Need for business education through media.

  

Date Posted: 12/28/2017 1:29:59 PM

Posted By: Charles W  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 132

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NEED FOR BUSINESS EDUCATION THROUGH MEDIA.

Most of the media houses mostly the voice media (Audiovisual and audio) concentrate mostly on advertisements and entertainment (which is good) but they forget their education theme.
Its not that the media house have abandoned their education role per-see but they give less time to it especially the business education. In my view only 1% of their time is used to pass business information if at all there is that time. In my view at least 1-2 hours (5%-10%) is favourable in educating the public about business.
The reason for my argument is because the countrys' economy is changing to a business based economy. The slogan "Kilimo ndio uti wa mgongo wa uchumi wa Kenya" (agriculture is the backbone of Kenyan economy) is slowly fading and paving way for business to take charge of the economy through the fact that arable land is diminishing at an alarming rate and on the other hand the SMEs are taking the lands being released by agriculture.

SMEs and Jua kali.

Currently the small and medium enterprises sector form the largest employer in the Kenyan economy. In my view this sector is performing below their threshold. If given the relevant knowledge in business they can perform way above their expectations.
The Kenyans who have the knowledge of running businesses are limited and the limited Kenyans who have the knowledge doesn't apply it either because of ignorance or they don't have the knowhow of practically applying what they know.
The knowledge of business and business related activities can be very expansive running from their starting through expansion to their relation with the governments (both county and national government).
The change from being an agri-run economy to business run economy is very positive but on the other hand its very sensitive if not handled

with care as business is the most risky venture to undertake.
In our country the knowledge on businesses is very shallow and there is a great and urgent need to educated Kenyans on business management.

The main urge that made me find the relevance for this article is because of the three big companies that are facing financial hiccups.

a) The KQ company
b) Nakumatt supermarket
c) Uchumi supermarket

Put in your mind these are three of the big companies in Kenya and worst of all is that they are facing financial problems
In my view whatever these companies are facing is a problem which have been recurring over the past years and the IA, EA (Internal and external auditors) and the very experienced and up-to-date accountants haven't been able to pinpoint to the directors and the top management for rectification and amendment and if they have done so the management and the directorship of the companies have been reluctant in giving the way forward may be because of ignorance or lack of the implications of the problems. To me the later takes predence .
Besides these three most of the other companies especially the big ones either fake their accounts to impress the shareholders or if not so they don't pinpoint the assumptions made in preparing their final statements.
Most companies run on their edges where by if at all they happen to triple they would fall to a ditch deeper than the mountain they seem to be enjoying themselves in.
My worry is if the big companies run by experts and expertriates fail to pin point some underlying problems or fail to foresee a problem at a very tender age what about the SMES and Juakali which most are run by either uneducated people or if educated they take less time and interest in running the businesses? To them provided the business is profitable the rest is a "no business" to them. With this they fail to realise that they can maximise their revenue and help in catapulting their business to great heights.
Let me discuss shallowly some of the thing that businesses ought to know for them to survive and stay as a going concern.

a) Profit maximization.

The main aim of any business is to maximise the revenue and the profit they make in the long run. This is mainly achieved through the minimization of costs and expense especially the recurrent expenditure. Recurrent expenditure refers to the expenses that must be incured provided the business is operating. The common recurrent expenses include rent, salaries, water, electricity etc.
For any booming business they try to put these expenses at their minimal depending on the level of operation.
There are some other expenditures that vary with the area of concentration for a business. To minimize these expenses there is a need for an experts advice which can be achieved through media education.

b) Adherence to the law.

The county and the national governments has set laws and rules to be met for a business to start and also to continue operating. In other areas they give incentive to encourage expansion and investment. Some business fail to take advantage of these incentives either because they they don't have the know the advantages of such incentives or in adverse cases they don't know the existence of such incentives.
These incentives change from time to time, differ from one place to the other, and from one sector of economy to the others
Impacting the relevant knowledge about incentives and the advantages of the same can be done through the media education. In Kenya this media education is shallow if at all it exists.

c) Taxation.

To me taxation is the broadest topic and the most relevant in business. Besides its great impact in businesses it also affects individuals.
In Kenya most of the citizens lack the relevant knowledge on tax laws. This leads to most businesses engaging in activities that put them at the risk of colliding with the tax man and for your information the most powerful body of all the government bodies is the KRA and the businesses that have been unfortunate (eg Bidco and Ecobank) to rub shoulders with them can attest to this. Its the only body in Kenya which has the mandate to have its own court, prosecutes you and mind you its the jury at the same time.
About taxation I can discuss it as a separate topic but the media can educate the Kenyans about it if at all given ample time to educating citizens about business through well planned platforms and programmes which in my opinion should be on daily basis.
But just to point out the taxman is not that impunitive as he gives avenues for taxpayers to reduce their tax burden through tax avoidance. Note. Tax avoidance is legal and in accordance with tax laws but tax evasion is illegal and punishable by KRA laws.

CONCLUSION.

Business knowledge is very important especially for a country that is changing to be a business based economy. With kenya being one of the countries and the knowledge being shallow there is great and urgent need to impact the knowledge.
At this point I would like to challenge the voice media which has the greatest impact to Kenyans to start allocating at least 1 or 2 hours giving education about running business in Kenya. And further more for the programme to be advantageous they should employ presenters with an in depth knowledge of the topic for it to be unique and broader than what is currently being offered.
When they take up the challenge then I will be comfortable that our country is ready to be driven forward by businesses.
Besides being of help to the businesses it will also help in keeping the citizens updated on what is happening in the business world. Furthermore it will help the government to increase their tax base as it will help businesses understand and the cons and pros of adhering to the tax laws.

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