You Need An Effective Board To Grow Your Business

Successful businesses are guided by effective boards. According to the Institute of Directors, the board's key purpose "is to ensure the company's prosperity by collectively directing the company's affairs, while meeting the appropriate interests of its shareholders and relevant stakeholders". 

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has been in the forefront of building director competence and boosting board effectiveness. I was nominated to attend the Corporate Governance Board Leadership Training of Trainers (ToT) programme hosted by the IFC in partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sierra Leone (ICASL) in May 2017.

 The IFC Corporate Governance Board Leadership ToT provides participants with specialized skills to provide training to Boards and decision-makers. The ToT is based on the IFC Corporate Governance Training of Trainers Programme and its Corporate Governance Board Leadership Training Resources. A key aim of the workshop was to: 

a. Strengthen the capacity of corporate governance trainers. 

b. Define and analyse the benefits and challenges of Corporate Governance in the business context.

c. Ensure the effective use of the Board Leadership Resource Training Kit

d. Describe and demonstrate the Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC) in a learning environment for board directors and advisers

On Monday 15th May 2017, my Air Cote D’Ivoire flight from Abidjan landed at Freetown’s Lungi International Airport. Prior to its use as a civilian airport, it was a British Royal Air Force base. It is located in the coastal town of Lungi. The Sierra Leone River separates Lungi International Airport from Freetown, the nation's capital city. 

How do I get to Freetown? By road, air or boat? The road trip from Lungi to Freetown is generally three hours drive on a good day. On June 3, 2007, a helicopter flight from Freetown exploded and crashed on landing at Lungi airport killing all 22 people on board. The helicopter, a Russian Mi-8, shuttled passengers between Freetown and Lungi airport. The private water taxis which takes about 30 to 40 minutes to Aberdeen wharf in Freetown seemed a better option for me. A vehicle from the IFC was waiting at Aberdeen jetty to take me to Home Suites Hotel, Aberdeen, Freetown. 

Freetown is home to one of the country's two main universities, the Fourah Bay College, the oldest university in West Africa, founded in 1827. The college's first student, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, went on to be named as the first indigenous Bishop of West Africa. The city's economy revolves largely around its final natural harbour, which is the largest natural harbour on the continent of Africa.

Seeing all the happy faces, it was hard to imagine that Freetown was the scene of fierce fighting in the late 1990s during the Sierra Leone civil war before it was captured by ECOWAS troops in 1998. Blood Diamond, a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou, was set in this period.

The IFC Africa corporate governance team led by Chinyere Almona did a fantastic job. With delegates from Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Liberia and Nigeria, the programme offered the rich diversity that promotes good debate, experience sharing and learning from a different perspective. Over three days, we explored, discussed and reviewed: 

a. The roles played by the share-owners, board, directors, executive directors, and other stakeholders within the corporate governance system

b. Overview of corporate governance

c. The benefits associated with good corporate governance practices and the importance of Disclosure and Transparency

d. The board’s role in determining a company’s corporate governance framework

e. The board’s role, duties, powers – and liabilities of directors 

f. Characteristics of an effective board

g. Identified best practices associated with the chairman, executive directors, non-executive directors and the company secretary with regards to meeting preparation, conducting meetings, and follow-up and in-between meetings 

h. Identified best practices for board procedures

i. The board’s role in governing corporate strategy

j. The board’s role in evaluating the delivery of strategy and how a board should evaluate executive directors’ performance

k. The board’s role in governing risk

l. The role of share owners and stakeholders  

m. The financial oversight role of the board

n. Corporate reporting to share owners and other stakeholders

o. The board’s role in corporate finance 

p. The company’s control environment, board responsibilities and internal controls

Case studies, role plays and group assignments were used to reinforce learning and understanding. Human resources directors would find this programme a useful way of building business acumen and cross-functional competencies.

On Saturday 20 May 2017, I crossed the Sierra Leone River again as I made my way to the airport for my flight back to Abidjan.