On Friday, 19th November 2021, we hosted an accounting and finance roundtable for more than 150 students from the Bachelor of Commerce Programme; Finance and Accounting options. This was the fourth such event in a series of roundtables organized by the SBS Undergraduate department through the Strathmore University Career Development Services office.
Over the past two months, we have organized four industry roundtables for the Bachelor of Commerce Students: The Management Science roundtable, the Human Resource roundtable, the Entrepreneurship roundtable and finally the Accounting and Finance roundtable. These industry roundtables are geared towards preparing the students for the expectations and the opportunities available in the job market. The roundtable events give the students a chance to interact and network with professionals and industry leaders in specific fields.
Geoffrey Odundo, CEO at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), gave the keynote speech during which he took the students through the products and offerings at the NSE. From his presentation, Mr. Odundo highlighted the new products that the exchange has developed over the years such as the derivatives market; Ibuka incubator and accelerator program to host SMEs for visibility and exposure; Unquoted Securities Platform (USP) which facilitates the trading, clearing, and settlement of securities issued through private placement; Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). He was particularly pleased to announce the rolling out of ‘day trading’. Day trading would allow investors to purchase and sell a security within a single day or multiple times for the day thus helping deepen market liquidity. He encouraged the students to invest in the securities market and change their investment philosophy to building and creating wealth.
The industry leaders present for the event were Diana Kuria, CFO at Africa Exchange Holdings, Catherine Chepkonga (BAT), Johnson Mwawasi, Founder and CEO, Lean Africa Consultants Limited. Others included Emily Kigen from NSE, Stephanie Kimani (NCBA Bank), Margaret Muthoni (I&M Bank), Kenneth Minjire (AIB-AXYS), Morris Kavuti (Citibank), Tom Kalovwe (Toyota Kenya), Julius Mwanzilo (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) Godwin Ouma (GSL International), John Ekada (KRA), David Njenga (Flexi-personnel limited), Martin Waigwa and Cynthia Mburu (both from Africa Legal Network).
The industry experts brought on board a myriad of knowledge and expertise ranging from capital markets, audit, tax, forensics, project finance, financial management, commodity exchanges, banking, advisory among many others.
I had the rare opportunity to sit around with Geoffrey Odundo at the capital markets roundtable and I used the opportunity to engage him about my fourth-year management research project titled “The Influence of Ibuka programme in promoting listing to the Growth Enterprise Market Segment (GEMS) at the Nairobi Securities Exchange”. I was keen to note his response on whether he shared the view that the Ibuka platform would help attract and nurture potential SMEs to possibly list at GEMS thus catalyzing listing at the segment which has been faced by few and slow listing since its launch in January 2013. I was excited to note that he found my area of research very interesting and informative – he encouraged me to continue further with the research project.
Our Bachelor of Commerce Degree Programme is structured to reflect the changing world of commerce and to equip its learners with the necessary skills, ethical principles, and general knowledge needed for decision-making in a contemporary business environment. The course is structured into a series of modules designed to focus specifically on the core functions of management. The Bachelor of Commerce degree prepares students to work in the area of management, finance, accountancy, banking, micro-finance, administration, marketing and other related fields. Apply here for the 2022 intake of the Bachelor of Commerce Programme.
Article by: Peter Wanyangi, Fourth Year BCOM Student, Finance Option
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