Africa's richest woman heads Angolan Oil company

Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos will have to explain to his country’s Supreme Court why he hired his daughter, who also happens to be Africa’s richest woman, to head up the state oil company. Dos Santos has to respond within a week, according to Angolan media.

Dos Santos appointed his daughter Isabel in June to manage Sonangol after a surprise axing of the board. But a group of about a dozen lawyers says the appointment breaks Angola’s laws against patronage, and have approached a court to have Isabel dos Santos removed. According to Angolan law, public officials may not appoint their immediate family, reports independent news site Rede Angola (site in Portuguese).

That the Supreme Court did not immediately dismiss their injunction is already a victory, lawyer David Mendes told Rede Angola this week. It’s the first time the president will have to account to the court, he said. They’re confident the law is on their side, he added.

Mendes is the same lawyer who successfully defended a rapper and 16 others charged with trying to overthrow the state after they were caught reading a book on non-violent protest. Mendes also defended Angolan journalist (and Quartz Africa Innovator) Rafael Marques when he was jailed for his reports on corruption. Activists, including the now free rapper, and the former prime minister Marcolino Moco, are also planning a march to protest Isabel dos Santos’ appointment.

On her appointment, Isabel dos Santos promised to save the struggling state oil company by increasing transparency and streamlining its operations. In August, dos Santos oversaw the $1.8 billion purchase of U.S.-based oil explorer Cobalt International Energy’s Angolan interests. That deal, however, was overshadowed by allegations of corruption around the Houston company’s local partner, appointed by the Angolan government, according to the Financial Times.

Angola is Africa’s largest oil producer, but Sonangol has been floundering due to falling oil prices and allegations of corruption. The younger dos Santos’ personal vast wealth, said to be around $3.3 billion, has also attracted scrutiny. Dos Santos and his daughter have yet to respond to the court’s decision.

Strategies for diversification

For companies or countries or companies that have one product as their income earner there is a need to start planning for diversification in a bid to either increase their products or make them more efficient at the production of the product that they have at hand. Diversification can come in the form of collaborative arrangements with other organizations that could help one company produce a high quality component of the product that they produce. For instance, a computer company could buy processors or mouses from another company that has the capacity to produce them better. Some companies often venture into the production of products that have no link to what they were producing before. The Flour Mills of Nigeria recently went into the production of fruit juice in powder form. The intention of the company was to break into the soft drink market which is ever expanding and appears to be very lucrative in Nigeria.
Once a company goes into varying businesses it needs different strategies at the various business unit levels to help leverage its competitive advantage. That means it would look for its strength in the product production and use it to its advantage to try to outdo the competition.
Before diversification there are somethings we ought to consider as businessmen:
1. How attractive or lucrative is the new business/product? Does it have a wide range of strong customers who would be willing to try new products? What are the cost involved in business at entry level?
2. Does the cost of entry eat into future benefits. Would we spend so much money setting it up that it would be impossible to make our return on investment as soon as possible? Can the break even period be measured?
3 There ought to be a competitive advantage in the new or acquired business from the outset. It could be a distribution network, better price,  or even uniqueness of the product.
Bringing significant advantage to the competitive environment is key to success of the business. This would be what the new business strategists would leverage on.
Sometimes the diversification could be a joint venture. Here's how to know when a joint venture is desirable:
1. When there is a need for strong portfolio management which requires another company making an intervention
2. When restructuring is required in terms of the managerial arrangement which could lead to success of the company or the product in consideration.
3. When there is an urgent need for a skills transfer
4. When certain extraneous activity that can not be carried out by one business unit is required for success. 

Africa's Billionaires list: Read about the richest in the continent and where the money comes from!

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   Africa’s richest have a combined $80.96 billion, a drop of $13.04 billion from $94 billion in 2015
  
• This year’s Africa’s Billionaires list is dominated by Egyptians, who have a combined net worth of $15.71 billion, just $1.31 billion above the net worth of Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote.

  Dangote continues to soar high according to The African Billionaires 2016 March list released by Forbes, though his net worth took a $1.3 billion compared to end of 2015.

  While this is a positive outlook for Dangote and other wealthy men and women in the list, there were only 24 African billionaires this year, which is a drop by five, compared to 29 the previous year.

  Africa’s richest have a combined $80.96 billion, a drop of $13.04 billion from $94 billion in 2015. The wealthiest group are South Africans with a combined net worth of $22.21 billion. From the 54 African countries, only eight are represented in the list and only two are women.

