AgDevCo recently invited investee representatives to a taster workshop on fraud prevention hosted by Veronica Morino of Hibis AS. Participants were introduced to a way of thinking about fraud as if they were a thief trying to defraud their own business. By bringing together participants from multiple roles within the business, from finance to operations, HR to senior management, organisations can be better equipped in identifying and dealing with potential avenues for fraudulent attack.
We know that fraud can cause huge losses to businesses as well as erode reputation and company culture. African agribusinesses, which often have thin margins and face other market and environmental factors that can make growing a profitable business challenging, are just as susceptible. For example, this could come in the guise of stock loss, payment fraud, inappropriate supply chain activities and theft of cash or mobile money.
The “Think Like a Thief” workshop empowered businesses to proactively defend themselves against fraud by identifying potential weaknesses in their own systems, strengthening internal controls, implementing remedial actions, and monitoring the outcome.
Fraud prevention workshops are being run as part of a Technical Assistance programme offered by AgDevCo alongside video training on Business Integrity tailored to African agribusinesses by the African Management Institute. This will culminate in an online resource with guides for trainers and training content for participants to ensure capacity is built on a continuous basis.
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This article was originally published by: AgDevCo
