Posted on

Wine and chocolate from the Tax man

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]The New York Times online edition ran this breaking news story on Tuesday September 15th this year: “De Blasio to require computer science in New York City schools.” The article explains further, “To ensure that every child can learn the skills required to work in New York City’s fast-growing technology sector, Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce on Wednesday that within 10 years all of the city’s public schools will be required to offer computer science to all students…the goal is for all students, even those in elementary schools and those in the poorest neighborhoods, to have some exposure to computer science, whether building robots or learning to use basic programming languages. Noting that tech jobs in New York City grew 57 per cent from 2007 to 2014, Gabrielle Fialkoff, the director of the city’s Office of Strategic Partnerships, said, “I think there is acknowledgment that we need our students better prepared for these jobs and to address equity and diversity within the sector, as well.”

Bill de Blasio was sworn in as Mayor of New York City on January 1st 2014. It’s still early to comment on the efficacy of his tenure, but it is noteworthy that his goal is to have an educational curriculum that makes his citizenry relevant in the not so distant future, when he will likely already have left office. At the risk of sounding condescending to you dear reader, this is what forward planning looks like. It requires complete selflessness in the sense that you are making policies that will benefit future generations and that have zero positive impact on today’s bottom line. If you ask any employer what a key resource for delivery of their organization’s strategic goals is, they will tell you that it is competent and skilled human capital. And that human capital doesn’t buy skill from aisle 7 at the local supermarket. The academic curriculum in our secondary and tertiary institutions is critical for businesses today and it is imperative that they are regularly reviewed for relevance in a rapidly changing technological backdrop. Let me park this aside briefly.

So I went to visit Moraa at her furniture factory last week. Yes, I did say pax romana on any more entrepreneur-in-Kenya horror stories in last Monday’s column, but I have uncrossed my fingers just this one time after the mind blowing visit. For those of you reading this for the first time, Moraa is one of several insanely committed entrepreneurs whose courage to do business in Kenya, employ citizens and develop a supply chain that generates value as well as impacts more lives is nothing short of admirable. She, and many others like her, try to do legitimate business in Kenya but have had great difficult getting government support in opening new markets or creating an enabling environment for goods to be distributed within the region despite all the chest thumping around “ease of doing business” reforms.
Anway, Moraa has imported state of the art furniture cutting and printing machines in order to make a high quality Kenyan product. I stood in awe as I watched one laser machine print out a beautiful cartoon motif on the back end of a wooden bed resulting in a high definition, permanent image that did not drip or bleed past the edges. She had several other cutting machines that remained unmanned, and when I asked I was told that there was a severe shortage of skilled wood artisans since many polytechnics had converted into universities. On her last jaunt to one of the former polytechnics [I will not say which one, as I’ve realized government agencies take umbrage whenever I talk about them here and are always quick to send me a point of correction. However it is extremely refreshing to see that a) they read the papers b) they are sensitive to public perception of their services and c) they actually do care!] She found that they had some of the latest and very expensive machines that were simply lying idle in the workshop. Having been purchased, there were no trained personnel one to teach the students on how to use the equipment! As entrepreneurs always turn a challenge into an opportunity, Moraa’s next goal is to see how she can create a technical institute to train wood artisans, as she needs some for her own factory and envisages that the growth opportunities in the industry will continue to drive demand for this skilled resource.

Back to the curriculum discussion: How often do our public universities meet with industry and determine whether the output in the name of graduating students meet the needs of employers today? I recently saw an advertisement in the newspaper calling for public participation in the much-needed review of the 8-4-4 curriculum which is a wonderful initiative. My two cents worth from my well worn armchair: Have a two year course run in form 3 and 4 that teaches students how to run a business and ensure that it is project based rather than theoretical. It will assist a) those students who don’t necessarily want to pursue university studies and b) will ensure that those students who eventually end up working in government get a good sense of what it takes to be an entrepreneur which should guide their future policy making of today’s current buzz word: “ease of doing business”. Of course all this is futuristic, like Bill de Blasio’s dreams of a tech driven culture in the New York City post 2030.

On a happier note, staff from Kenya Revenue Authority visited Moraa last week. They came bearing gifts; a bottle of wine and a beautifully wrapped box of chocolates as part of their customer care week thanking tax compliant businesses. When she managed to scrape her jaw off the floor in shock at the friendly and very engaging visit, she shared the incredulous story. My jaw, not surprisingly, is still on the floor. When government works, it works well! Nice touch KRA!