  A close look of the Top Ten African billionaires

  1. Aliko Dangote

  Source of wealth: Cement, Flour, Sugar, Salt
  Aliko Dangote comes from a family with a strong business background; his great uncle, Alhaji Alhassan Dantata was dubbed the richest African at the time of his death in 1955. Perhaps it is no surprise that Aliko had interests in business from an early age, he apparently started selling sweets while in primary school just to make money. The Nigerian businessman founded Dangote Group in 1981 and thereafter transformed it into a conglomerate comprised of Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Flour and Dangote Cement. Dangote Cement is the biggest cement producers in Africa with capacity of over 20 million metric tones per annum while Dangote Sugar Refinery boosts being the largest Sugar producers in Africa and third in the world, producing an estimated 800 thousand tons of sugar annually. Dangote has expanded his reach beyond Nigeria, to West Africa and across sub Sahara with major presence in Nigeria, Ghana, and Togo. Forbes estimates his current worth to be $16.4 billion. He has been Africa’s richest person since 2013 when he surpassed Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi.
  

  2. Michael “Mike” Adenuga

  Source of wealth: Telecom, Oil, Real Estate
  Mike grew up in the Lagos, Nigeria. Born in 1953, Mike worked as a taxi driver to help fund his MBA at Pace University in New York. He started by making his fortune in trading lace and Coca-Cola. In 1991, Mike then founded Conoil (formerly Consolidated Oil Company), the company operates 6 oil blocks in the Niger Delta. The company has three major operating sectors, White products (Industrial and Aviation Fuel), Lubricants and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), it mainly engages in the manufacture and marketing various petroleum products. He also owns Globacom, the second largest telecommunications company in Nigeria; it also has operations in Ghana and the Republic of Benin. Globacom has an estimated 32 million subscribers in Nigeria. The second richest Nigerian has an estimated net worth of $10.3 billion.
  

  3. Nicholas “Nicky” Oppenheimer

  Source of wealth: Diamonds
  Nicky Oppenheimer is the richest person from South Africa. His grandfather Ernest Oppenheimer who founded the Anglo American, a multinational mining company and the current world’s largest producer of platinum. Nicky joined Anglo American as the Personal Assistant to the Chairman in 1968 and quickly moved up the ranks to deputy Chairman in 1983. While he amassed some of his wealth from Anglo American, the major source of his wealth is his inheritance of De Beers, one of the leaders in the diamond industry and Tswalu Kalahari Reserve the largest private game reserve in South Africa. Nicholas succeeded his forefathers as the Chairman of De Beers in 1998 in what is sometimes referred to as the Oppenheimer dynasty thus inheriting the family business. He stepped down in 2012 and liquidated 40% of his DeBeers shares to familiar face of Anglo American for $5.1 billion in cash. The 57 year old has an estimated net worth of $6.6 billion.
  

  4. Christoffel Wiese

  Source of wealth: Retailing
  Christoffel Wiese grew up in Upington, Northern Cape in South Africa. A lawyer by profession, Christoffer left the Cape bar to join a family business as a Director of Pepkor, which originated as the discount clothing retail chain Pep Stores. His Pepkor group currently operates more than 4000 retails with major operations in South Africa, Australia and Poland. Wiese took brief break from Pepkor to venture into diamond mining and politics. In 1980, he returned to Pepkor as Chairman, Pepkor has recently acquired Shoprite Holdings, which he turned into the largest food retailer in Africa. Shoprite operates 1825 corporates and 363 franchise outlets in 15 countries across Africa employing over 136 000 people. In February 2015, Steinhoff purchased Pepkor for $5.7 billion in cash and stock a deal that resulted with Christoffel owning 17% of Steinhoff. This South African has an estimated net worth of $7.3 billion.
  

  5. Johann Rupert

  Source of wealth: Luxury Goods
  Johann Rupert grew up in Stellenbosch South Africa. Born in 1950, Johann is the eldest son of Anton Rupert who founded Voorbrand, a tobacco company that was later renamed Rembrandt. The Rembrandt group founded Richemont a holdings Swiss company for leading luxury goods companies and Remgro an investment company with particular interests in food, liquor and home care, financial, and industrial companies. Johann Rupert currently chairs both companies. Rupert has a strong interest in sports, a former cricketer himself, he developed Leopard Creek Golf Club in Mpumalanga South Africa which is constantly ranked in the top three of best golf courses in South Africa and he owns part of Saracens a first division English rugby team. The South African has an estimated net worth of $5.4 billion with luxury goods as his main source of wealth.
  

  6. Nassef Sawiris

  Source of wealth: Construction, Chemicals
  Nassef Sawiris is the richest person from Egypt. He is the son of Onsi Sawiris a businessman who founded Orascom a conglomerate with primary focus on infrastructure, industrial and high-end commercial projects. Nassef joined his father’s venture in 1982, in 2015 Orascom split into Orascom construction that Nassef serves as its non-executive Chairman and Orascom Construction Industries where he serves as a Chief Executive Officer. Sawiris emerged as the largest individual shareholder of Adidas in October; he holds 6% of Adidas shares, which is approximated to worth about $1 billion. Sawiris recently founded Nile Holdings Investment, a private equity fund that invests in different industries with a major focus in Egypt’s health care sector. The 55 years old graduate of University of Chicago has an estimated net worth of $4.4 billion.
  

