Executive Education:
The Kenyan Market Opportunity
Final Report
March 2, 2015
Table of Contents
The future of executive education in Kenya over the next 5-10 years is ripe with opportunity, but in order to
deliver and capture value, the current state of collaboration between industry and academia will prove
unviable and thus the need for industry players to purposefully shift from doing business as usual.
01
03
05
Introduction &
Executive Summary
Market Trends and
Analysis
Customer Analysis
02
04
06
Product Definition
Competitive
Landscape
Conclusions
Section 01: Executive Summary
The future of executive education in Kenya over the next 5-10 years is ripe with opportunity, but in order to deliver
and capture value, the current state of collaboration between industry and academia will prove unviable and thus
the need for industry players to purposefully shift from doing business as usual.
Overall purpose of the survey
The executive education sub-sector is undergoing a
fundamental transformation in terms of its role in society,
mode of operation, and economic structure and
competitive dynamics.
The purpose of the Executive Competence
Development Survey was to contribute a substantial
part of the five-year business plan for Equip Africa
Institute. A key element was the evaluation of the overall
market potential for the Equip flagship program, the
MKU EMBA.
To explore these themes and future directions, we have
conducted an industry-wide study of the main forces
impacting the higher education industry locally, and the
opportunities, challenges and implications for Equip
Africa institute.
We conducted a mix of primary and secondary
research, including in depth interviews with business
leaders from manufacturing, retail and distribution,
consumer electronics, real estate and construction,
media, technology, non governmental organizations,
service industry, hospitality, professional services,
franchising and a good number of entrepreneurs and
owner managers.
section 01
3
Section 01: Executive Summary
Key findings of the survey
The Market for Executive Education in Kenya has untapped opportunity
arising from the increasing number of growth oriented businesses, ranging
from Multi National Corporations to Owner Managed Medium Sized Business,
that require skilled management to support their growth efforts.
There is a lot of focus in these companies on building their internal capacity
based on outlined business strategies thereby creating demand and a pull
effect in the market.
However, the primary challenge being faced by these companies is the gap
between internal needs and external solutions from service providers and the
unrealized value for money.
This mismatch is due to industry citing that tertiary institutions are providing
non-actionable knowledge and further to this, the lack of return on
investment measurement means that there is no targeted effort resulting in
the unrealized value.
The following report is illustrative of the current market trends and consumer
analysis in order to highlight areas of opportunity and threats, market
dynamics and consumer preferences stemming from both quantitative and
qualitative research undertaken.
4
The Allure of
Executive
Education
‡ Unlocking opportunities
‡ Strategic Importance &
Product Definition
‡ Key Demand Drivers
Section 02: The Allure of Executive Education
Pursuit of training is to unlock opportunities
The Kenyan job market has become increasingly competitive over the past
few years. This has resulted in a high number of graduates leaving institutions
of higher learning and chasing more elusive job opportunities as employment
creation has slowed down. The resulting effect is pushing those who have
secured employment and job seekers to look for ways of remaining
competitive and relevant .
The demand has seen thousands of working individuals flocking back to
school to improve their skills and acquire additional knowledge with the
Masters of Business Administration and Executive Masters of Business
Administration emerging as one of the sought after academic courses in the
country.
Also, owing to the increasing competitive and challenging business
environment, there is a growing number of Kenyan Executives trooping back
to the class for executive degrees and post graduate certifications. They are
driven by the need to keep updated on emerging leadership and
management trends as well as to attain self-actualization.
Source: IPSOS Synovate
6
Section 02: The Allure of Executive Education
The strategic importance of Executive Education
Currently in the Kenyan market Executive education has twofold importance.
Organizational Importance
Organizations and institutions undertake executive training in order to bridge
the competency gaps between where they are today and the organization’s
strategic intention over the next 1-3-5 year period. Whereby Executive
competence development is specifically geared towards building leadership,
implementation and management capacity of the organization informed by
the corporate strategy.
Individual Importance
Executives have individual development plans based on their company
employee development programs and the same executives are also linked
to various professional associations that require continued professional
education be undertaken. Therefore the continual fulfilment of these
requirements is key in order to build their leadership and managerial
competency and make career and professional advancements.
