RU Students visit African Development Bank
Riara School of Business students and Faculty, led by the Dean, Professor Kinoti had a rare opportunity of being hosted at African Development Bank, Eastern Africa Resource Centre (EARC), Nairobi- Kenya on Tuesday 16th February, 2015 from 10.00am to 1.15 pm.The fifty pax plus five staff members present were hosted by Mr. Gabriel Negatu, the African Development Bank, EARC Regional Director. In his brief opening remarks Mr. Negatu, welcomed them and observed that the 51 years institution which is not a classical bank focuses primarily on social, economic and environmental development of Africa. Some of ADB’s top on priority areas include addressing climate, forest and urbanization issues.The bank supports higher education mainly on science and technology and inclusive growth (employment opportunities for youth and women). The students were hosted in a state of the art conference facilities and were provided with light refreshments. Other wonderful presenters included Mr. Samuel Kamara, Country Programme Officer, who gave a broad overview of ABD past, present and the future. Followed by Dr. Shilkoh Gitau who challenged the students to take that extra step, especially the young women to accomplish their career aspirations given the nature of global competition.
Finally, Mr. Oltesh Thobias – Regional, Chief Procurement Officer, who also doubled as the programme coordinator, took them through the corporate procurement process, challenges and prospects, and a tour of the library. He encouraged the students to explore ways of working and nurturing one another. The Dean, and the RUSA President Moses Oyoo in their concluding remarks, thanked the host and promised to forge close ties with the bank to tap ADBs vast experiences by requesting for similar study tours, guest lectures, motivation talks, coaching and mentoring, career discussions, research, and sharing resources among others. Most students present were extremely impressed by the tour, craved to learn more of the ADB models and observed that the experiential learning tour had left lasting impressions in their lives.