  7. Nathan Kirsh

  Source of wealth: Retail, Real Estate, Self Made
  Nathan Kirsh was born in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He later became a permanent citizen of Swaziland in 1986. Kirsh made his first mark into the business arena when he founded Swaziland Mills, a Swaziland corn-milling company. He later expanded the reach of this milling company to become a dominant food retailer in South Africa. The company overextended its reach by committing to building two-dozen malls; unfortunately South Africa was at the edge to extending increasing its international sanctions, a result of which cost Kirsh most of his fortune. Currently Kirsh’s fortune comes from Jetro Holdings, Inc, which operates Jetro Cash and Carry, one of the leading wholesale cash and carry stores in USA and Restaurant Depots in New York City. The Kirsh Holdings Group owns 50% of Swazi Plaza Properties, which is makes up his biggest investment in Swaziland. Kirsh has an estimated $4 billion net worth.
  

  8. Isabel dos Santos

  Source of wealth: Investments
  Isabel dos Santos is the richest woman in Africa. She is the eldest daughter of long time Angola President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Isabel started her venture into the business world as a project manager for Urbana 2000 a subsidiary of Jembas that was contracted for cleaning and disinfecting of Luanda. She later set up a truck business company, this coupled with establishment of the walkie-talkie system paved way for her to move into the telecommunications industry. In 1997, Isabel started Miami Beach Club, her first business and one of the first night clubs beach restaurants in Luanda Island. The Electrical Engineering graduate of King's College owns a number of assets in Angola, including 25% of Unitel, the largest mobile phone company in Angola. Among her diverse investment portfolio is 19% of Banco BPI, Angola’s largest bank and 7% of Galp Energia, an oil and gas company. The 42-year-old Angolan has an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion.
  

  9. Issad Rebrab

  Source of wealth: Food
  Issad Rebrab is the richest man in Algeria. His industrial career apparently started in 1971, when one his clients suggested he take shares in metallurgical construction company. Issad, a teacher by profession said he took a calculated risk, and in the worst case he knew he could always return to teaching. He joined the industry by acquiring 20% shares of Sotecom, a metallurgical construction business. Issad stands out as one of the few African billionaires who come from modest families, his parents were revolutionaries who struggled for the independence of Algeria. His major installations where destroyed in 1995 by terrorist attack, costing him an estimated $1.1 billion. He came back stronger in 1998 with the foundation of Cevital, one of the largest Algerian private enterprise, with subsidies in agribusiness, distribution, glass industry and real estate. Issad has an estimated net worth of $3.3 billion.
  

  10. Naguib Sawiris

  Source of wealth: Telecom
  Naguib Sawiris is the eldest of three Onsi Sawiris’ sons. Naguib joined the family business Orascom in 1979. He played an integral role in the growth and diverse portfolio of the company turning it into one of the largest private sector firms. Sawiris, a Masters graduate of ETH Zurich particularly helped establish the railway, information technology and telecommunications, the success of these sectors led to the split of Orascom into Orascom Telecom Holding, Orascom Construction Industries, Orascom Hotels & Development and Orascom Technology Systems. He owns the liberal Egypt TV station ONTV. Perhaps he is most recently known for his desire to buy an Island between to give 100 000 to 200 000 refugees a home, this was after he saw a picture of a three year old Syrian boy who drowned trying to find refuge. The Egyptian has an estimated net worth of $3 billion.
  

  Global overview

  Even with a slight decline of $1.8 billion from last year’s Forbes Billionaire list, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates retains his position as the world’s wealthiest man with a net worth of $77.4 billion. A position he holds for the 17th time in the last 22 years.

  Gates is closely followed by Spaniard Amancio Ortega, who is the brains behind Inditex fashion group, which owns Zara clothing and accessories retail shops

  With $48.9 billion, Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has moved up ten spots making him among the ten wealthiest people in the world. Zuckerberg holds the sixth position with his net worth increasing by $15.5 billion from $33.4 billion in 2015.