7
Section 02: The Allure of Executive Education
How customers view Executive Education
Executive education is important to nurture top and
emerging leadership. It is important part in any
organisation as technology business environments and
customer tastes and preferences keep on changing.
Our research and industry discussions highlighted a
number of major forces impacting the sub-sector in
Kenya and these forces coalesced around five key
drivers of demand as highlighted below;
Organizations desire programs to focus on specialized
executive level management to enhance skills and
gives them the a new perspective on their roles.
 Organizational Growth Strategy
In an increasingly complex business environment,
leaders will continue to look for ways to stay ahead of
the crowd and effectuate meaningful change, ensuring
continued need for high-quality executive education.
 Job Market Competitiveness
 Organizational Succession Planning
 Individual Career Development
 De Facto Management Standard
Organizations want programs that understand them in
terms of what their needs and strategic objectives are
and also the time and cost constraints that maybe arise.
These programs should therefore be structured in a way
that this factors are taken into consideration.
8
Section 02: The Allure of Executive Education
Organizational Business Strategy
Key demand drivers
Organizations are aligning their
Job Market
internal capacity and competence
development with their organizational Competitiveness
strategies
0
Organizational Succession
Planning
In some organizations where there
exists strong succession
structures, executive training and
coaching are key to developing the
competencies of the ‘successors’
0
0
O
De Facto Management Standard
The Masters degree, is the de facto standard for
all executives and because of increased market
sophistication more specialization is required
both technical and managerial and thus the push
to further develop the executive suite.
Increasingly competitive
job market with elusive
job opportunities is the
need for further
development of executives
Individual Career Development
Increasingly organizations are requiring their
employees to have Individual Development
Plans based on employee career plans and
identified competence gaps for development.
0
9
Section 02: The Allure of Executive Education
“Executive education is a must have in any organisation and
should be well researched, localized, industry specialized,
progressive and practical. It is the capacity development for
management to not only fulfil their current roles but also
deliver on forward-looking organizational strategies.”
Executive education as described and defined by both individual and institutional customers.
Market
Trends and
Analysis
Market segmentation
Section 03: Market Trends & Analysis
12
Section 03: Market Trends & Analysis
4P’s & Porters 5 Forces
ILC
PLC
New entrants-bandwagon effect
Users/sales: Increasing rapidly
Power of Buyers-Increasing
Costs: Falling rapidly, utilization, scale and experience effects
Power of Suppliers-high
Competitors: New entrants, innovator may sell out
Threat from Substitutes-growing
Marketing objective: Build market share by focusing on new customers and
creating distinct brand image
Rivalry among firms- Intense, as
firms seek to continue to grow at
the expense of rivals
BMC
Product: Falling slowly, supply constraints may keep prices high; Structure
(modular, fulltime, bullet)
Prices: Low demand side risk, but cash flow risks
Promotion: Basic, little variety, quality not high, frequent design changes
Place: Specialist retailers, dealers who can give advice, exclusivity deals;
online, onsite, offsite
Risk: Focus on brand and its advantages, loyalty, bundling, affinity.
13
Finance(37%),consulting(34%)and
education(23%)continue to be prospective students
most sought after industries.
14
Section 03: Market Trends & Analysis
MBA is still preferred by most executives.
55%
54%
54%
57%
2009
53%
2010
2011
2012
33%
32%
28%
2013
25%
26%
18%
13%
MBA Only
MBA & Masters
According to an international
study done by Graduate
Management Admission Council in
2013 full time MBA programs
remain the leading program type
among prospective MBA students.
18%
14%
20%
52% of prospects who consider an
MBA are interested in a full time
two year format; 49% are
interested in a full time one year
format.
Master's Only
15
Section 04: Customer Analysis
Market segmentation
Segmentation of the Customers
The Executive training customers are segmented into two main groupings:
1.
Individuals - This includes the Executives both local and international as
per below;



2.
Top managers
Senior managers
Middle level managers
Individuals
•Domestic
•International
Institutions - This includes:



Businesses both Corporates and SME’s
Government institutions
Non-Governmental institutions
The segmentation cuts across all sectors.
