Polucon Services Ltd took a step to restore the country's diminishing water towers and
address rapid environmental degradation and global warming when the company launched a tree
planting drive within its Nyali compound, members of staff participated by each planting a tree and taking responsibility for it.
In this dayand age, tree planting has become a requirement rather than an option. This is
well and good because tree planting has much more benefits than what we ever
read in books.
Tree planting is an antidote to pollution. Greening also conserves rainwater and
reduces water pollution. By removing paved surfaces for tree planting and other
vegetation, groundwater recharge is increased and surface runoff is decreased.
Storm water flowing from our streets often carries a variety of pollutants
directly into the ocean. When this water is allowed to soak into the ground
instead, many pollutants are removed and don't reach the ocean. Roots act as a
natural filter, removing nutrients and pollutants as water percolates down
through the soil
The sight of trees improves our well-being. Parks, green spaces and trees affect our
quality of life through our everyday moods, activities, and physical and
emotional health. Research performed by social scientists has found substantial
evidence of this. People who view nature after a stressful situation exhibit
reduced physical indicators of stress as well as fewer feelings of fear, anger,
and aggression. Hospitalized patients recover faster when their view through
the window includes trees. Clearly, trees and other greening does much more for
us than just beautify our neighborhoods.
Trees and shrubs do provide enhanced privacy for urban residents, emphasize attractive
views or screen objectionable ones, reduce glare and reflection, and create a
barrier for noise and wind. Planting trees around your home is a good
investment since, according to the International Society of Arboriculture,
property values are 5 to 20 percent higher for landscaped homes than for homes
without landscaping. Well-placed trees or vines also lead to lower utility
bills because shading your home lowers your need for fans or air conditioning.
Greening improves our communities by making them more visually appealing and by
providing color and character to individual neighborhoods and business areas.
Polucon has had its website re-designed to make it more user friendly and interactive. The new website has put to good use Polucon's pre-dominant logo colours in it's layout and graphic design. A customer extranet has also been built into the site where Polucon's customers can download or view specific documents relating to their business with Polucon. A content management system (CMS) has also been built into the site to enable Polucon staff make adjustments and updates to the site's content. Logon to www.polucon.com for more..
The inaugural KIM Annual Business Awards, organised by the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM), was held on Friday evening at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
The event, that will be held yearly, will seek to identify and recognise SMEs that have practical and results oriented management styles.
KABA will be a departure from the Company of the Year Awards that has been pitting large companies with small enterprises and in turn seen fewer SMEs coming on board," said Mr Mwangi Ngumo, Executive Director KIM.
Polucon Services Kenya, an inspection, quality and pollution control company, dominated the awards. In addition to being named the SME of the year, the Mombasa based company won the procurement and logistics and human resources management awards.
In a speech read on his behalf by the Trade PS Cyrus Njiru, Trade Minister Uhuru Kenyatta urged SMEs to explore the regional market as it offered a large market. He said that the Tripartite summit held last week in Kampala, Uganda by leaders from the East African Community, Southern Africa Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa was successful and had agreed to work towards the creation of an eventual customs union. He said Kenyan businesses should ready themselves to take advantage of the large market.
In addition to being named the SME of the year, Mombasa based Polucon Services Ltd. won the procurement and logistics and human resources management awards.
KABA will be a departure from the Company of the Year Awards that has been pitting large companies with small enterprises and in turn seen fewer SMEs coming on board.
Nomination for the awards was open to all sectors of the economy, but mostly attracted companies from the services sector, that made up 90 per cent of all the entrants.
