ABE International Seminar
2016

April 12 and 13, 2016

Room C501, Natural Science Building C
University of Tsukuba

April 14, 2016
TokyolitybiEnvironal Scien
ceentmnd Sustainasa

African Business Education Initiative for Youth (ABE Initiative) Program
Master's Program in Environmental Sciences
Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences
University of Tsukuba

PROGRAM
April 12th, 2016
Room C501

13:50

Opening Remarks (SUSTEP Committee Chair, Dr. Kenichi Matsui)

14:00-16:00

Special Lecture (Introduction: Mr. Hesborn Ondiba)
Mr. Kenji Aizono

Kenya Office Project Formulation Advisor/ Managing Director, Aizono and Associates Ltd“Unlocking the Entry Barriers to the African Market”

April 13th, 2016
Room C501

10:30-11:00

Presentation by ABE Fellows (Moderator: Dr. Zhongfang Lei )1. Mr. Hesborn Ondiba (Kenya)“The State of Solidwaste Management in Kenya”

11:00-11:30

2. Mr. Goodfriday Yamungo Chikwezga (Malawi)“Climate Change and Small-holder Farming in Malawi: The Way
Forward”

11:30-12:00

3. Mr. Amon Kabango (Malawi)“An Energy Crisis in Malawi: A Solution for the Booming Charcoal Industry and Massive Deforestation”

12:00-13:30

Lunch

13:30-15:30

Discussion with Mr. Aizono (Moderator: Dr. Zhongfang Lei )April 14th, 2016
Tokyo

10:00-12:00

Company Visit I: NaRiKa Corporation
Narika Corporation's Sceicne Education Products and its
Business Style

13:30-15:00

Company Visit II: Wellthy Corporation
Wellthy Corporation Overview of Activities and its Business
ModelSpecial Lecture on April 12th

Unlocking the Entry Barriers
to the African Market
Mr. Kenji Aizono

Aizono and Associates Ltd, Managing Director
JICA Kenya Office, Project Formulation Advisor

Lecture Contents
1. The current state Japanese corporations in Kenya/Africa
2. Localizing management support for Japanese businesses in Africa
3. Purposes of the ABE Initiative Project
4. Images of human resources sought under the Abe Initiative ProjectProfile
Mr. AIZONO has extensive experience in Africa. He has worked in Malawi and Kenya for aboutten years. He has been instrumental in promoting the One Village One Product (OVOP) Programin Africa with JICA support. With passion and ever increasing commitment to the Program, Mr.
AIZONO has made many landmark achievements, for example, in setting up institutional andregulatory frameworks to facilitate the smooth OVOP implementation in more than ten Africancountries.
He is currently based at the JICA Kenya Office, primarily supporting the Japanese private sector
to venture into investing in Africa. Such is his love for Africa that in February 2013 he had hiscompany incorporated (Aizono and Associates Ltd) in Nairobi. The Company serves as a platform
for empowering the African region through business promotion. Mr. Aizono claims to be “an iconfor fostering deeper business ties between Africa and Japan.”ABE International Seminar Field TripApril 14, 2016

ABE Fellow visited the NARIKA Corportation headquarters in Tokyo (10:00-12:00)
ABE Fellows at the Master’s Program in Environmental Sciences, the University of Tsukuba,
visited the NARIKA Corporation with JICA personnel, JICE personnel, and a faculty memberof the University of Tsukuba. The students participated in NARIKA’s product introduction
workshop. The main purpose for our students to participate in this workshop was to better
understand the needs and potential of Japanese companies that are interested in expanding
business opportunities in Africa.
Our host, the NARIKA Corporation, wasfounded in Tokyo about 100 years ago, and recently
has shown interests in providing science education
tools to Kenyan school children. Ms Yuka
Nakamura, President of the Corporation, visited
some Kenyan schools with her employees to spread
Japanese science education kits as part of a JICA
funded project. Mr Kenji Aizono, JICA representative in Kenya, helped this NARIKA visit inKenya, and also took our students to NARIKA headquarters this time.

ABE Fellow visited the Wellthy Corporation headquarters in Tokyo (13:30-15:00)
Our ABE Fellow, JICA personnel, and University ofTsukuba professor met with Wellthy Corporationpresident and staff. The staff briefed about thiscompany’s mission, business outlines, and water
treatment projects in Kenya. The main purpose ofour students to meet with the Wellthy staff was tobetter

understandsomepromisingaid-related

businesses in Africa by Japanese initiatives. TheWellthy Corporation also clarified some salient aspects of human resource capacity buildingthat is necessary for better and more expansive business collaboration in Africa. This company
has been providing safe drinking water and disaster risk reduction partnership programs toremote communities, including ones in Kenya in collaboration with the UNDP.