Twelve employees from Press Corporation Limited (PCL) and some of its subsidiaries have graduated from a seven month in-house Leadership Development Programme. The programme was being conducted by a South African based firm, Redpoint Consulting which has delivered similar programmes in South Africa and the sub-region. PCL Group Chief Executive Officer Matthews Chikaonda said PCL places great emphasis on effective leadership.

"We at PCL believe that one of the major determinants of success is effective and sound leadership. In this dynamic and ever changing business and economic environment, we believe that it is imperative for organizations like ours to put in place leadership programmes to ensure continuity and sustainability of the organisation. "Survival of organisations depends in part, on entrenching in them some significant adaptive capacity. The winning formula for PCL is to overlay visionary and transformational leadership over this adaptive capacity. This in the end will ensure continuity and maximization of stakeholder value," added Chikaonda.

PCL Group Administration Manager Charles Evans said the objective of the programme is to expose the second and third management levels to good and sound leadership practices. "Employees may have undergone professional programmes of different types but some of the programmes do not offer leadership training. What is seriously lacking in the country and indeed in companies are leadership skills, and we in PCL shall differentiate ourselves by developing not only good managers but sound leaders," said Evans. The programme has been running for over a seven month period ar ' covered seven modules namely Leadership Choice, Leading with Emotional Intelligence Finding and Keeping Them, Communicating with Influence, Talent and Team Leadership, Service Leadership and Strategic Management. One of the participants, described the programme as 'practical and relevant in day to day activities in an organisation or society.'

"The programme psychologically prepares individuals to think beyond outside the box: thus enhancing creativity and innovation, both of which are critical factors for competitive advantage in any industry, "In addition individuals are trained on how to motivate, inspire and grow, enhance shared values and unity of purpose with their team members that helps achievement of the vision, goals and objectives," said Chavura, a senior internal auditor at PCL.

Of the 12 participants, six were from PCL head office while the rest came from PCL subsidiaries of PressCane Limited, Press Properties Limited, Ethanol Company (ETHCO) and The Foods Company Limited. PCL is the largest conglomerate in Malawi with major interests in financial services, telecommunication, food and beverages, trading, real property, tobacco processing and energy. The group has business interests in blue chip companies namely National Bank of Malawi (NBM), Puma Energy, Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM), Peoples Trading Centre Limited, Press Cane Limited, Press Properties, Maldeco Fisheries, Macsteel Malawi Limited, Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company Limited, Ethanol Company Limited, Carlsberg Malawi Brewery, Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) and Maldeco Aquaculture Limited.

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Press Corporation Limited (PCL) says its subsidiaries are moving with times through adaptive measures and human resources training for it to continue surviving. PCL Group chief executive officer Dr Matthews Chikaonda said this during the graduation of 12 employees from a seven-month in-house leadership development programme whose objective is to expose the second and third management levels to good leadership practices.

The programme was being conducted by a South African based firm, Redpoint Consulting, which has delivered similar programmes in South Africa and the sub-Saharan region. "We at PCL believe that one of the major determinants of success is effective and sound leadership. In this dynamic and ever changing business and economic environment, we believe that it is imperative for organisations like ours to put in place leadership programmes to ensure continuity and sustainability of the organisation," said Chikaonda.

He said the survival of organisations such as PCL depends, in part, on entrenching in human resources some significant adaptive capacity where the winning formula is to overlay visionary and transformational leadership over this adaptive capacity.