Nairobi, June 16 -- When Maria Mbeneka was recently nominated for the Tri-Nations Woman of the Year award for her work enabling feedlots and contracted pastoralism through technology, it prompted me to ask her about what is top of mind for a livestock sector CEO on a daily basis.

Ensuring that every single time we are getting it right at livestock sourcing, she said without hesitation. It is about making good buys by sticking to the selection criteria. Ensuring that we are getting the standard operating procedures formalised and implemented is fundamental. It is one thing to have strategy and vision, but you have to get them done.

That's a heavy pile, what is the prioritisation? I persist. They are all there, she says. But getting the u...