ALU School of Business prides itself in being able to enlist African business titans as Guest Faculty. A great example of this is Steve Okeyo, currently operating as the Managing Director of Mobile Devices at Telkom Kenya.
Steve earned an extensive track record in Sales, Operations, Management, and Strategy through experiences in roles such as Director for Regional Sales and Operations at Safaricom, Director for Sales Force Effectiveness at Lafarge, Commercial Director for the Bamburi and Hima Cement Companies and more. We are honoured to have had him share his experiences with our ALUSB MBA students and now, with you.
Watch the interview below to learn more about Steve’s experience a Guest Lecturer at ALUSB, his vision for Africa and his advice for rising business leaders!
His impressions of ALUSB MBA students
I like the fact that students come from different countries.
“I like the fact that students come from different countries. If I draw examples or case studies from the different countries, more often than not there will be a student from that country in class. And they can understand what I’m talking about because maybe they saw something happening in those years in certain industries and they didn’t understand exactly what happened and we are able to have those conversations.”
On the future of Africa
The African consumer is very young, and is growing.
“The future lies in Africa doing more business with itself. Look, Africa has the youngest population in the world. More than half of the population in Africa are young, below the age of 30. That depends from country to country, but the message is the same: that the African consumer is very young, and is growing. So everyone is going to come to Africa to want to sell us something. So if we can start selling to each other, we will benefit. So that alone tells you that this is the place to be.”
Advice for rising leaders entering the “C-suite”
You are good enough.
“All the experiences that they’ve ever had. However small, in however small operations or small countries. These experiences do count. And when you put them together, they become very powerful. Another thing is to make sure that you have a mentor or a coach because everybody needs help. When you go into new experiences like that, you need to be chatting with people who have been there before. (…) So be open to learning and you’ll just be fine. But do not be afraid. We have waited this long for you to reach where you are going to reach and you are good enough. So just believe in yourself.”
Steve Okeyo’s full video interview below.
Want to read more stories from our ALUSB community? Here are some links to get you started:
– 5 ALUSB ALUMNI ON THE TOP SKILLS THEY GAINED FROM THEIR MBA EXPERIENCE
– 10 INSPIRING PIECES OF ADVICE FROM POWERFUL WOMEN IN BUSINESS
– CONQUERING VIRTUAL LEARNING: A Q&A WITH ALUSB FACULTY
– THE MBA EXPERIENCE, AS TOLD BY STUDENTS
Applications to join our MBA classroom in October 2021 are now open! Start your application today at: https://bit.ly/O21ApplyNow!