  
  

  https://www.africanexponent.com/post/africas-billionaires-list-2016-1738

  

10 considerations for innovation

Instead of complaining about constraints and complexities at our work or within organizations, its better to find a way to succeed within them. If enough effort and imagination are applied to a problem, its complexities are understood and possibly, opportunities are bound to emerge. The process is for us to rethink, reimagine and recast the basic dynamics of a situation and then in ways we never imagined, solutions will emerge from our creativity and that of the people around us. The major challenges to innovation are found in four key areas: technological, financial, organizational and political spheres. Innovation would make us tackle these constraints within the situations we find them, without necessarily trying an out right change. In order for us to employ innovation in anything we intend to do, we have to consider the following things:
1. Let learning lead: Learning is the driver of innovation. Sometimes a company, country or person who wishes to innovate would have to go through a process of learning and sometimes unlearning of old ways. Learning and innovation go hand in hand. 
2. Learn to see: The customers and members of the public we deal with on a daily basis can teach us profitable lessons for innovation. There is discussions, criticisms and desires could be a pathway to our success if we learn to see things from their point of view. 
3. Design for today: We need to focus on today's needs. Great ideas will always remain great ideas and nothing else if they have no bearing on the needs of the day. 
4. Think in pictures: Stimulating the minds of individuals is a grand approach to innovation as things that can be captured in a picture could attract the support of people that see it. 
5. Capture the intangible: Quite a number of solutions to major challenges in your environment could be found in the stakeholders minds. Try to address the emotional requirements of the people you relate with. 
6.Leverage the limits: Resource limitation can lead to creativity. Whatever resource we have should be utilized to its fullest.
7. Mastering the tension: In order to have a break through, you have to have a challenging situation. Turning tension and trials into achievement is the way to go!
8. Check the numbers: Analyze your costs and keep analyzing till you are able to learn how it can be done more proficiently. When we look at costs closely there is always some waste or oversight that can be eliminated. 
9. Strive towards perfection: We have to consistently try to improve upon what we are doing. We ought to get better as we proceed at whatever we are doing. 
10 Keep it lean: Complexity kills! Keep whatever you intend to do lean and simple. That way you will find it easy to repeat what you are supposed to. 
The piece was inspired by Sanjay Dalal who has written a lot about innovation.

Strategic issues you need to contend with in long term business management

In many small and medium sized businesses the directors double as managers. They may often be unclear about the extent to which they are thinking and behaving strategically as opposed to operationally. Difficulty might arise because in any one day business leaders switch between strategy and tactics without realizing it. The danger in this pattern is time and resources for strategic issues are sacrificed. on day-to-day issues. There is a natural tendency to focus to the here and now to address today's problems and to feel more comfortable steering away from the uncertainties of the longer term which could also be very complex. You need a way of assessing the balance of time spent on issues that concern the here and now and those of the future. There is a set of criteria that can be used to identify strategic processes and decisions.
Strategic decisions involve the following:
-Relating to the full scope of an organization's activities
-The products it chooses to produce
-The markets it wishes to operate in
-The key areas in which it wishes to focus its competitive efforts.
-Where it draws boundaries according to which activities are external or internal to its organization.

Matching an organization's activities to the environment by:
-Responding to perceived threats in the environment
-Exploiting identified opportunities.

Matching the activities of an organization: to its resource capability and its capability to change.

-Building on what the organization is capable of today
-Devoting necessary resources to extending and enhancing existing capability.
-Allocating scarce major resources in the organization to the critical areas
-Looking at three to five years beyond the next budget horizon.

Rate your products and services: Cash Cow? Dog? Question Mark? or Star?

One product portfolio matrix that enables you as an industry leader or competitor to rate your products consists of categories such as: Star, Cash Cow, Question mark and Dog. The idea of a rating of your products is to know how to improve on the various products you produce and also understand how to categorize them.

Star- This is a product with a high market share and high growth rate result in break-even or perhaps small profits products and services in this category are typically supported by heavy expenditure on advertising, sales incentives, perhaps insufficient production run in order to achieve a dominant market position while there is still overall growth. T5he rationale is that costs should eventually come down over time, and turn the star to a cash cow via strategies such as reductions, product improvements, market coverage etc.

Cash cow- Cash cow is business jargon for a business venture that generates a steady return of profits that far exceed the outlay of cash required to acquire or start it.High market share in a mature market. Once market dominance is achieved and market growth subsides, there is less need of high investment and cost may fall as experience increases. This provides a high level cash income for the producer (who is milking the earlier investment) Such cash might then be fed back into the business to generate and support the next star. The organization would seek to maintain its position by investing in process improvements, technological leadership and differentiation.

Question mark (a.k.a Problem child) A product with a growing market share but a low share. Products and services in this category might be tomorrow’s star if they are given sufficient resource and attention or they might never blossom into viable options. It is usually a difficult management decision  to know which to back and which to let drop. This early stage in a products lifecycle can be extremely costly. The organization will invest in market share growth through marketing efforts (product, price, production, rapid increase in distribution) acquisition of competitors to obtain their share  a conversion might be made from a question mark to a star.

