk your own life for your neighbor’s benefit? Now, instead, would you be more likely to help if there existed laws requiring you to act in such situations? Encouraging altruism proves difficult for governments as well as companies
The effects of fiscal policy on foreign direct investment inflows in Kenya for the period 2000-2014
No full textA Research Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree on Master of Business Administration (MBA)Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) plays a key role in attaining sustainable economic growth and development in most developing nations especially in Africa. This is majorly through; improving country’s attractiveness for FDI by strengthening infrastructural base, ICT development, raising productivity and generation of employment opportunities, and also supplementing the balance of payment by enriching exports. Since attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) is currently an important policy concern for the Kenyan Government, it is requisite to instigate benchmarks of the inward FDI flows.
The study, hence examined the effects of fiscal policy factors, specifically; balance-of-payments (current account deficit), government development expenditure on infrastructure and total external government debt on the amount of foreign direct investment inflows to Kenya. The study covered 15 years (from 2000 to 2014), a period adequate to provide definitive outcome. Bivariate Linear Regression was conducted in analyzing the secondary data that had been collected. A descriptive research design of quantitative nature was used to draw conclusions.
The study established that BOP’s current account deficit had a negative correlation with the FDI inflows to the country. This relation was revealed to be insignificant and this implied that adjustments in BOP’s current account deficit have a negligible effect on FDI inflows to Kenya. The results also indicate that government development expenditure on infrastructure had a significant positive effect on FDI inflows to Kenya. It is positively correlated to the FDI inflows, implicating that with a predetermined change in development expenditure on infrastructure, FDI inflows will oscillate in parallel direction. Consequently, a unit change in development expenditure on infrastructure in Kenya will translate to a positive net effect on the FDI inflows. The study further unveiled that total external government debt had an equally negative and insignificant relationship with the foreign direct investment inflows to Kenya. This implied that a unit change in total external government debt will have a net negative effect on the FDI inflows to the country.
Despite the fact that some fiscal factors under study have an insignificant connection with the level of foreign direct investment inflows that the country records, the effect remains explicit. The findings of this paper have important policy implications for government to critically determine how to improve the country’s attractiveness for FDI. The government, other than developing expenditure reducing policies; tailor-made to regulate demand in the economy to reduce consumer spending in the economy particularly on imports, it is recommended that it incorporates expenditure switching policies to turn around consumers' expenditure away from imports and redirect towards goods of local origin. Also, with the evidenced revelation that government development expenditure on infrastructure positively impact foreign direct inflows although not directly, it is recommended that the national government allocates more funds to key infrastructural areas and projects that accelerate trade and investments into the country. Developed infrastructure increases a country’s attractiveness for FDI in the long run.
Kenyan should develop a sustainable framework to systematically integrate ethics and economic development based on structures and accountability through policies. Ethical matters should systematically be integrated into the primary constituents of the decision‐making process for managing public resources within the bounds of this framework. Servicing of external debt causes servility on the economy as it invades the resources available for poverty eradication and propelling socio‐economic development. In extreme cases of debt burden, debt restructuring should also be considered part of the adjustment package
Generate Police Car Siren and Lights using Digital Circuitry and Raspberry Pi
No full textA project report written by Okhaifo Pius Oikeh and Kagiko Chris Mukirae for Lab Project Work at USIU-AThe Purpose of this project is to make a digital circuit that would generate a police siren while mimicking the pattern of the police lights using Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) in order to understand the digital circuitry used by the police for their police cars. This project can be taking further by applying it to home automation system with the use of sensors like smoke detector for generating siren that alert the owner about the existence of a problem. The objective of this project is to program the raspberry pi using python (a programming language) to interface with the other components of the circuit in other to output a siren noise and send signals to the lights in a pattern that resembles the police car lights. The project was carried out by assembling a speaker, a raspberry pi and eight LED’s on a breadboard using male-to-male wires; the LED’s and the speaker are connected to the raspberry pi which is coded to interface with the components and the program is executed to send outputs to the devices at certain time interfaces. Optionally a mobile application is used to automate the running of the code instead of constantly having to go back to the code to stop and start the python script from running. Though there were some setbacks (not getting the Integrated Circuit we required purchased in time before our project’s completion) the project was a success because a siren noise could be heard alongside the LED’s turning on and off like the police car light (police siren was made using digital circuitry)
Factors Affecting Strategy Implementation in Kenyan Rugby: A Study of the Kenya Rugby Union
No full textA Research Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA)The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors affecting strategy implementation with a focus on the Kenya Rugby Union. The study aimed at determining the impact of human resource factors on strategy implementation, examining the effect that cultural influences have on strategy implementation and establish the extent to which the influence of organization structure has on strategy implementation.