Institutions
•Business
•Government
•Not for Profit
16
Section 04: Customer Analysis
Demographic Characterisation of Business Executives in Kenya
Gender
Femal
e
44%
Educational Background
Marital Status
Male
56%
60%
Refused To Answer
Age
38%
3%
Divorced
1%
Widowed
2%
Married
3%
College &
Above
Secondary &
below
Refused To
Answer
35+
30%
Другой
70%
25-29
44%
Single
52%
43%
30-34
26%
Source: The Steadman Group | Sample Size: n=200
17
Section 04: Customer Analysis
Key analysis of the Institutions as Executive
Education customers
A number of industry leaders agreed that Executive Education is a key
component for their business to achieve the different goals they have set in
place in addition to ensuring individual career growth for their executives.
They stated that strategic decisions have been made and implemented in
order to ensure that continuous competence development is achieved in the
organisation. The different decisions are based on:
 Budget allocation and competence funding;
 Decision making and responsibility of executing the executive training
programs in the organisation;
 The decision of who, where and frequency to train;
 Tools used by the organisations for competence development.
18
Section 04: Customer Analysis
Budget Allocation and competence funding
Large corporates with training departments stated that
their organisations allocate a certain budgetary amount
on average being between 2% to 10% of their total
annual wage bill to training.
Medium sized companies allocate a fixed budget to
training which is arrived at after an extensive needs
analysis of the competencies required by the
organisation based on their growth strategy and the
individual’s development plan.
Industry leaders of small sized companies differed in
terms of allocating a budget to training and stated that
training of their executives is on a needs basis.
Organizations do co-sponsor or give out loans to the
executives and also provide other incentives such as
time off/ study leaves. The pre-dominant caveat is that
employees have to stay on for a period not exceeding
one year or payback in full if the course cost was in
excess of USD 20,000/Across the board industry leaders stated that their
organisations fund executive training however
academic papers they either did not fund completely,
give loans to the executives or they would co-sponsor
the executive requiring the training.
19
Section 04: Customer Analysis
The process of executing the training programs
within the organisation
Decision making and Responsibility of Executing the
Executive training programs are separately executed.
Training needs assessment
Training needs
assessment
Needs
Assessment
analysis
Program/
training
calendar
development
Individual needs assessment is done with either the by the human
resource department according to the job grade of the
employee with person they report to in view of current
performance and organizational objectives that touch on the
function.
Needs Assessment analysis
Budget
development
and approval
Training is
implementation
Evaluation of
the training
The managers compile the executive needs and liaise with the
Human resource or training department to give the individual
needs analysis report for analysis based on twofold criteria;
 Individual performance needs
 Collectively as an executive team in managerial positions which
additional skills they require to posses as a team which executive
training they will require based on the business strategy.
20
Section 04: Customer Analysis
The process of executing the training programs
within the organisation
Program/ training calendar development
Training is implementation
The Human resource manager or training manager in case of any
gaps liaises with the executives to guide them and finally
prepares a training calendar and program that takes into
consideration the organizations calendar, similar training needs
for bundling and unique requests. Once this is done the person
responsible invites both partners and service providers to propose
courses and costings to meet the need. This could be the relevant
training consultants or universities, or does the training in-house.
The training is implemented based on the partner and program
selected.
Budget development and approval
Evaluation of the training
Evaluation of the training and monitoring of the executive training
based on the practical implementation of what has been learnt
by th executive. It is key to note that non of the organizations
interviewed has a formal way to measure the Return on
Investment from the training done.
Approval of the costs or budget has to be done by the CEO
and/or the board.
21
Section 04: Customer Analysis
22
Competitive
Landscape
Conclusion
‡ Industry Outlook
‡ Key points in the future
Development & Marketing
of Executive Education
‡ Implications for Equip
Africa Institute
Section 06: Conclusion
Industry Outlook
25
Section 06: Conclusion
Key points in the future Development &
Marketing
26
Section 06: Conclusion
Implications for Equip Africa Institute
27
Annex
‡ Bibliography
‡ Methodology
‡ Framework for Data
Analysis
‡ Research Team &
Contacts
Thank You
contact information
For more info, please contact us at:
E: briansingora@gmail.com
P: +254-(0)710-846 667
S: bsingora