Dog- Low market share product or service.  The situation of the product is not sustainable in the long run as these products may become a cash drain to the organization. The company has to decide when to divest itself of these parts of its business producers someone use the scope of the product range as a unique selling proposition, so that “the dog” may be retained in the short term in order to make a product range comprehensive or because it represents the foundation of a reputation built on that brand. The organization will attempt to maximize the return from these activities by withdrawing support, attempting to sell the business to a more appropriate organization or seek a niche market where the business is still relevant.

Three main issues could be major considerations for changing or maintaining the category to which a product or service belongs:

Funds-(Cash cow is the future of business since it helps sustain the organization).

Resources-How much have really been given to those who are managing the product?

Does the balance of the products and services match the resources available? If the organization has high research and development skills it could enhance the transformation of a product or service. 

Facebook's Like Button to be revamped with reactions!

By Christy Glen

Last year, it was reported that Facebook was creating a new feature called Reactions. The company recently confirmed that it was working on this new feature and will introduce it gradually if it receives a positive response from its users.

During a discussion among the Facebook team, Chris Cox came up with an idea that shocked everyone, “We need to do something about the like button” he said. This was a drastic change, as the like button is like the engine of the “big blue app”, it is the most recognized symbol universally. Almost 1.6 billion users of Facebook click this button 6 billion times in a day. The number of clicks on this button affects billions of dollars in advertising. Brands and individuals post things on Facebook with an optimism to get maximum likes.

Likes drive the path of social activity. It also suggests Facebook on what to display on News Feed based on popularity or the posts that get the most likes. However, this button may sometimes create misconceptions. For instance, someone announces her divorce on Facebook, clicking like on their post might be misconstrued when you are only trying to show some empathy.

This feature is right at the heart of Facebook, and changing it is like Coca-Cola messing with its secret recipe. So, any changes made should be such that it does not degrade the experience in any manner. The obvious alternative of including a “dislike” button is no good, as it will drill too much negativity.

When Cox asked Mark Zuckerberg about changing the “Like” button, Zuckerberg says, “Go for it. Good Luck. That’s a hard one.” In next few weeks, Facebook will introduce its new feature called Reactions. This new feature will allow users to choose from a range of emojis including the default thumbs-up. Collecting the popular responses, Facebook has narrowed down the emojis to include into this feature to five: Love, Angry, Sad, Wow, and haha. Lately, “Yay” was removed from the feature as it is not understood globally.

 This feature will adorn the Like button, instead of replacing it. Whenever a user will hold down on the thumbs-up symbol, five emojis will be displayed to choose from, so that the design of Facebook remains the same.

Facebook will thus change their News Feed algorithm based on this new feature. This will create the universal vocabulary that will allow users to express emotions as their go through their feed

13 things that could be used to consider your next promotion!

 

1. Job knowledge and abilities(perform all aspects of the job)
2. Adaptability/Flexibility (Change multi-skillng for craft workers) 
3. Productivity(individual work output)
4. Quality to work(attention to detail)(Consistent quality)
5. Attitude to work(commitment, motivation, enthusiasm)
6. Interaction with others(team working ability communication.)
7. Originality of thought(initiative, problem solving)
8. Perception(ability to properly interprete job requirements)
9. Judgement, use of resources(setting priorities, ability to plan and organise)
10. Attendance and time keeping(numbers of, reasons for absence; punctaulity
11. Safety awareness(awareness of health&safety standards)
12. Need for supervision(leadership ability to develop others)
13. Performance against targets(extent to which previously set targets have been achieved)

The public sector performance controversy

In the public sector the challenge of performance may be measured in different ways to those in private sector. Profit may not play the part, but we can measure activity against costs and use this to monitor the return on investment(ROI). Income is now often linked to output and outcom3esw, while expenditure is firmly controlled and audited.
Public sector managers are consistently being asked to manage their organizations i n a more commercial, effective and efficient way. Exposed to competition without any guarantee of survival they must show that they are making a difference in the scheme of things or be shut down, relegated or disbanded. Public sector management is a little different from that of the private sector with the same urgencies: the need to get results and satisfy the customers and the pressure to meet the needs of stakeholders within the framework of the budget. This is often exemplified by the increasing movement of people in between the private and public sectors in many countries. The modern public sector in many countries has tried to divorce itself from the tag of being a government corporation and therefore not having to tackle the day to day challenges and demands that private sector have.
The different organizations also witness the attitude and disposition of various kinds of leaders with different management styles.
1. Authority Compliance Management which values production over people and often sees creativity and human relations as unnecessary!
2. Impoverished Management which is lassez faire or laid back in attitude and has little concern for people and production
3. Middle of the road management which tries to balance production and people but falls back on tested theories for results.
4. Paternalistic(Father knows best) management speaks for itself. It is largely overbearing and loves to micro manage the workforce.
5. Opportunistic Management Combines the attitude of: What's in it for me to match goals with performance and gain trust. The opportunistic would use any approach to get the results it desires.
6. Team management-Shows a concern for both people and production. It works to motivate employees to their highest level and explores alternative strategies and people aggressively and openly. All in a bid to get results.  

