Prepare for Turbulent Times -
David Robertson, June 2003
"I decided in 2003 that the company needed to be reinvigorated. We needed a leaner Financial Services business and a re-aligned Operating model to support it. As the architect of this model, I needed time away to reflect and to plan in a tranquil, academic environment, isolated from the coal face. Saïd Business School offered the perfect environment enabling me with the aid of the course subject matter to carry out an objective review of the business and plan for the future.
I returned twelve months later with my Senior Executive Team to collectively restructure the business. This exercise equipped us mentally and organisationally to emerge stronger and more agile from the economic torpor of 2003/2004, to establish a Global business in 11 Countries, becoming the largest independent Factoring Company in the UK with the ambition of becoming the largest across the world by 2014.
I have warm memories of Saïd Business School, the tutors and fellow course members and of the experience we shared together. For any committed Executive this course is a must and provides excellent preparation for Senior Managerial or Leadership roles within industry. Beside the quality of learning, the food was outstanding and the accommodation extremely comfortable.
I am now two years away from stepping down as Chief Executive and actively planning the next phase of my career in the not for profit and public service sector, hence my recent attendance at the Saïd Business School ‘What Next’ course. Saïd Business School deservedly enjoys world class recognition for its excellence in platforms of learning and personal development. That said, as with all learning opportunities the secret is that the more effort and commitment you invest personally the more you will take out – and ultimately have to offer." |
 Reviewing Your Role in the World -
Nick Gilodi-Johnson and Irfan Keshavjee, October 2008
"Imagine a 10 by 10 foot box. Its sides are made of mud, polythene, perhaps some timber. Its base is made of earth and its top is made of heavily rusted corrugated iron.
Now fill that box with five people and call it a home. Step out from your home and into the street. Mind the open sewer at your doorstep. “Kids, for goodness sake, will you stop playing in the sewer!” All around you are plastic bags full of faeces. Where else can you go when only 46% of your community has access to a bathroom and typically 75 people use one pit latrine? After dark, security is a luxury for the few who live on the outskirts of the slum. Beyond this, any person walks in constant fear of being robbed, mugged or raped.
Welcome to the ‘City of the Flying Toilets’ – welcome to Kibera. Kibera is the second largest slum in Africa, home to up to one million inhabitants and one fifth of Kenyans with HIV. It has population densities of up to 2,000 people per acre living in dwellings that are single storey and built on years of shifting accumulated refuse. Kibera is in the heart of Nairobi and is typical of the numerous slums that account for over 60% of the population of the city. Kenya’s slums are growing at a rate of 6% a year and the supply of housing is far outstripped by demand. The government’s own projections indicate that the demand for homes will exceed supply by 120,000 homes each year for the next seven years. The environment of the slums only helps perpetuate the problems of their inhabitants. These include: lack of safety; no security of tenure; no clean water or sanitation; worsening conditions due to rapid urbanisation. People are locked into a poverty trap. They are
desperate, with nothing to lose. This is what was at the root of the post election violence that took place last year in Nairobi. There are huge social consequences for all Kenyans.
Karibu Homes is a social enterprise designed to address some of these issues.
The idea for Karibu Homes was conceived by Irfan Keshavjee during a brainstorming session hosted by Don Simpson. This session was the culmination of four weeks of intense examination of the world around us and our role within it, under the guidance of our guru, AMP Programme Director, Lalit Johri. The idea germinated during
Lectures covering a broad range of subjects, but which held common themes. These included lectures given by: Ian Golding on How the Socio Demographics of our World Might Look in the Future; Stephan Chambers on the Rise of Social Entrepreneurship; and Kunal Basu on Marketing and Social Responsibility. These lectures, coupled with the volatile combination of heavy caffeine consumption and philosophising - that took place between lectures - provided the catalyst to do something that was directly relevant to what was being learned.
So, Irfan and Nick Gilodi-Johnson set about making Karibu Homes a reality. The mission is simple: to provide slumdwelling families with the key to unlock themselves from the vicious cycle of poverty they experience in slums by offering them affordable, secure, sanitary housing within a progressive community that offers a better environment for their children and opportunities for enterprise and employment. Families become homeowners through access to mortgages provided by a micro finance mortgage partner. As a social enterprise, the goal is to provide a social benefit where there is a huge need and to deliver a return on investment that will ensure the sustainability of the venture."
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 Extend Your Learning -
Emanuel Santos, October 2007
"The individual and organisational challenges I committed to at the end of this programme encouraged me to further pursue, the more comprehensive University of Oxford Executive Master of Business Administration.
It comprised of three main learning blocks which I found very relevant to the challenges I was confronted with. The first block covered core managerial and organisational subjects which enhanced general management skills and knowledge. The second enabled participants to direct and advance their learning into specific areas relevant to individual career or organisational performance. The third offered the opportunity to explore and keep up-to-date with contemporary developments in business/management. With modules occurring quasi on a bimonthly basis, participants across the globe were able to maintain their current jobs while attending the programme.
This feature weighed heavily on the decision to join the programme. Second, the programme offered the ability to apply learning immediately; participants were encouraged to employ the theoretical frameworks to reflect on their own experience, enhance understanding of specific organisational issues and subsequently develop models to effectively address such challenges upon returning to their organisations. A final feature of the programme is its diversity; participants comprised 49 participants across 23 nationalities and 14 major industrial sectors. This has resulted in new business ventures, career progression opportunities, and lifelong friendships across the globe in the ever more global economy." | |