The study adopted a descriptive research design to determine the factors affecting strategy implementation in Kenya Rugby Union. The descriptive research design helped in looking at the strength of relationship between human resource factors, cultural factors and organizational structures and strategy implementation. Questionnaires were used to collect relevant information from respondents for this study. The study focused on 60 employees at Kenya Rugby Union. A random sampling technique was used to determine the sample size (30 respondents) and collect data from the sample. In data analysis and presentation, the study adopted a descriptive and inferential statistics. Correlation analysis, regression analysis, cross-tabulation and frequencies were obtained and presented in tables.
The study analyzed and determined the significant human resource factors that influence strategy implementation process. From the study, it was found that employees are evaluated on their current and past performance standards with the view to improve their performance. The skills required by employees are identified through performance appraisal and action taken by the management to instil the skills to their employees through training. The study found that the organization is able to select employees who are knowledgeable for the tasks assigned hence new strategies formulated in the organization are communicated to them. After a training and development program, there is an opportunity to put into practice what employees are trained during strategy implementation process.
The study established the effects of cultural influences on strategy implementation at Kenya Rugby Union. The study found that Kenya Rugby Union is open to continual redefinition as a result of changes in the external environment. The study revealed that the organization leaders and employees are able to reach an agreement on critical issues and resolve their differences diplomatically. This showed that leaders in the organization are leading by example through guiding the employees to attainment of the organization’s goals. The organization is open to cultural diversity that provides views in strategy formulation and implementation. The study shows that at Kenya Rugby Union, employees are empowered and involved in the strategy implementation process. Employees work to eliminate lack of information flowing between groups and promote actions that are in best interest of the organization.
The study determined that organization structure influence strategy implementation. The study found that the management ensures that adequate resources are available to pursue organization strategy. At Kenya Rugby Union, there is open communication between employees and the management at the organization hence employees have the information they need to do their work. The management coordinates activities through the strategy implementation process. Through this process employees are informed of changes and also encouraged and motivated towards strategy implementation in the organization. The study found that the organization takes time to respond and adapt to new changes hence the organization is affected by the unexpected and unpredictable changes. As a result of changes in the management, the organizational structure including departments division of labour is affected.
The study concludes that human resource factors, cultural factors and organizational structure influence strategy implementation. Employees are evaluated on their current and past performance standards with the view to improve their performance. Through the performance appraisal, the skills required by employees are identified and action taken by the management to instilling the skills to their employees through training. The study concludes that Kenya Rugby Union is open to continual redefinition as a result of changes in the external environment. The study recommends the executive and management of Kenya Rugby Union to evaluate the current and past performance standards of employees with the view to improve their performance. The study also recommends the leaders in the organization to lead by example through guiding the employees to attainment of the organization's goals. The organization is recommended by the study to effectively allocate resources such as finances and personnel adequately towards strategy implementation
An Evaluation of Socio-Economic Factors Influencing the Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya: A Case Study of Nairobi County
No full textA Research Project Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Executive Master of Science in Organizational Development (EMOD)The purpose of this study was to investigate the socio-economic factors affecting performance of SMEs in Nairobi. The research questions were: What are the social factors affecting growth in Kenyan SME’s? What are the economic factors affecting growth in Kenyan SME’s? What are the factors that improve growth in SMEs in Kenya?
This study utilized the descriptive research design. The population was 30, 252 consisting of all registered SME’s in Nairobi. Simple random sampling was used to determine the sample size of 100. For this study, data was collected using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data for frequencies and percentages distribution tables, mean, and inferential statistics for correlation, linear regression and multiple regression.
