Do you understand your company's financial statements, or do you sign on the dotted line whatever the accountant puts on your table? Are you able to identify improvement potential in your business just by glancing over your Balance Sheet, Income and Cash Flow Statements?
Are you thinking of expanding your business? Have you analysed your finance before doing so? If you start expanding before you optimize your performance financially, you might end up growing losses.
Have you ever started keeping records manually and then quit because you didn't see any tangible effect of this boring activity? Or, maybe you invested in a point-of-sales software, but it barely gives you information about your stock without any profitability and/or cash flow analysis?
If any of these questions speak to you, then it's time to enrol in:
REKA
BUSINESS FINANCE PROGRAM
What is the Program all about?
REKA Initiative is a training on financial management for SMEs in Kenya. It's based on the mobile application ReKa© developed by ISBI Institute @ Strathmore Business School and downloadable free of charge. The Reka program consits of four intertwined elements: Teaching - Training - Mentoring - Consulting (TTMC)
In-Class Training of participants
Reka Teaching
ISBI Institute developed a unique methodology for teaching Finance-Without-Numbers. It's categorized into three broad categories that are covered in the first three weeks:
Financial Management introduces entrepreneurs to basic financial concepts and main financial statements: Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss and Cash Flow.
Cost Management involves analysis of specific cost categories in different industries (retail, services, manufacturing, etc.) and the best ways of optimizing them.
Financial Analysis depicts the financial health of the enterprise, profitability of different business activities and the viability of future prospects.
These sessions are provided by Strathmore University lecturers who are not only passionate about the SME sector, but the majority also with the entrepreneurship experience of their own.
ReKa Training
In parallel with teaching, you will start using the mobile record keeping application Reka©, first with mock data and then slowly inputting your own data. The software is very user-friendly and intuitive. It was developed based on our research of business practices of hundreds of Kenyan SMEs. So, you won't need to change the way you normally do business - just consistently record all transactions.
Training sessions are provided by specially selected and trained Strathmore graduates.
ReKa with Kianda Foundation
ReKa Mentoring
If you have never kept records before or kept them incompletely and sporadically, don't worry. We attach a personal mentor to all participants, who will work with you individually helping you to familiarize yourself with the application and enter initial data. This implementation phase typically lasts 3 to 4 weeks.
Step by step, you will learn how to record every transaction: sales, purchases, expenses, taking loans, acquiring equipment and property, hiring new staff and much more. You will understand how they get reflected in the financial statements and what impact they create on the financial performance of your company. By the end of this phase you are likely to get the first true financial picture of your business. Brace yourself for some surprises!
ReKa Consulting
Once you have started collecting your financial data consistently (for at least a month) and first Reka analytics are available, for the next two weeks we will be discussing in class how to approach the issues identified. These sessions are provided by senior Strathmore University and Strathmore Business School lecturers.
This way you will acquire necessary skills to assess the financial position of your enterprise, immediately improve critical issues and make financially sound decisions in the future. After Reka course, you won't know how your business survived without Reka before.
Program Delivery
The program lasts for two months and is composed of 6 sessions of teaching and training delivered in the first two weeks, 4 on-site sessions where a mentor works with you on your data and 2 sessions of group consulting delivered in the last two weeks. Class sessions last for five hours including a 30-minute tea break
Participant Profile
The program is designed for SME owners or key decision makers that fulfill the following criteria:
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Serious commitment to learn and improve own business
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Retail shop owned or rented long-term
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Minimum KES 200,000 monthly turnover
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Minimum two years in business
Video Interviews from Reka Users
Evelyne Olang, Turquoise Signature Scents
Jane Ng'ang'a, Maja East Africa Limited
Jerioth Wambui, Sirari Animal Feeds
Reka Testimonials
"Now that we've learnt all this, does it mean we should have started our business a new with this insight because I don't know how we've survived in business this long." Mary Ng'ang'a (Dhahabu Themanini Family Center)
"The initiative has come at a great time. I have been trying to monitor how my business is doing." Mildred Mafura (CW Interiors)
"We have benefited a lot from this programme! At least we can now do business with better knowledge." Evelyne Atieno (JJ Mac)
"I am now able to know which inventory moves faster, which has a higher contribution and those that are escorting others." Evelyne Olang (Turquoise Signature Scents)
"I have been in business for quite a while, I've been trying to manage my books, expenses, profits, assets e.t.c. but it's been difficult without accounting knowledge. With this app, I am now able to actually track my performance. I am so excited to start this journey." Elizabeth Nyambura (Hands Anointed)
"I've been in ISBI's Advanced Entrepreneurship Programme and now the Reka program, all through I'm learning something new. I have three businesses and I'm sure going to implement all that I have learned." Wambui Jerioth (Sirari Animal Feeds)
"I didn't know that I cost my company so much. Maybe, I should fire myself." Ana Wanjiru (Don's Leather)