Mr Jonathan Ciano with Prof Sperling at the Graduate School dinner

When it comes to turnabouts of organisations, Mr Jonathan Ciano's experience is probably unmatched in Kenya. The current interim CEO of Uchumi Supermarkets-In Receivership was part of the teams in the recent past that facilitated the turnabouts of Kenya Petroleum Refinery Limited (KPRL) and Kenya Power & Lightning Company (KPLC). This was after he was involved in strategic change and organizational buyouts in Shell international companies during his postings abroad.

Mr Ciano is upbeat that there is light at the end of the tunnel for Uchumi chain stores. Speaking to the University's Masters' students drawn from the faculties of Commerce and Information Technology at their end of semester dinner at Panafric Hotel on Friday, 25th August, Mr Ciano revealed that Uchumi had been revived, able to survive as it was making the cash positive contribution after drastically shedding off the huge losses it was making in the previous years.

“The management is benefiting from synergies derived from resources mobilization and value based management,” he said.

Uchumi brand was re-launched on July 15, 2006 after its closure by its former management for a period of 45 days. Jonathan shared with the students that the prospects of the company are very positive as sales revenue has continued to grow since reopening, surpassing past periods.

Against all odds he said that customer base has grown beyond expectation even with very low level marketing and sales promotions compared to major competitors. Jonathan informed the gathering that the Uchumi Rescue Plan (URP) is on course and it is satisfying that the Uchumi team is winning.

The key to a successful turnabout is people, focus and dedication. What was needed at Uchumi just like KPRL and KPLC among other things was a attention on transformational variables of strategy, leadership and cultural change. “Additionally, it is very important to forge healthy relationships with staff, suppliers and customers while avoiding conflict of interest as these are part and parcel in transactional variables,” he observed.

“While internal transactions in an organization should be right, the management should never afford to ignore the environment of the organization,” he added.

Mr Ciano sees his job as that of a team leader and his task is to share experiences and ensure the team pushes the ball to the right net. “We had to sit and down initially very informally, and clarify what we needed to achieve and redefined corporate core purpose. With that common mission, I then asked the individual team players to do what was expected of them as this became our common call to the job,” he said.

“I also cautioned the team members that they should not underrate the demand of the task as we would have to put in more hours at the early phases of our project and there was no shortcut. Now, the baby-sitting is less demanding and things are developing towards normality at Uchumi,” he added.

“This has been facilitated by among others the successful repositioning of the Uchumi brand and our customers strong royalty to the brands,” he emphasized.

Mr Ciano said there is normally staff fatigue in turn arounds if it continues for too long and so it needs to be completed within a time frame. He also revealed there tends to be staff poaching of trained staff to human resources competitors but he said he was not overly worried about it since what he has put in place in Uchumi is run by systems and teams and not individuals.

Mr Ciano stressed the importance of IT in running organisations and counseled the students to diversify their knowledge base. ICT is a facilitator and not creator of progress. “In order to be a successful manager, you need to learn a lot outside your area of specialization. If you isolate yourself, then you cant move upwards,” he said.

He also said one needs to be assertive on occasion to get things moving, and apply the principles of a velvet covered brick type of leadership. Asked what drives him, Mr Ciano said he is motivated by the debt he feels he owes to his country.

“I want to give to my country what I have gained globally and internationally. I also strive to glorify my Maker through my work, and I find it very gratifying,” he added.

Kudos to the post-graduate students of MCom and MScIT for their initiative in organizing this welcome end-of-semester social event and getting such an inspiring guest speaker for the occasion. They indeed have set a high standard for what they are planning to make a regular Strathmore Graduate School event.