The findings on the extent to which social factors affects growth of SME’s in Kenya revealed the existence of a ssignificant positive relationship between social factors and SME’s growth. The findings on the extent to which economic factors affects growth of SME’s in Kenya revealed the existence of a ssignificant positive relationship between economic factors and SME’s growth.
The findings on the extent to which factors of growth affects growth of SME’s in Kenya revealed the existence of a ssignificant positive relationship between factors of growth and SME’s growth. This factors include reduction in tax, improved security, improving roads, stopping corruption, introducing new and trending products, and establishing mechanisms that will enable SME owners in Nairobi ease of access to low cost loans.
A multiple regression analysis indicated a strong significant relationship exists only with economic factors and SME growth. The other variables had insignificant relationship. For instance, social factors equally factors of growth, therefore insignificant. For the study multiple regression also revealed variation in SME growth were attributable to variations in social factors, economic factors, and factors of growth.
In conclusion, social factors are at the very heart of SME growth in Kenya. The findings of the study indicate a strong positive relationship between social factors which includes family size, family type, business networks, language, business relationship and levels of education and SME growth. The positive relationship have been established with social factors and SME growth. On economic factors, taxation, interest rates, access to credit and business financing, and inflation all influenced and enhanced SME growth. The study established that a positive relationship exists between economic factors and SME’s growth. On factors of growth, training, better business environment, access to credit and business financing, infrastructure, markets and business premises all influenced and enhanced SME growth. The study established that a positive relationship exists between factors of growth and SME’s growth.
Recommendation for improvement by SME business owners includes enhancing interpersonal and intrapersonal skills by ME business owners. Secondly, SME business owners should enhance their business education so as to understand the intricate operations of business, not only in value addition, but also how to develop and maintain social networks with clients. On economic factors, SME owners should lobby the government through county legislation to have business incentives in terms of tax breaks to a certain level of profitability. They should equally lobby for minimal licensing such that operations of SME business should require only one license at minimal cost. On factors of growth, SME owners should therefore lobby to have integrated county budgets to allocate resources that will improve road systems, market centres, and extension and support services in terms of business training from the county governments. This will ensure that factors that enhance business growth are sustainable and contributing positively to their SME’s
Adoption of Web Conferencing as a Tool of Collaboration in Organizations in Kenya
No full textA Project Report Submitted to theChandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA)The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of adoption of Web conferencing technology in organizations in Kenya. It had three specific objectives; thatis, to determine the benefits that have been achieved in adoption ofweb conferencing technology, to establish the challenges that hinder the adoption of web conferencing technology and the third one was to find out the strategies employed in adoption of web conferencing technology.
The study used descriptive research design and relied on the primary data. Research was conducted in twenty three organizations and a number of one hundred and twenty eight respondents participated in the survey. All the major findings were captured. The population comprised of staff from ICT departmental functions in the organizations included for this study. The sampling technique used was cluster sampling method, clustering members of the population in different sectors; Civil Service,Education,Banking and financial institution,ICT, NGOs and SMEs.A sample size of 138 staff members was used in this study. Structured questionnaires were administered to collect the data which was finally analyzed using Statistical Package for the social sciences (SPSS).
From this study it was found that, the most importance independent variable from the regression model was the challenges encountered because it had the highest Beta value of (-0.539) then followed by Strategies Employed (beta=0.215) and lastly perceived Benefits(beta =0.205).Regression analysis of this study delivered a R square value of 41.6% which indicates that there is strong relationship between adoption of web conferencing technology and the benefits perceived, challenges encountered and strategies employed.
Further it was found that, web conferencing systems adopted in organizations have to a great extend improved the productivity, Profitability and communication making these organizations more competitive within the industry. Challenges associated with the technology adoption has led to some companies abandoning these collaboration systems and influencing those not yet adopted them to shy away. These challenges can be eliminated if proper strategic policies as regards to Technology adoption are clearly crafted.
Organizations should consult experts on the best, affordable systems and sufficient capacities (bandwidth) required before rushing into adopting these systems without having the right infrastructure in place. When this is not done in the right way challenges eventually outweighs the benefits.
