2012 EFMD Africa Conference held at School of Business
The University of Nairobi School of Business and Strathmore Business School co-hosted the 3rd European Foundation of Management Development (EFMD) Africa Conference that drew participants from local and international top business schools. The theme for the conference was “Sustainable Business Education Appropriate for Africa.”
Dr. Manu Chandaria, Chairman, Comcraft Group, challenged participants to instill business and entrepreneurial skills in their business students and to equip them to fill glaring gaps in Africa’s business environment. In his presentation on ‘The role of business schools in Africa’, Dr. Chandaria shared his family’s business success story and the role education plays in business. His passion for entrepreneurship is felt through the Chandaria Foundation which is sponsoring innovation and incubation centres and setting up business schools in Kenya.
The annual event, which was sponsored by EFMD and Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), brought together Harvard Business School, IESE Business School, Lagos Business School, Angola Business School, South Africa’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), among others.
During the opening session, Mr. Stephen Nzuve, the Dean, School of Business, welcomed the participants to the University of Nairobi and gave a brief introduction about the School which is among the top business schools in Kenya offering programmes that are addressing the rising needs of the nation. He commended the initiative by EFMD to engage business schools in discussions on how to contribute to Africa’s growth.
The topics the conference discussed were the role of business schools in Africa, partnerships, management development powering development, income streams, governance among others. EFMD is the leading global network for business schools and companies, and GMAC, a council of the world’s leading business schools and the owner of the GMAT exam, have been at the forefront of raising the standards of management education and development around the world. The participants were drawn from local and international business schools.