Why we must speak out about race in the workplace

By Edith Cooper

Global Head of Human Capital Management at Goldman Sachs

As the head of Human Capital Management for Goldman Sachs, I believe our ability to create a corporate culture where people can come together to share ideas, solve problems and, in that process, learn from one another defines the strength of our organization. Ultimately, our experience at work is a collection of interactions with the people around us. When those interactions are stimulating and challenging and take place in an environment of inclusivity and collaboration, you have a better experience and, in turn, you perform better…because as a result of those varied inputs and insights, you are better.
Unfortunately, we are living through a period where, in some places, our differences are driving divisiveness. Like everyone else, I watch the news, see the headlines and am impacted by the images of communities torn apart by violence and divided by distrust. The topic of race is on my mind, it’s a discussion I have with my family and friends and it’s something that I bring to work. Of course my experience, I know, is not unique. The pervasiveness of current events affects everyone at our firm from summer interns to senior leaders. I know this because at Goldman Sachs we’re starting to talk about it…
More specifically, in the wake of the Baton Rouge, Minneapolis, Dallas and most recent events, the leadership at our firm decided we needed to provide forums for our people to share their perspectives and engage in this important discussion. With impassioned questions pertaining to race, fair treatment and equal opportunity being asked both in public and in private, we knew this was not a topic we could ignore. With this in mind, we posed the question: how do the recent events affecting us as people, in turn, affect our interactions at work?
The unthinkable tragedies taking place across our country are painful. Each new event brings with it shock and sadness, and as we try to make sense of the senseless, we can be left feeling confused and powerless. While the path to resolution seems unclear, one thing is certain – if we want to make real progress, we must engage in an open conversation about race. Through dialogue, we stand to gain an understanding of how each person’s experiences shape the lens through which he or she sees society. Conversations about race can be difficult and fraught with the risk of saying “the wrong thing”. As a result, too often people say nothing at all. But silence has meaning and can be interpreted as indifference – or worse.
I am a black woman, a mother, a wife and a professional. I am the daughter of a dentist and a sister to four siblings. I’m a runner, a golfer and a knitter. I graduated from an Ivy League school and earned an MBA. I’ve spent the past 30 years working on Wall Street, half of those as a partner at Goldman Sachs.
I am frequently asked “what country are you from” (I grew up in Brooklyn). I’ve been questioned about whether I really went to Harvard (I did) or how I got in (I applied). I’ve been asked to serve the coffee at a client meeting (despite being there to “run” the meeting) and have been mistaken as the coat check receptionist at my son’s school event. And, on the flip side, it’s also been suggested to me that I’m not “black black” because of the success I have had, or even where I live.
Early in my career, I returned home from a business trip feeling worn down. “I’m losing confidence and feeling isolated,” I told my husband. People frequently assumed I was the most junior person in the room, when in fact, I was the most senior. I constantly needed to share my credentials when nobody else had to share theirs. And, more often than not, I was the only black person – the only black woman – in the meeting. “E, pick your head up,” my husband said. “The good news is they’ll never forget you.” He was right – people did remember me. From then on, I tried to turn obstacles into opportunities and focused on making an impact at work – which I could control – rather than the perceptions of others – which I could not.
Focusing on what you can control and taking mindful steps and positive action towards what matters to you are things I learned from my parents, who grew up in the segregated South. They moved to New York with a singular goal – they wanted to raise their children free from the institutionalized racism they had known during their lives. They believed that through education the doors of opportunity would be opened; and, they were right. While I have faced some setbacks along the way, I live an incredibly fortunate life and am deeply aware of the privilege that is mine. That same privilege, which affords me extraordinary opportunity, also compels me to share – in fact, instills in me a responsibility to share – my experiences in the hope of advancing the diversity dialogue. It is in that spirit that I offer a few lessons I have learned on my journey, including those difficult interactions that seemed to be based primarily on the color of my skin:

• Engage in this dialogue; don’t be silent
• Misunderstanding and miscommunication can be tempered by the simplest acts most of us learned as children: listen well, choose your words with care and respect others
• Focusing on our differences is easy and divisive; leveraging what we have in common is harder, but will effect positive change for all

I know that many people in our country are being very personally and negatively impacted by the tragic events of recent months. In the face of this, my “lessons learned” feel, even to me, more than a bit inadequate. That said, I honestly believe that a mandatory first step in addressing the issues surrounding race is conversation – because honest dialogue reaps understanding and understanding reaps progress.
culled from Linkedin.com 

12 Characteristics of a healthy organization

In traditional times there was one way of determining the health of an organization. All those who are assessing have to do is check the books and it was assumed that once the organization is making a profit, then it is healthy. Times have since changed and in rating the health of an organization, people examining it look at customer relations, processes and of course the role and enthusiasm of the people in that organization in its day to day activity in addition to the profits!

