A new government is coming, is your business aligned to its priorities?
Small business.
The Government agenda as espoused in its manifesto has a direct impact on business opportunities directly and indirectly. Large organisations that do business directly with the government understand this firsthand.
When government affairs are about to change hands from one political party to another, opportunities also shift both in quantum and direction. Once the manifestos of contending partners have been launched, they rarely change midstream. The priorities as set out in the manifesto of the winning party will form the basis of annual budget and thus the priority projects for the subsequent five years.
If your business is not aligned to the mainstream opportunities being pursued by the government of the day, it should align to the second level as a provider of support services to those who are aligned, otherwise, you will miss five years of business generated by the priorities of the government of the day. For example, over the last five years just ending, the Big 4 Agenda received most of the money, with the roads and railway combined receiving the biggest chunk.
The Big 4 Agenda prioritised infrastructure development, the size most Kenyan companies would not competitively win firsthand. Most of the local firms therefore got business through subcontracting as service providers to the aligned more competitive firms.
Easy money
Young people need this lesson early in life rather than focusing their eyes on easy money coming from undeclared sources, including proceeds of corruption. Construction companies, the type that built our railway, will require trucks to do the job. They outsourced the supply of such services. They required ballast and marram in enormous quantities, and again, they outsourced transport to local companies. You could also play at the third level where you offer support services to the sub-contracted party. The basic rule of money applies. The further away in the food chain you are from the primary risk bearer, the lower your earning.
It is essential to develop a good understanding of the government’s plans, and this includes the 47 county governments that control a huge chunk of the budgets for servicing devolved services. In my previous article, where I asked whether the manifestos being peddled by politicians favour entrepreneurs, I highlighted the three pillars of Vision 2030.
This is the mother national plan. I also zoomed into certain areas of the economic pillars. You should have a good feel of this pillar if you desire to play big in business because government is the largest business partner you can have.
Each county government is required to develop a five-year plan called the County Integrated Development Plan. It outlines the development priorities of the county. The industrial activities you may have seen in counties such as Makueni and Kitui, and the good all-weather road infrastructure network in Kakamega County, were all documented in the respective CIDPs before they were realised through the budget process. Inside the counties are municipalities that also receive funding.
Liaison officers
Municipalities development is directed by an Integrated Development Plan known as IDeP in municipal colloquial. Opportunities in the country, county and municipalities are documented. Most of these documents are in the various websites of the Country, County, or Municipalities, and where not available online, can be obtained from their respective liaison officers and offices.
The youth form a huge chunk of Kenya’s population and should be playing big, or at least preparing to play bigger. Put your fingers on information that drives the economy so that you can create ventures that mine the opportunities.
I have not seen any particular activity by the government that will dramatically bring capital flow and jobs into this country despite the fair efforts to make the country investor attractive. The country needs job creators, be one of them. Start with mastering opportunity sensitive information.
The writer is a financial literacy coach at Financial Academy and Technologies, and an entrepreneurship coach at The Entrepreneurship Center EA. E-mail: [email protected].
