Think this is the most essential part of governance in an established or growing companies, having a board that actually works and delivers. Question is on growing companies that need to institute governance structures and recruiting of board members, where do they begin in getting people to sit on their boards, what do you look for and how do you convince them to give of their time, expertise and connections to a tiny company that ia not even a blip on the radar? Who and what determines who will chair the board? @jimmy_m kuja uchangie huu mswada amongst others, if you were approached to be on the board of a company what would you be looking for and what would you expect back?
First thing i would do is to understand the startups strategic plan and overall mission to make sure i fully agree with it and aligned to it. the worst thing that can happen to a board is to have the different board members pulling in different direction (remember what happened to angani?)
Secondly i would weigh in how much am investing in the company, both monetary and time and look at the projections to see if the expected returns (deferred) are at par with what am bringing to the table.
Thirdly, the companies core business has to be something that i have some base knowledge of, otherwise it would be very hard for me to contribute to the companies strategic plan with any meaningful ideas on a subject that am completely clueless
That wold be my approach but am very sure alot of people would disagree because they believe that all that’s required is to have some extensive knowledge on business management and administration
@jimmy_m its not always that a board member has to invest money into a company to be offered a seat in the board but rather strategic knowledge on a key aspect of their business ie they are tech savvy for tech startups. What would you expect back for your time investment?
Diversity & experience matters in a board. Save for the company secretary, who should be as professional and smart as possible, every other board member should bring a mix of experience and diversity.
By this, I mean a mix of guys who have been in different working environments, marketing, media, distribution and technical industries. Then a mix of guys with 30yrs experience who have seen trends as well as guys with 5years experience who bring a new age perspective to the board.
@wheelz I agree, say a company approaches you to sit on their board not as an investor but knowledge and value partner, what would you expect from them and what would you want for yourself? And what tangible value would they expect from you?
I totally agree…
Gio when you seat in a board your primary goal is to steer the company in the right direction, set the right strategies and form synergies that are profitable/beneficial to the entity. Forget monetary compensation if you truly believe in the entity’s vision, the money/benefits will surely come
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@Okiya what would you be looking for in exchange for your contribution to financial and other matters? @uwesmake namwambia kuna interns momo na hio itatosha
i think my choice of words were misleading, i should have said “either monetary or time” instead of “both monetary and time”, this and revenue projections are what would inform my expectations on the returns. on the same breath , its very fair to also acknowledge that for any startup, there will be a duration (not indefinate) where as a board member, you wont get any remuneration especially if its a completely new startup, it doesn’t make any sense to strangle the business at birth, you have to accept this as the opportunity risk you must incur.
Beyond reviewing and adopting strategies, how do you tap into the strategic value that they can bring onboard, NB boards always have some politics depending on where one sits, indepedent director, chair, CEO Chair et al, executive member
@jimmy_m hajui board ni nini
Stick to nunu munenoz
So would you invest money into the company if you agree with their vision and take a board position, to show you have skin in the game or just provide your services for a remuneration and allowances?
Only the uncircumcised have skin in the game
BCC @Wakanyama
Hehehe its a metaphor. As a small business what do you offer a seasoned exec to sit on your board given the timecommitment required, you will probably have to meet every month for the first one year and a lot of hand holding involved. Ama wewe nikukuambia kutakua na veve kwa meza tukiongea strategy utakuwa ukichana?
yes definitely i would, look at at this way, a board member rejecting a request to inject some cash to re-capitalize the business, (either in form or buying stock or a short/long term loan to the company) and they are in a position to, (read financially capable to do it) is an outright vote of no confidence with the company they purport to sit on the board
engage me for a minute here, am pretty sure we are not discussing about sitting on the safaricom board but rather a startup, does that mean anything to you?
And how much time commitment would you give (probably looking at 50 days annually for striving engagement)and what level of engagement should be put on the board level in the companies function ie talent recruitment, marketing, culture?
You making an assumption that one has to be a shareholder to be a board member… i dont know, but i think you dont have a mental grasp of boards
i believe there are several posts above where i clarified that typo on my first response, if only you had taken time to read through the entire thread