In this analysis we intend to focus on the individuals, that is the workforce and attempt an assessment of the organization’s health from that perspective. This is seen as mainly a management or human resource function.(HRM)

-Integration of organizational goals with the personal or individual goals of the people who carry out the functions in the organization is a relevant perspective. The goals of the people must integrate with the goals of the organization at a point, or else the individuals concerned would lose interest and just to do their work in an absent minded none committal manner. People often aspire to develop on the job, promotion, more pay and conducive work conditions.

-The organizational structure that aids productivity is also a factor. There is a need to build the structure of the organization around its functionality at the levels of efficiency and effectiveness.

-Today’s workforce are increasingly looking for ways to contribute to the decision making function in the organization through democratic functionality. Where they cannot do so at management meetings, they would seek to do so through pressure groups within the organization or via labor unions.

-The people that make up the workforce want to be treated equitably or fairly. A human resource employment relations policies and practices are in order to ensure that equity prevails within the organization.

-Managers ought to promote mutual trust considerations within the organization and support among different levels to ensure a stable and solid morale.

-There ought to be open discussion of conflict with an attempt to avoid confrontation that could disrupt the business process.

-The managerial behavior and styles of leadership should be appropriate to work situations.

-Acceptance of psychological contract between the individual and organization is of profound importance. Each individual is expected to know the basic roles he should play as well as the does and don’t of the organization which are not always written down.

-The recognition of peoples’ needs and expectation at work as well as acceptance of individual differences and attributes are also a major characteristic of the healthy organization.

-HRM should also ensure equitable systems of rewards based on positive recognition of roles and contributions to the organization as well as work life and job design balance.

-There ought to be opportunities for personal development and career progression through the processes of training, coaching, mentoring, career guidance and career path.

-Every member of the organization should have a sense of loyalty to and identify with the organization and also have a feeling of being valued and important to the very existence of the organization.

What is the real state of Nigeria's economy?

  

   In order to determine the current state of the economy, we first need to take a good look at the business cycle as a whole. Generally, the business cycle is made up of four different periods of activity extended over several years. These phases can differ substantially in duration, but are all closely intertwined in the overall economy.

•Peak - This is not the beginning of the business cycle, but this is where we'll start. At its peak, the economy is running at full steam. Employment is at or near maximum levels, gross domestic product (GDP) output is at its upper limit (implying that there is very little waste occurring) and income levels are increasing. In this period, prices tend to increase due to inflation; however, most businesses and investors are having an enjoyable and prosperous time.

      For Nigeria it was a period when we were making up to $50billion a day from oil. As at November 2014 the price of oil begun to fall on the world market and our income shrank to $32billion. So importation was still being sustained

 

     Recession - The old adage "what goes up must come down" applies perfectly here. This is the probably the most spoken word in Nigeria today. After experiencing a great deal of growth and success, income and employment begin to decline. As our wages and the prices of goods in the economy are inflexible to change, they will most likely remain near the same level as in the peak period unless the recession is prolonged. The result of these factors is negative growth in the economy. The recession in Nigeria it appears will drag on for some years but with recent measures at arresting it there is hope that it will not go into a depression. Oil sales at recent times stand at a meager $500million per month. Bombings in the Niger Delta have also been a contributory factor.  The North Eastern part of the country is worst hit with terror activities of Boko Haram reducing the accessibility of goods and services.

     Trough - Also sometimes referred to as a depression, depending upon the duration of the trough, this is the section of the business cycle when output and employment bottom out and remain in waiting for the next phase of the cycle to begin.

     Expansion/Recovery - In a recovery, the economy is growing once again and moving away from the bottoms experienced at the trough. Employment, production and income all undergo a period of growth and the overall economic climate is good.  There is hope that once the right plan is put into place, the economy will grow again before it goes into a depression. 

      Right now there is a  Liquidity squeeze- No loans, banks are struggling

How does a recession affect the ordinary man:

       •Goods staying on the shelves

•Layoffs and under employment

•Shrinking salaries

•Manufacturing slow down

•More people go into the informal sector

•Reduction in monies sent from abroad 

Forex Squeeze

Importation slows

Which businesses could survive?

•Food

•Entertainment

•Communication

•Petroleum Product marketing

•Real Estate 

Other necessities that people can not do with out would also survive as businesses. 

