UNPACKING SPILL&LDC/SPUEU:  12 YEARS OF SPU STRATEGIC BUSINESS UNIT

The university has mainstreamed SPUEU, a department founded in 2011, as an alternative revenue generation business unit for the university. The main goal is to offer hospitality services, training and consultancy, and conference facilities that meet clients’ needs affordably. To achieve this goal, the enterprise unit runs a training institute as its mainstay business called “St. Paul’s Institute of Life Long Learning & Leadership Development Centre (SPILL&LDC). With over ten years of experience in the provision of corporate training and consultancy services, the institute has made a tangible impact in the development of many organisations, individuals and communities in Kenya and beyond the borders.

The SPILL& LDC story would not be complete without the mention of the NGO Training Institute (NGOTI) project. SPU partnered with Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation (BMSF) in 2011 to implement the “Secure the Future” program that focused on capacity building of AIDS service organizations. It is against this backdrop that NGOTI was formed at SPILL to spearhead a collaborative action in close partnership with the National AIDS Control Council and the Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium. The NGOTI training project ran for three years and was marked by the successful completion of the capacity-building program for the AIDS services organizations in May 2014.

The NGOTI training project covered courses in the areas of management, leadership and governance, Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers, resource mobilization, Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and Mentorship. Successful completion of the NGOTI training project gave SPILL the impetus to edge and secure a market niche in capacity building and training consultancy, particularly among churches, church-based organizations, and NGOs, and eventually managed to bring on board corporates and government departments.

Another defining moment in the SPILL/LDC Journey of becoming a strategic business unit for the university was the partnership with Matthew 28 Ministries. The goal of this collaboration was to implement a leadership and empowerment capacity-building program for women. The implementation of this program was given an impetus when Matthew 28 Ministries funded the construction of the women’s centre building to provide accommodation to the training program participants in 2015. The organization also funded the construction of Abigail Hall to make the hospitality services complete by providing catering services to the training participants.

Given the role that SPILL &LDC has played in capacity building and training space, St. Paul’s University in the current Strategic plan envisioned a bigger mandate for the institute that saw the unit being mainstreamed to an enterprise unit. The university’s goal was to broaden the revenue-generating potential of the institute and make it possible for the university to strengthen its financial base beyond the students’ tuition fees.  To achieve this goal, SPILL&LDC has over time evolved to become a strategic business unit for the University, in what is now called St. Paul’s University Enterprise Unit (SPUEU). Ideally, SPILL &LDC is the mainstay business for the enterprise Unit, with the other business lines being considered as complementary ventures.  The next section delves into the SPUEU business model outlining how it has been conceptualized to help the unit to achieve its mandate.

SPUEU’S COMPLEMENTARY HOSPITALITY BUSINESS LINES; A DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY

SPUEU while taking cognizance of the hospitality industry’s susceptibility to economic uncertainty has considered both the internal and external operating context in its endeavour to build a sustainable business model in the new normal. To implement this kind of model, SPUEU runs complementary business lines that include; accommodation, catering, and, training and conferencing facilities that are rightly in the hospitality industry. The enterprise also runs a farm that supplies vegetables to the Abigail restaurant, and the surplus is sold to the staff and the local markets. Other complementary businesses include campus-based laundry and gym facilities for serving both the university community and the SPU neighbourhood.

A more enabling operational environment has proved to be a key pillar in the enterprise unit’s business endeavour. The overall university networks in both corporate and church organizations have offered a myriad of opportunities that SPUEU has leveraged to build sustainable revenue-generating outcomes.

SPUEU aspire to beef up its competitiveness by leveraging the core internal competencies to give a basis for external positioning in the marketplace. SPUEU has a dedicated entrepreneurial team that is helping to cut the image of operational excellence and dependability. By keeping our service quality high and diversifying the our products features, we aim to take and maintain a leading role in our current market niches.

Moreover, SPUEU appreciates that the biggest challenge for businesses today is uncovering the right products and services for the target customers.  As SPUEU reconfigures its business model, we aspire to create value propositions that catch the eyes of potential customers, remembering that at this age, customers are bombarded with many products and services. The bottom line is to give the potential customers a compelling offer that will put us on the path of winning them. To this end, SPUEU has embarked on a value-creation journey that seeks to transform its leading hospitality business line to offer end users products and services that meet their actual needs effectively. The three complementary hospitality services have been explained below.

1. St Paul’s University Institute of Life Long Learning, Leadership Development Centre (SPILL/LDC) 

St. Paul’s Institute of Lifelong Learning and Leadership Development (SPILL&LDC) is a fully owned subsidiary of St. Paul’s University, Kenya, mandated to offer corporate training and consultancy services to a wide range of organisations such as NGOs, faith-based entities, corporates, education enterprises etc. The institute is fully accredited by NITA and the St. Paul’s University Charter.

