It’s CEO’s quality of thought that matters, not the size of his company

The East African Business Summit brings together 100 of the region’s finest business minds to engage with each other and with governments, share insights and refine ideas. The chairman, who is also the CEO of KPMG East Africa, spoke to CHRISTINE MUNGAI on its beginnings, achievements and this year’s summit to be held at Mount Kenya Safari Club, from November 17-19.

What led to the establishment of the East African Business Summit?

The East African Business Summit was born out of the private sector’s vision of a steady environment for growth, to deliberate issues critical to unlocking the region’s potential. When we first met in November 2002, the general feeling was that the private sector had been sidelined by respective governments in decision-making, and we needed to design ways to tap into government development agenda. We set ambitious goals for 2020 in that first meeting, concerning income generation, creation of employment, investment and regional trade.

What was the regional economic environment like at that time? What factors pushed the private sector into coming together in this way?

At the time, the East African Community was in its nascent stages and each country was under its own trade and Customs regime. The business community felt that integration efforts were moving too slowly. We believed that the private sector could accelerate integration even before the institutional framework had been put in place, that businesses cannot always look to governments to facilitate trade. We needed to demonstrate that ‘trade begins at home’.

Infrastructure was, and in some ways still is, a huge hindrance to the growth of business. For instance, the cost of telecoms was very high, so we proposed the establishment of a telecom consortium, which undertook a feasibility study and presented a business case for the laying down of a regional fibre optic network.

We also realised that the region had great agricultural potential that we weren’t getting the best value for, because most of our produce was exported as raw material. We thus brought the issue of value-addition to the fore of the business agenda, exploring ways in which the agricultural sector can increase the value of produce in the market by investing in some degree of processing.

Nine years later, we are at the half-way mark between 2002 and the 2020 deadline. What are some of the achievements of the EABS so far?

Getting the region connected to the undersea fibre optic cable is one of the initiatives we are most proud of. Access to broadband transforms the way we communicate, and creates a whole range of new business and employment opportunities. Value addition in agriculture has also translated into better pay for farmers. For instance, Kenya Tea Development Authority’s managing director, Eric Kimani, was part of our early summits and he pursued value addition in that sector, and the tea industry is has now made major strides.

Our business roundtables in which we engage with governments have also been a success, gaining currency with all the governments in the region. At the roundtables, business leaders and decision makers are in a position to express their ideas to government and vice versa.

What happens when business leaders meet for the summit? Is it all stuffy and formal, like conferences sometimes are?

Not at all, first there is the opportunity for informal engagement. We have the summit at Mount Kenya Safari Club, which gives executives the opportunity to socialise and form relationships, maybe play a round of golf or go off on a game drive. But it’s not all fun and games, however—we have keynote speakers, depending on the theme of the Summit, as well as group work, in which a particular idea is discussed and groups report back with insights and practical applications for businesses.

How does an executive get to attend the summit?
The summit is strictly invitation only, but as CEO you don’t get invited simply because you are managing a big company. It’s about your quality of thought and what fresh insights you can bring to the table, your track record and how you enrich the business environment. So it’s not just the blue-chip companies, we now also include the up-and-coming leaders.

The conveners of the Summit — KPMG, Deloitte, PWC, NMG and Citi — all engage regularly and closely with business leaders, so we have a perspective on who is delivering real change in their respective industries, and can make that judgement. We also consider references from other executives, for example, you could approach a certain CEO to attend the summit and he or she recommends someone else, because they are part of the same networks.

What is this year’s theme, and what will drive the agenda in the coming years?