Monday. January 24, 2010
THISDAY, Vol. 16, No. 5754, Page 35
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BusinessWORLD more-business news Barclays Sacks 200 Managers to Cut Wage Bill rudays Bank of Kenya is laying off 200 managers to cut costs as lenders increasingly look at trimming their executive suiteS this year to conIIDI their rising wage bill. Managing Director, Adan Mohamed, last week sent a memo to all staff saying the workforce would be cut by six per cent in line with an ongoing restructuring plan.
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By Linda Eroke with age1lCY report
Other top banks that have announced a freeze in hiring plans and job cuts include Equity and Co-operative while KCB has hired global consultancy finn McKinsey & Company to help create a new organisation struc-
ture especially on its executive
suites. CFC Stanbic Bank is also believed to be planning a cut on its workforce from March, according to sources. The employment redundancies, acoording to a report by Business Daily, are informed by the efficiency gains that Kenyan banks have made after installing new IT platforms in the past two
years and merging some departments. "Approximately 200 management level colleagues will be affected - slightly over six per cent of our work force. Union members are out of scope;' Mr. Mohamed said in the Januruy 18
memo. 'This is not an early retirement scheme but rather a process that affects employees whose
Food Security: Experts Parley on Organic Agric o help address the issue of food security in the counIry, both local and foreign experts are partnering to make it a reality with the use of organic agriculture. A member of the group, Olusegun Oba<;anjo Centre for Organic Research and Development (OOCORD), was set up to help develop research and know ledge exchange on sustainable organic Agriculture meant to tackle food security in the country. They would collaborate with Nigerian Organic Agriculture Network (NOAN) and Agro Eco Louis Bolk Institute, Netherlands to boost both local food secUlity and income gen-
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eration needs. The OOCORD Executive Director, Prof. Jonathan Babatola. during a press briefing held in Lagos at the weekend. told newsmen that this became necessruy because the
country has been lagging behind on the usage of organic agriculture and wants it pro-
By Chinazor Megbolu moted. "OOCORD is set up to develop research and knowledge exchange on sustainable organic agriculture systems to address the dual role of food security and income generation for public good, .. he said. He explained that OOCORD is set to develop fanning system, which will rely on renewable, non-polluting practices, Ihat is mutually beneficial to farmers as well as the environment with regards to principles of health. ecology, fairness and care respectively. Babatola highlighted that the objectives would be to develop and maintain the infrastructure, skills and processes necessary to identity, address and solve the challenge, of fanning community to developing nationwide sustainable agriculture capable of meeting local food security and income generation needs within the
context of vulnerability and change. Others include: cultivate a peer level process of mutual learning and democratic collaboration among a diverse community of organic fanners, scientists, extortionists. consultant, consumers and others for the pursuit of the project mission, create a shared understanding of organic agriculture as a mainstream approach to managing agriCUltural system. The rest are: identify and characterise research and information exchange priorities pertaining to the mission, through various activities, advance the state of the art of organic systems research, including on farm, participatory, whole systems and multifarm studies, and encourage the use and implementation of OOCIRD results amongst others. Meanwhile, the Eco Agro Managing Director, Mr. Bo van Elzakker, in his presentation, noted that their mission in
Nigeria is to help strengthen OOCORD's functions in Nigeria, in coUaboration with Nigeria's National Institute for Horticulture Research (NIHORT), Conventry University and the African Leadership Development Centre, UK. He hinted that in a bid to promote organic agriculture in Nigeria, researches have been going on most of the country's universities and agricultural institutions in order to give the nation a much needed boost to help address this trend in a coordinated way.
roles are likely to change as a result of realignment to improve productivity;' added Mr Mohamed, without giving details on the planned changes. Sources at the bank say it's planning to merge some departments to improve efficiency and cut back on its rising wage bill, which is the highest in the indusIry, driven mainly by the bank's high number of managers compared to its peers. Its wage bill stood at Sh72 billion in 2009 December up from Sh3 billion in 2006 with its staff count having doubled over the period to 3,590 workers. The huge wage bill has partly helped squeeze its margins as it grew its net profits for the nine months to September by six per cent to Sh5.4 billion at a time when its rivals such as KCB, Equity Bank and Standard Chartered bank are announcing double-digit growth in profits. The payroU cut is emerging at a time when the banking sector has in the last three years strengthened its executive suite as talent emerged as a weapon for market share growth. In 2009, foc instance, the sec-
tor grew the number of managers on its payroU by 6.4 per centt06,156or23.5 per cent of its total workers even as it cut on the number of supervisors, clerical and support staff, according to Central Bar.k of Kenya (CBK) data. "Banks focused on managerial staff to in 2009 to drive growth momentum;' said CBK in its latest supervision report on the banking sector. But the induslry'S heavy investment on IT in the last two years - whose benefits begun to show from the second half of 2010 - has reduced the need for paper worlc and backroom offices due the automation of branches, which has rendered a number of workers redundant. The focus on reducing the number of managers in the sector will mark a significant shift in Kenya's banking induslry, which has tended to focus on the low cadre employees while retrenching. The situation is however not different from Nigerian banks where over 10,000 jobs losses have been recorded in the last one year.
Rite Foods Make Inroads into Mkt
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welve months after the iniroduction of Bigi bmnd of sausage roU into the market by Riles RxxIs Limited, the brand is said to have warmed itself into the consciousness of the consuming public. According to a statement issued by the management of Blackproud Concepts, the marketing finn that wa< recently hired to map out strategies needed to properly position the brand, Bigi's launch, which was a year ago~ viewed in some quarters as abuormal, is today being applauded from various segments of the marlcet. "When Bigi was first iniroduced, not a few members of the public,
By Raheem Akingbolu especially analysts, said it might find it difficult to stand in tlJe already saturated sausage roU market but a< a result of the doggedness of the manufacturers and their partners, it has turned out to be a success story, going by the demand for the product;' said the C01JXlrate Marketing Strategist of the marketing agency. Victor Nzewi. The statement further staled that as a consequence of the marketing finn engagement, the company launched its first promo tagged, 'Bigi Goes to Schools', which attracted the
participation of over two thousand nursery and primary schools in Lagos and adjacent areas. According to Nzewi, the promo was a resounding success as the demand of the school kids far exceeded the marketing target. In appreciation of the overwhelming support Rites RxxIs received from the pupils and school authorities, it held a thank you bash for schools that panicipaled in the promotion. The party, which was held in Ikeja Lagos, was attended by the Managing Director of the company; Mr. Sellem Adegunwa, who was joined by his staff to welcome the kids and shower them with gifts.
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