The recent award bestowed to Optiven in matters related to Human Resource was a great move towards encouraging the team to better the brand. At the event held at the Dar es salaam based Whitesands Hotel, on the 19th of June saw the team from Optiven represented by three associates. Speaking when he handed over the award, Dr. R. L Bhatia representing the awards committee advised that the Optiven model would be a sure copy for other corporates especially on matters of gender balance.
These among other parameters enabled Optiven Group to clinch the East Africa Best Employer award, a great addition to the many awards that the Optiven Group has garnered in the last few years. Towards understanding the place of gender in the workplace, Mr. George Wachiuri, the Chief Executive at Optiven Group advised that the company was well on course to meet it’s ratio for inclusion of women and men in the workplace. He notes that Optiven is on course to surpass the majority of players in the industry in terms of engaging with women as a resource in the workplace
According to Wachiuri, there is need for a space to be provided for women from the board level to ensure that the place of women in contributing to the workplace is not ignored. Speaking on the case study of Optiven, he noted that : “some of the most hard working staff at Optiven are women, many of whom have proven time and again that if targets determine who succeeds, then women are at the core of meeting them. The female associates at Optiven have also showcased that they can be dependable and professional as key players in the industry
His sentiments echo a scenario in the Kenyan corporate sector where a minority have embraced the call for inclusion of women in the workplace and at least thinning the gap with male counterparts. The score is discouraging if the 2015 research results from the African Development Bank are anything to go by. The research found that among the 12 African countries surveyed, Kenya which is still low in it’s engagement of women, scored the highest at 19.8% for women representation. In this stride Kenya was followed by South Africa at 17.4% and 16.9% for Botswana.
Wachiuri while commenting on this state of affairs advised that the private sector is well positioned to ensure it taps from the women resource in the workplace. He challenged especially the private sector to create platforms that will grow, challenge and mentor women owned industries to scale up and realize their potential. Through such forums, discussions on increasing the value and capacity of businesses through technical assistance, facilitating access to finance and mentorship.
ABOVE: Mr. George Wachiuri, CEO Optiven Group (left) with Mr. Charles Muraguri Director of Projects at Optiven Group and Mary Wacuka the Optiven Group General Manager with staff celebrating the Award for Best Employer Brand in East Africa at the Optiven Transformation Center, on Barclays Plaza, 15th floor.