SPILL &LDC runs both self-sponsored and funded training and conference programs. Some of the leading self-sponsored programs include Strategic Leadership and Management which targets managers and leaders in profits and non-profit organizations; Finance for Non-Finance Managers which seeks to build capacity for the line managers, directors, owner-managers and CEOs who have risen from the non-finance career paths. Another course that organizations are seeking is the Customer Care and Communication skills targeting secretaries, PAs, administrative assistants, front office staff and marketers. These are just but a few of what SPILL &LDC offers, the institute has more courses in its curriculum.  

SPILL& LDC has over the years forged strong partnerships with strategic partners in the area of capacity building and empowerment of church leaders, Christians in general and special groups such as the youth and women. Some of the funded programs include; the New Man, New Woman, New Life program targeting church leaders, church ministers, and Christians with the goal of sound spiritual formation. This program is funded by Empower International. The Biological and Biblical Basis of Love and Bonding, an annual conference event has managed to reach over 500 Christians, church leaders and clergy in the two years that the program has run. This program is funded by Emory University and Life Together International. Matthew 28 Ministries has been funding a women empowerment program targeting women leaders.

The institute takes cognizance that the post-pandemic era has changed the business environment globally and locally on an unprecedented scale never witnessed before. A new normal has emerged affecting all spheres of our lives, and in the process, creating a need for new skills and competencies in organizations in the post-pandemic era. The workplace demands a new skill set that takes cognizance of the constraints in the internal operating context and the turbulent external business environment.

It is against this backdrop that SPILL seeks to review its strategy in the area of training and capacity building to offer relevant and competitive short courses. It is important to appreciate that while most of the SPILL short courses remain very relevant, it would be ideal to review the content to ensure that the on-demand knowledge and skills are adequately covered.

• Soteria Guest House

The guest house building was funded by Matthew 28 Ministries, a long-term SPU partner and associate in the year 2014. The guest house has 64 accommodation rooms, ranging from single, double, en suite and executive classes.  The guest house facilities have enabled the unit to host training and conferences for SPILL and external clients very effectively. It is a major revenue source for SPUEU complementing the catering services in the business unit.

The Guest house also provides two complementary services; the gym and the Laundry. The gym and fitness services are situated at the Students Centre. The facilities have been equipped with additional gym equipment to cater for the growing demand for gym services. With a very enthusiastic trainer, customers enjoy customized gym training sessions. The services have been priced affordably.

Laundry is another complementary service for the guest house. All the hotel linen cleaning is done at the section. Moreover, the laundry services are also open to walk-in customers, staff and the local community. The laundry is now equipped with a commercial drier reducing the dry cleaning lead time to one hour.

• Abigail Restaurant

The restaurant is the catering arm of the enterprise unit. The restaurant can host a hundred and fifty people in one sitting. The restaurant is open to both internal and external markets outside the university.

 Abigail provides quality food at reasonable prices. Our menus are customized to meet the client’s needs for a great customer experience. We pride ourselves on having a multitalented catering staff, capable of preparing different types of cuisines.

The restaurant offers both buffet and Al carte menus, with the food being prepared using organic and highly nutritious food items. The enterprise runs a farm that supplies Abigail Kitchen with most of the groceries. 

Abigail outside Catering Services 

Abigail Restaurant also offers outside catering services for corporate, and private events and all kinds of social functions where delicious food is part of making the event a great experience.

From large-scale hospitality and corporate functions, to intimate home entertainment, the restaurant delivers a memorable and beautiful experience marked by food served with care by a friendly and professional staff. Abigail’s delicious buffet is designed for a variety of functions, and our snack platters can suit any cocktail party.

Other Complementary SPUEU Businesses

The enterprise unit runs other complementary businesses as a way of generating additional revenue outcomes. These include Ngecha Farm, the documentation centre and hiring of the university facilities. Ngecha Farm is a strategic agri-business line mainly producing vegetables and fruits for both internal and external markets. Internally, the farm supplies the Abigail restaurant with the majority of the vegetables and fruits. In this financial year, the farm has two greenhouse crops; tomatoes and capsicum, currently in the harvesting stage. Other open field crops include; cabbage, carrots, iris potatoes, sweet potatoes, kales, and Managu among others. 

The enterprise also operates a photocopying and printing services business line. The centre is premised at the SPUEU building. The services are offered to both staff and students. Moreover, all the university departmental documents are prepared at the document centre. Finally, the enterprise unity facilities such as the Amphitheatre, halls and field hiring are managed by SPUEU. The facilities are available for individual and corporate hiring, providing a substantive revenue stream to the enterprise unit.

Conclusion

As businesses make readjustments to remain competitive in the current operating environment, the St Paul’s University enterprise unit is also doing so proactively. We take cognizance of the fact that the hospitality sector has made major strides in the recovery path from the COVID-19 pandemic shocks.   Bearing this in mind, we are hopeful that the economic outlook this year and going forward will be much better. At the enterprise level, reengineering of SPUEU business model will be key to building a sustainable and competitive business. Our current mandate is to strengthen and grow the enterprise revenue streams while reducing operating cost through operational efficiency.