Organizations should strive to purchase systems which are upgradable(that is through software or minimal change in hardware) to avoid rendering them obsolete within short period of existence; this will in turn lower the cost associated with operating new technologies. Management of Change should be encouraged prior to the adoption of any IT systems in Organizations i.e. through seminars, road shows etc. This will avoid backlash that comes with change from employees since human being has inherent resistance to change
Strategic Factors Affecting Sustainable Industrial Waste Management in Kenya A Case Study of Nairobi Bottlers Limited
No full textA Research Project Report Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master in Strategic Management (MBA)The main purpose of this study was to examine the strategic factors that affect sustainable industrial waste management at Nairobi Bottlers. The study attempted to answer the following research questions; How does waste reduction strategy contribute to sustainable waste management? To what extent does waste reuse strategy lead to sustainable waste management? And how does recycling of waste help in sustainable waste management? This study adopted a descriptive research design. The study adopted this design owing to the inability to manipulate the collected data. Quantitative methods were used to analyze collected data. After data had been data collected via the questionnaires, it was examined for completeness then coded. It was then entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for subsequent analysis. The sample frame for the study was obtained from the human resource payroll listing. The sample was classified into several strata as the researcher used simple random sampling technique to select the desired sample size from each stratum of the population. A sample of 20% of the entire population was used since the employees in the different lines of operations were homogenous in terms of the knowledge they possess with regards to waste management. The study shows that the onus and costs of managing waste streams should be placed on ‘producers’ of the waste and that, municipal solid waste management system has changed from being efficient to the current status that displays a lot of inefficiencies. It also showed that, storage, collection, transportation and final treatment/disposal of wastes has become a major problem in urban centers and that, the global trend of increased use of electrical and electronic goods has led to an increase in E-waste becoming a significant threat to our environment and human health. The study revealed that, a sustainable method of waste management involves looking for opportunities to reduce waste even during the product life cycle and implementation of simplified leanness evaluation metrics can be used to reduce waste and improve effectiveness and efficiency in organizations. It also showed that, availability of adequate garbage disposal in urban area can improve community development and cohesion of waste management and organizations should involve communities around them in waste management programs to promote publicity on waste management. The study showed that reusing waste is the best strategy of creating a sustainable waste management by companies and an effective way to reuse solid waste is through burning materials that are combustible and melting down non-combustible materials through the company`s incinerators. It also showed that, waste ash from incineration can be used to improve soil fertility on urban areas and disposal of both non-degradable and degradable wastes separately can be used to safely use the generated wastes for agricultural purposes. The study revealed that, the country has put in place institutions to address climate change, biological diversity and combating desertification and that, the Kenyan Government has put in place a wide range of policy, institutional and legislative frameworks to address the major causes of environmental degradation and negative impacts on ecosystems emanating from industrial and economic development programmes. The study also showed that, private sector involvement can facilitate efficient municipal solid waste management services as compared to the public and that, public waste awareness and support facilitates the success of companies in managing industrial waste. The study concludes that, waste management in the urban centers has been subjected to enormous commercial and legal changes over the last two decades and the country has a sustained and multi-faceted legislative and policy attack on landfill, and waste management both at the domestic and international level. The study also concludes that behavioral instruments could be used in implementing waste management strategies through initiatives that inform and educate and waste awareness and participation and that recycling can also be used by companies at waste recycling plants as a strategy of creating a sustainable waste management system. The study recommends that the policy makers in both government and companies make use of behavioral instruments that could be used in implementing waste management strategies through initiatives that inform and educate and waste awareness and participation. They can achieve this using recognition programs, and door-to-door awareness, and it also recommends that industries should involve and train the public to help them manage their waste
Trump’s growing popularity and lessons for Kenyans
No full textA Newspaper Article by Scott Bellows, assistant Professor in the Chandaria School of Business and Faculty Council Chair at USIU-ASurprising news out of the United States this week rattled global business professionals. Donald Trump, simultaneously revered and pilloried, pulled equal to Hillary Clinton in opinion polls among likely American voters.While travelling with USIU students throughout Europe the past two weeks, I keep getting bombarded with the same question over and over by Kenyans and Europeans alike: “Why Trump”?
America seems like a giant doughnut whereby people on the edges have done very well with free trade and economic advances in the new economy of information technology and service sectors