[email protected]
Twitter: @carolmusyoka[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Posted on

Communication isn’t rocket science building bridges is

The Brooklyn Bridge, with a main span of 1,595.5 feet or 486.3 metres, was the first steel wire suspension bridge ever constructed. The bridge that spans the East River links the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan Island. In 1863, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea for the bridge. However, bridge-building experts throughout the world told him to forget it; it could not be done.

View of New York from on the Brooklyn Bridge
Image from http://www.history.com/

Roebling convinced his son, Washington, who was a young up and coming engineer that the bridge could be built. The two of them developed the concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With unharnessed excitement and inspiration, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.
The project was only a few months under construction when a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling and severely injured his son, Washington. Washington was unable to talk or walk. Everyone felt that the project would have to be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built.
Even though Washington was unable to move or talk, his mind was as sharp as ever, and he still had a burning desire to complete the bridge. An idea hit him as he lay in his bed, and he developed a code for communication. All he could move was one finger, so he touched the arm of his wife with that finger, tapping out the code to communicate to her what to tell the engineers who were building the bridge. For thirteen years, Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger until the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge was finally completed in 1883.

Interesting isn’t it? That a bridge that remains standing 132 years later was built on the instructions of a finger tapping bedridden engineer. The moral of this chronicle, for me, is not about the obvious tenacity of the engineer. It is about how one can choose to communicate a) despite great odds and b) while building an engineering feat. I thought about this during the April Nairobi traffic re-routing fiasco. The Nairobi County Government came up with a great idea backed by credible numerical data from months of research. The Uhuru Highway roundabouts were a key cause of the traffic bottlenecks in the city and needed to be tamed in some shape or form. Meetings, with the ubiquitous tea and mandazi accompaniments, were held in County Headquarters and decisions were made to block off some offending intersections and reconfigure traffic patterns. For that, the County chaps get an A+ for thinking out of the tattered box of historical non-solutions.
However, it was the execution that left them with enough egg on their faces to make a few thousand Spanish omelets. The County failed to communicate what was going to require a massive change in behavior of ordinarily unruly Nairobi drivers.

And then Nairobians landed back in the city after a heavy laden, spiritually filled (of the holy and liquid kind) Easter weekend and stumbled upon drums. Many drums. On a Tuesday, when the eyelids were struggling to crack open and allow the harsh sunlight of another week to edge its way into a reluctant Nairobi driver’s life. Then a few newspaper adverts showing the new routes were published. But many, if not most Nairobi drivers missed whatever smidgeon of communication was blurted out by the Nairobi County Governor’s office.


Image from http://nairobiwire.com

The nightmare started immediately. Due to the resounding silence from County Headquarters, Nairobians resorted to any channel to scream out their woes. To the empathetic NTV reporter standing by the side of the road, head cocked to the side to avoid the flying spittle from the irate driver who had gone round in circles between South C flyover and Bunyala road roundabout, just trying to get to the city. They took to Facebook to write unceasingly cathartic abuse-filled posts and to Twitter to punch 140 characters of rants and raves. Within hours, Nairobians took over the narrative. Actually, it wasn’t much of a coup, since the narrative had never been controlled by the Governor’s office in the first place. An initiative that was supposedly joint with the central government and the Kenya National Highways Authority landed squarely, and to be honest unfairly, in the melting lap of the Nairobi Governor. The beast was named #KideroDrums and took a life of its own.

Things could have been done differently from the start. They could have had billboards on both sides of the highway approaching each offending roundabout. The billboards would have told us what to expect and when to expect it. Remember, Nairobians spend a lot of time sitting in traffic so it’s not hard to read a billboard even in small print.
The project owners could then have gone to print and social media and run campaigns that were timed. 30 days to go before D-Day. 20 Days to go, 10 Days to go, then: DRUM DAY! Then gone to Wilson Airport and get on board a chopper with a couple of radio hosts, flying around the city and warning motorists of where the hot spots were which could be avoided. These are a few uneducated guesses, but ones that exhort the County Government to stop allowing citizens to own the narrative of their initiatives. Once you allow the public to define the perception, that perception becomes reality despite all evidence to the contrary.

Gaining the public’s trust again especially after the floodwaters of recent weeks will be akin to a bridge building exercise. Forgive this pun, but bridges have been built with the tap of a finger. There must be some good things happening over at the County Headquarters, both now and in the future. Own them, publicize them and stop allowing invested folks on social media to drive your communication for you. As for the KENHA chaps, you owe the Nairobi Governor; he took one for the team!

[email protected]
Twitter: @carolmusyoka