Portrait of a CEO

By Anthony Ngatia

Two decades ago, the big question in the Kenyan business scene was simple. What is the face of the emerging African CEO?

The answers tended to vary, but one thing was certain — the CEO was either an expatriate, very old, or a politically connected person.

Today, things are different. With the dominant players in the economy no longer being the multinationals of yesteryears, and with small and medium enterprise (SME) gaining steam, now the question is this: what is the face of the SME CEO?

To quote Daphne Orebaugh, "The face is more honest than the mouth will ever be."

This means that whatever shows up on the face, it is the most truthful as opposed to what a person might tell us.

So, what is the face of a modern Kenyan SME CEO? What image comes to your mind when you think of a CEO of an SME? Is it a grey-haired, potbellied business magnate, or a grumpy businessman who has risen to the top through power and influence?

Youthfulness

It turns out that that the face of the SME CEO is none of these. On the contrary, the face of the modern CEO is characterised by youthfulness, intelligence, great education, being suave, and urbane.

Grace Kithure, a business consultant and educator says that the face of an SME CEO is best captured through the education lenses.

"If you look closely at most of them, they attended some of the best schools in this land and or abroad," she observes.

"And while some might have impressive strings of degrees, others are just tertiary college graduates. But even for these, one can glean about their intellectual pedigree once they tell you the caliber of the primary and secondary schools they attended, which are unmistakably among the best in this country," she adds.

If this is the case, how then did they get up the corporate ladder so fast? Could they have been thrust to their vaunted positions by forces beyond their control?

Some pundits argue that that the new face of SME CEO began to crystallise after the year 2000 when the economic landscape begun the shift from manual to IT.

At the time, firms were integrating IT in their operations, and since the older CEOs did not have the requisite IT knowledge, it came to be that the youngsters were absorbed into the corporate world. And with time, they rose through the ranks of the corporate world.

Boosted them

The praises the CEOs earned along the way gave most of them confidence to either move on to SMEs as CEOs, or found their own businesses altogether, which they have steered to attain the status of an SME.

Indeed, a closer look at most of the current bosses of most SMEs reveals that most had a privilege to work in IT-related or Engineering-related tasks in certain organisations, owing to their training in IT or Engineering. This gave them a head start over most of their contemporaries and they found opportunities lining their way.

And while their peers couldn’t get a place to obtain the much-sought-after experience, the modern SME CEO began their journey in blue-chip firms as management trainees, learning numerous aspects of management. This later opened many more doors ahead.

Francis Chahonyo, a business consultant in Nairobi points out that while most of the SME CEOs may not have had that privileged upbringing, most of them watched either their parents or some close relative manage some kind of business, which probably this sowed the early seeds of entrepreneurship in them.

"The emerging face of an SME CEO is that of a youthful person who seems to have suddenly developed some concern for nationalism, and is full of optimism about the future of the economy and the country. His mindset is indeed national and even international as attested by their way of thinking about certain issues. The face of the SME boss is that of a person concerned about the opportunities around and also more conscious of the general national issues," he adds.

Most of the CEO’s also come across as a "privileged" lot, eating life with a big spoon as attested by their globetrotting nature.

"If they are not travelling abroad, they are to be seen and heard around the country attending business conferences, or appearing in functions promoting social causes of all kinds," says Chahonyo.

Like to have fun

And given that they steer their firms to great heights of success, it is fair to presume that these CEOs like fun in equal measure as they like their work.

Gerald Maimba, a business consultant and entrepreneur says that unlike the CEO of a big corporation who comes across as a serial whiner by perpetually picking quarrels with the Government over poor infrastructure and issuing ultimatums unless the Government lowers this or that tax, the SME CEO casts a face of contentment and optimism.

"It is not their nature to whine a lot about the conditions of the economy and they exude confidence always," says Maimba.

He adds that most of these CEO’s owe their relative privilege and success to the community, and feel that they have a duty to give back to the society. This explains why most of them will engage actively in the community and contribute to the needs of the society.

Ken Mukasa, university student says that the face of an SME CEO is that of a rich whiz kid who is an inspiration to most youths.

"Most students look up to them as role models," he says.

It is no wonder that whenever these CEOs grace occasions in universities and youth forums, the youths are excited about them and hold them in awe as celebrities.