Jeremiah Mutisya: My Experience of the Advanced Management Programme

On 1^st December 2023, Jeremiah Mutisya was one of the executives graduating after an intense year of training. Jeremiah is an alumnus of the Advanced Management Programme (AMP) and the Class President for the Class of 2023.

Giving his speech, Jeremiah shared his experience of the Advanced Management Programme; I want to take you through the journey on what I prefer to call “the best programme in Strathmore University Business School. We gather here to celebrate success and to mark the end of weeks, months, and a year-long filled with meaningful interactions, value sharing, learnings, and certainly lifelong impacts. This also marks the beginning of a continuous learning journey for all of us, which comes from the realization that there is so much out there for us- to learn, contribute, change, and impact. It has been an eye-opener for all of us to traverse Africa and Europe, “Jeremiah noted.

Today, during this graduation, we gather here first to congratulate Strathmore Business School for this remarkable milestone and express our happiness for being part of a special group that has had this privilege. Since 2006, this programme has exposed hundreds of senior executives. It certainly recons as one of the best tools we have in this region, a tool to make the needed change and create the impact needed in society.

We are glad to join SBS in spearheading Africa’s transformation and developing ethical and transformational leaders, we have felt it, lived it and today we leave here transformed.

We gather here to celebrate 32 leaders drawn from all sectors and professions across East Africa; we celebrate diversity across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda; and, most importantly, we celebrate inclusión, enabling us to appreciate and value one another.

The AMP offers an invaluable opportunity to learn from high-caliber faculty members, interact with senior-level peers, and together, strengthen their leadership skills. This program is designed to propel us as leaders in the global arena, and in that global arena, we feel exposed!

The journey started with the first module which began on the 17th of April 2023, and like any new class, we got to quickly know each other and their background. This has proved to be the only easiest part of the course; the hardest of courses followed. We were certainly unprepared for the long cases, BUT we quickly started comprehending how some of these scenarios connected to our daily lives.

We started by filling up the leadership and self-awareness test, easy, comfortable, tempting questions about “yourself,” easily forwarding to our seniors and colleagues to fill out; none of us was prepared for the hard-hitting self-realization; leaders are not ready to be told to improve! This is you! Change here! We put on the painting shoes this time- we embraced it, and it became a key turning point for many and a pillar in this journey. Creative, reactive, protecting, controlling.

We were exposed to different business concepts, decision-making, and stakeholder management and crowned it with the organization’s soul, and yes, the company is alive – it has a purpose and a soul.

And now, knowing it all, off to Ghana we went in July.

Then came module 2 at the China Europe International Business School, CEIBS in Ghana (An oasis in the desert, niche!)

Ghana was easy; colleagues will agree that this was a special one! We knew each other well; we had a successful formula on the cases -the power of the abridged version of cases- and it seemed like we had some evenings to discover Accra.

The highlight of module two was the discovery of the real “truth,” the geopolitics, how Africa is far from Africa, and the undrawn bold lines that divide the continent. But also, the value and the opportunity that is and lies in Africa. Ghana taught us that things could go wrong, but also there is what we can do to make it right.

We were exposed to the most real case in the West/ at least in Ghana, Niche cocoa, built and run locally, with the best standards, and bold enough to establish and export the concept to the US, an oasis in the desert. We all got a chance to interact with this company in depth, share ideas, and learn from them.

Visiting the Cape Coast and going back in time was needed, and we all, in the end, appreciated where Africa had come from. The faculty was nice, and Ghana was warm! We shopped, had fun, and came back home powerful but also colourful in Kitenge – KENTE. We were African graduates’ specialists and ready for the world. We left Ghana ready to disrupt.

Module three took place at the IESE, Business in Barcelona and I left with three key learnings: build the skills from within and better – La Masia, think beyond the norm – Shouldice and improve-improve -improve, put yourself in the shoes of the other side – Lego.

Barcelona was even better and more relaxed until we quickly discovered we had not conquered Africa; we were joined by 34 of our colleagues from Lagos Business School, and they became “a module four” in themselves. The cooking exercise helped us settle and get ready for the week.

We had the opportunity to review cases relating to established companies and start to think beyond the norm and look deep into what could change from within. We left IESE ready for action; we were to come back and implement. We even questioned if we needed module 4.

Module four brought us back home to Strathmore Business School. I suspect it’s by design that when you come back home, you feel like you have it! You have discovered yourself and you have conquered Africa, you have challenged Europe and heading back home for a medal.

We were wrong; it’s always hard at the end; friends, this last module was a revelation to all of us; it prepared us for a unique skill. We learned and relearned that you need the teams to make it work. You just can’t wake up and fire the CEO / Or the Head of Manufacturing – it is not the (only solution). You need emotional intelligence; you are a coach every day in the office and must lead the organization’s change and renewal. Listening is key, and an active one!

We had the opportunity to present our unique C-suite challenge, and through these, we learn that we are all facing the same challenges at the top, and we have the opportunity and the capacity to create tangible and sustainable solutions.

The opportunity to work with our able coaches was great. We all have benefited from the one-on-one sessions, and I am sure most of us will keep this partnership.

We have during this journey witnessed some early results. First off is Eng. Joseph Kamau who was promoted to CEO of Athi Water, Nancy Njau is now the CEO of Family Bank, and Gideon is now Dr. Gideon – congratulations to you all and to many who have also received recognition in various ways.

Ladies and Gentlemen, through this journey, we have known each other and grown together, and now it’s our time to look ahead and create more meaningful and impactful modules.

We would like to appreciate the faculty, the support team from Kenya, the coaches, the CEIBS Ghana team, the IESE team, Lagos Business School, colleagues and the AMP 2023 class council.

By Jeremiah Mutisya