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The International Finance Corporation in partnership with Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority have launched a training programme to familiarize directors and issuers with the country’s new corporate governance code, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

The IFC said the corporate governance training programme is designed to empower leaders to improve the functioning of their boards and internal control environments. The training programme will cover topics such as board effectiveness; rights of shareholders; ethics and social responsibility; risk management and internal control; and disclosure.

The first round of the IFC/CMA training was held in November 2016 and attracted 80 chief executive officers, chief finance officers and company secretaries from listed companies. The second round of training is expected to attracted up to 200 attendees.

“Companies with good corporate governance practices tend to carry lower risk and generate higher returns for shareholders,” said Oumar Seydi, IFC’s Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. “Good practices boost performance and build investor confidence that can lead to reduced capital and regulatory costs.’’

IFC and CMA have developed a corporate governance reporting framework which will help companies, issuers and governance auditors to structure compliance statements and ensure that stakeholders understand an issuer’s degree of compliance. The reporting framework will present data in a format that allows for cross-company comparison. The partnership has also developed an assessment framework for CMA to assess the quality of corporate governance among issuers of securities in Kenya. The new code will be applied starting from March 2017.

“Since we entered into partnership with IFC in 2016, we have seen overwhelming interest from issuers on the Corporate Governance Code,” said Paul Muthaura, CMA’s CEO. “Strengthening corporate governance practices is fundamental for issuers to succeed in mobilizing resources from the capital markets locally and globally, as well as to achieve Vision 2030 and Capital Market Master Plan.”

The CMA began implementing corporate governance reforms in 2012, culminating in the enactment of the new Corporate Governance Code in March 2016. The Corporate Governance Code provided issuers with a transition period on one year, within which they should commence its application. IFC and CMA have also developed a Stewardship Code for Institutional Investors, which will soon be enacted.

The IFC said it has contributed to the adoption of 95 corporate governance codes, laws, and regulations in more than 30 countries worldwide. IFC’s Corporate Governance Programme in East Africa is funded by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland.