Introduction To Business Management Skills Programme

Introduction

Infrastructure development is a key driver for progress across the African context.

In order to leverage on the abundant opportunities, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the road construction sector ought to have the skills and capacity to bid and deliver competitively.

This programme aims at equipping SME contractors with relevant and practical business management skills, to become competitive, as a result have better chances of winning contracts in public sector road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance projects.

Obejctives

  • Improve your business management skills and capabilities
  • Become more efficient in your business operations
  • Attain a competitve edge through delivering higher quality services
  • Acquire improved skills in practical bidding thereby win more contracts in public sector road constriction, rehabilitation and maintenance
  • Improve on project management skills thereby meet your contractual obligations on time and within the specified requirements (budget and quality)
  • Scale up operations over the medium to long term through winning bigger contracts

To view the brochure, click here.

Target Participants

Kenyan SME road contractors registered with Kenya National Construction Authority (NCA) in categories NCA3, NCA4, NCA5 and NCA6.

Staff targeted are:

  • Owners
  • Directors
  • Project managers
  • Staff directly engaged in the day-to-day business operations and public procurement

To access the application form, click here.

Programme Content

Upon admission to the programme, a student will pursue the six core course
and one specialization course over a period of one year.

Module I: Understanding the Business Landscape
These sessions will lay a solid foundation for the programme and provide the SME participants with the framework required for:

  • Understanding personal vision and mission
  • Making business operations better, faster and cheaper
  • Innovation in construction
  • Understanding markets, customers and marketing interface
  • Doing business in East Africa
  • Organizational and personal agenda

Team Coaching and Mentoring Session 1

Module II: Managing Business Operations for Efficiency
These sessions will bring out highlights on why many businesses succeed at pilot phase but fail during scale up.

Areas covered will include:

  • Understanding the use and value of financial records
  • Understanding taxation for small businesses
  • Strategies for bidding and winning tenders
  • Business pricing and costing strategies
  • Business ethics and social responsibility
  • Legal issues and requirements
  • Enterprise risk and project management
  • Alternative dispute resolution

Team Coaching and Mentoring Session 2

Graduation

  • This will take place upon successful completion of the training as stipulated above
The sessions will also tackle the leadership and management challenges facing SMEs and the competencies necessary to manage and sustain a successful business.

Developing Great African Leaders

For more information write to Brian on bjuma@strathmore.edu or eeopenprograms@strathmore.edu.

You may call +254 (0) 703 034 414 / +254 (0) 703 034 511.

Objectives
  • Improve your business management skills and capabilities
  • Become more efficient in your business operations
  • Attain a competitve edge through delivering higher quality services
  • Acquire improved skills in practical bidding thereby win more contracts in public sector road constriction, rehabilitation and maintenance
  • Improve on project management skills thereby meet your contractual obligations on time and within the specified requirements (budget and quality)
  • Scale up operations over the medium to long term through winning bigger contracts

Training Outcomes
By the end of the training, you will be in a position to:

  • Apply modern business managment principles to management principles to strengthen your business’s operations, and in the medium term, be more competitive in the market and deliver high-quality services
  • Employ practical bidding skills that will enable you submit more qualified public bids and win more contracts in public sector road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance
  • Employ best practices in project management in order to meet your contractual obligations through delivering projects on time, on budget and on quality
  • Possess relevant competences and capabilities to further develop and grow your business operations and be able to bid for bigger road construction projects in the near future

Programme Methodology
The programme will be delivered using a Participant/ learner centered approach in which a combination of methods will be used i.e

  • Interactive classroom sessions
  • Case study analysis
  • Videos
  • Coaching
  • Experience Sharing workshop: Business priority challenge project progress presentation to stakeholders
  • Guest speakers and mentoring companies sharing best practices

Programme Impact Evaluation
  • In-session evaluations of course content at the end of each unit
  • Business site visits
  • Documentation of success stories and case studies