Kenya’s imminent Africa biz ethics conference to explore chances for stakeholders

Kenya is all set to host Africa business ethics conference this month, according to the announcement done by the organizers on June 11. Nairobi is set to host Africa business ethics conference between June 25 and June 26.

The two-day meeting will bring together members of the private sector, government, media and civil society to discuss practical solutions for the private sector in Africa to combat corruption and explore opportunities for collaboration between stakeholders.

"The desired impact of the conference is to see raising standards of business practice for efficiency to drive cross-border trade, business growth, economic stabilities and sustainability of small and medium enterprises and reduce business and financial risk in order to make Africa an attractive investment destination," Lee Karuri, chairman of Kenya Private sector Alliance (KEPSA) foundation, told journalists in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, as reported by Xinhua.

The conference will be part of the ongoing efforts around the Ouagadougou Declaration that was developed to bring together the private sector, government and civil society to find new ways to address societal problems.

The conference comes in the wake of a study in November 2018 in the private sector by KEPSA and partners that mapped out 1,200 private businesses that saw 85 percent of respondents report that there was corruption in various forms in private sector business operations across Kenya.

The study indicates that the risk was highest among small businesses compared to medium-sized and large businesses with the prevalent forms of corruption being bribery, fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, extortion, abuse of office, favouritism and procurement related misconducts.

Some of the topical issues to be discussed during the meeting include the role of the media in the fight against corruption, the pathway to a transparent, ethical and business-friendly environment in Kenya and across Africa, Xinhua noted.

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