 

 

 

Micro finance could help lift African and East European countries out of poverty!

            

Muhammad Yunus, father of micro finance

                 The importance of micro, small and medium businesses (enterprises) (MSMEs) in the development of any nation needs to be emphasized.  Every  emergent economy must have a vibrant and sustained MSMEs sub sector which was vital to the development of most countries in East Asia which are referred to today as the Asian Tigers. Management involves ensuring that a group of people work together in the most effective and efficient manner to achieve a stated goal in the best and most economical way. In MSME the eyes of the owner must always be on costs: expenditure or overheads.  

                 The changing nature of work organizations, including flatter structures and recognition of the efficient use of human resources, coupled with advances in social democracy have combined to place growing importance on leadership.  The nature of management is moving away from an emphasis on getting results by the close control of the workforce towards an environment of coaching, support and empowerment. Historically, the significant role of MSMEs in development has been universally acknowledged. In Asia, small businesses have made up to more than 90% of the industries in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, India and Sri Lanka. They account for 98 percent of the employment in Indonesia, 78 percent in Thailand, 81 percent in Japan and 87 percent in Bangladesh. Even in countries such as the United States of America where big corporations hold sway, MSMEs still play enormous role in the country’s economy. There really is no universally accepted definition of MSMEs.  They are defined differently based on regional or country context.   

                 Government agencies, ministries, etc use different definitions. For example in the United States of America, the small business administration defines “small business” as any business with less than 500 employees. This figure may represent medium to large enterprise in the African context. In Mauritius, MSMEs are defined as manufacturing enterprises which use production equipment with an aggregate CIF value not exceeding 10 million rupees. In South Africa more elaborate categorization is utilized as follows: survivalist, micro enterprises, small enterprises, medium enterprises and large enterprises. Survivalist enterprises represent activities by people unable to find paid jobs or get into the economic sector of their choice.  Small enterprises constitute bulk of established businesses and have from 5 to 50 employees.  Medium enterprises often employ up to 200 persons and have capital assets, excluding property of about 5 million Rand.

                  In Nigeria, MSMEs are taken to be enterprises or businesses in manufacturing activities or related service industries as officially defined by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) as follows:

           
            Cottage/Micro Industry is an industry whose total capital cost including working capital but excluding cost of land and building is less than N5.0 million and a work force of less than 10 employees.

           
            Small Scale Industry is an industry whose capital cost including working capital but excluding cost of land and building is less than N50.0 million but more than N5.0 million and workforce of 10 – 49 employees.

   
       Medium Scale Industry is an industry whose capital cost including working capital but excluding cost of land and building is less than N500.0 million but greater than N50.0 million and workforce of 50 – 199 employees.

                 In Nigeria the National Policy for the Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)  was launched in 2007. This was a collaborative effort between SMEDAN and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is meant to be a widely accepted policy document that would guide the development of micro, small and medium enterprises. The key areas addressed by this policy included institutional, legal and regulatory framework concerning business registration, property rights, contract enforcement and dispute resolution etc.  The policy also identified special target enterprises for quick win attention.

                 
                  Over 80 million people (65% of the  active population) in Nigeria remain out in the cold as  the formal financial institutions are not serving them. Microfinance specific institutions in Nigeria have not been able to adequately address the gap in terms of credit, savings and other financial services required by the micro-entrepreneurs.                Ironically micro finance has its roots in Asia. Muhammad Yunus ( born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist, and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of micro credit and microfinance is widely regarded as the father of micro finance. The loans are meant to be given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. In practice, Microfinance means more than the delivery of small units of financial social and health services.It goes beyond the disbursement and collection of loans. Micro finance also includes  the entire flexible structures and processes by which financial services are delivered to micro-entrepreneurs on a sustainable basis.

                  An MFB  may be described as a company licensed  to carry on the business of providing microfinance services such as savings, loans, domestic funds transfer and other financial services that are needed by the economically poor, micro, small and medium enterprises (within the 22 permissible activities). Those taking the loans have to understand that:

•       It is not for Charity lending

•       It is not a one-time lending, e.g. government loans to the poor

•       It is not for the affluent in society

                 The poor need a variety of financial services.Micro credit is a powerful instrument for poverty alleviation.Microfinance must be able to build financial systems that serve micro enterprises and this kind of financial sustainability is necessary to reach a significant number of poor people .Microfinance is about building permanent local financial institutions

                 There is therefore an urgent need to take the bank to the people with inadequate access to financial services, including remote areas, have regular contact with borrowers- daily, weekly or monthly as the case may require. There is also a need to increase the use of groups for the purpose of accessing credit It is easier to deal with cooperatives rather than individuals. Africa in this century desperately needs her own version of Muhammad Yunus who would devise a method of raising the continent out of poverty.