From left. Mr Andrew Mutuma, Chairman of CIM Kenya Branch; Mr George Njenga, Director of Strathmore Business School; and Madam Shirley, wife to the Chinese ambassador to Kenya at the conference

Kenyans have a good command of English and this is a competitive advantage on the global marketplace, says the wife of the Chinese ambassador to Kenya, Mrs Cai Xiao Li (Madam Shirley). She said this while opening SU's 3rd annual marketing conference on Saturday, 22nd September 2007.

The conference was organized by SU's Students marketing Society (SMS) in conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Kenya Branch. The theme of the conference was "Create Your Niche in the Market Place". Madam Shirley said that economically, Kenya is currently where China was 25 years ago and predicted a bright future for the country.

Madam Shirley is familiar with the global marketplace. She has 17 years experience working for American corporations like Dell and Coca Cola. She was the Human Resource Director, Coca Cola - China.

She noted other strengths the country has include political stability, social cohesiveness, a positive attitude, pristine natural resources, and an international stature owing to presence of UN head offices. Madam Shirley also observed that Kenyan adverts need to be more artistic.

The relatively better quality of Kenyan English compared to English spoken in India and East Asia has come up lately as the country competes for business process out shoring (BPO) opportunities especially from USA.

Speaking at the same venue two weeks earlier while opening SU's 8th annual ICT conference, Mr David Nalo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry noted that the way Kenyans speak English is a plus in the BPO business compared to Asian competition.

Making the opening remarks at the conference, Mr George Njenga, the Director of Strathmore Business School said for the country to develop, Kenyans have to think global. He said China's economic growth was an example Kenya could learn from.

He hailed SMS for going global by becoming the first student body to achieve CIM chapter status in the country. He said that a lot still remains to be done and challenged the aspiring marketers to champion quality. "Unless the country produces quality, your job of marketing the country's products will be very arduous," he observed.

Other speakers at the conference included the Chairman of CIM - Kenya Branch Mr Andrew Mutuma; Ms Patricia Ithau, Marketing Director - East African Breweries Ltd; Mr Fred Odhiambo, Postmaster-General - Kenya Postal Corporation; Mr George Lutta, Managing Director - Media Initiative East Africa; Mr David Ithau, Senior Manager, Marketing & Business Development - Kenya Post Office Savings Bank (Post Bank); Mr Moses Kemibaro, Director of Business Development - Dotsavvy Ltd, and Ms Njoki Muhoho, Director - Tack Africa.

The aim of the conference was to positively impact young adults by providing them with invaluable and practical insights that shall in the long run enable them to set themselves apart from the crowd in today's ever-competitive market place. This in essence means providing an engaging and interactive platform in which participants will be able to establish how to find, develop and ultimately create their niche in the market place and sustain that momentum in the long-term.

Additionally, the conference aims to uplift the marketing discipline and/or practice by highlighting its key components, giving a deeper understanding of its dynamics and trends and establishing its significance in today's business world. Over 300 students and professionals were in attendance.