I found a great AdSense alternative that pays out at $10. Can use it in conjunction w/adsense too. Try it:http://bit.ly/118NAec
Showing posts with label Empowerment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Empowerment. Show all posts
Copied: http://tonyelumelufoundation.org/

“Africa Rising” is easily the most important story emerging from sub-Saharan Africa this century – more significant, in my opinion, than political unrest, terrorist threats, power hungry dictators, and the prospects of debilitating diseases. A combination of rising commodity prices, improving democratic and governance practices, and the adoption of technology, have helped many sub-Saharan African countries break out the vicious grip of persisting underdevelopment.
The Africa Rising Narrative has in recent years attracted plenty of attention from around the world, from writers, conference planners, investment banks, consulting firms, and foreign governments. The book, “Africans Investing in Africa: Understanding Business and Trade, Sector by Sector” is one of the latest additions to the burgeoning library of “Africa Rising”-inspired reports, surveys and analyses.
Edited by Terence McNamee, Mark Pearson and Wiebe Boer (and with an Introduction by renowned economics professor and development expert Paul Collier), Africans Investing in Africa is the outcome of a scholarly collaboration between two Africa-owned and Africa-focused philanthropic organisations, the Tony Elumelu Foundation in Nigeria, and the Oppenheimer family’s Brenthurst Foundation in South Africa. It comprises 16 essays, by a group of academics, researchers, business persons, consultants, and government officials, intended to collectively serve (as business leaders Tony Elumelu and Jonathan Oppenheimer write in the Foreword) as “an important manifesto for how intra-African commerce could help propel the continent to greater economic prosperity.”
(One important thing to note, starting out: even though “Africa” shows up again and again, this book is really about sub-Saharan Africa, not the entire continent – a reminder that the Sahara Desert is, for the continent, much more than a mere geographical divide).
The first section is devoted to “cross-cutting issues” – by which the editors mean the stuff that cuts across multiple countries: transport networks, borders, regional economic communities (like the EAC and ECOWAS), and the rise of pan-African “brands”.
The second section offers a number of case studies on “African champions” in various fields of commercial enterprise: Banking (South Africa’s Standard Bank, Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa, and the pan-African group, Ecobank); Cement (Nigeria’s Dangote Group and South Africa’s Pretoria Portland Cement); Fast-Moving Consumer Goods and Retail (Shoprite, Massmart, Pick ‘n Pay, Nakumatt, The Artee Group, SABMiller, Tiger Brands, Promasidor, Dangote, Zambeef, UAC Foods, etc); Information and Communications Technology (Cellulant, MTN, Seven Seas Technology Group), and Entertainment and Media (South Africa’s Naspers, Nigeria’s Nollywood and Kenya’s Nation Media Group).
Section 3 focuses on “emerging pan-African sectors” – oil and gas (in East Africa), private security, transport and logistics, and tourism and travel.
This book convincingly demonstrates the truism that Africa is not a country. Combining a bird’s eye view of the continent with Google-type Street Views of its business and policy and demographic landscapes, it shows the reader again and again that sub-Saharan Africa is an immensely diverse place, and that, even though its 55 countries often share common characteristics, a one-size-fits-all approach is a sure route to misadventure.
“Africans Investing in Africa also offers reminders of China’s impossible-to-ignore status in Africa. Contributor Lite Nartey reminds us that 20 per cent of South Africa’s Standard Bank is owned by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; the acquisition, in 2007, at a cost of $5.5bn is said to be China’s biggest single foreign investment ever. And in the chapter on cement, Lyal White tells us that the largest builder of cement plants in Africa (a continent he describes as “the last great cement frontier”) is a Chinese company known as Sinoma.
Indeed, one important question African countries have to face up to and answer is this: what lessons can we learn from China’s methods (propelled by a seemingly unassailable self-confidence), and what mistakes are to be avoided? Africa turning eastwards, while not without its own controversies, has no doubt helped create a counterbalance to an insufficiently beneficial economic monopoly previously wielded by the West. It is now up to Africa’s governments to exploit the presence of this alternative influence for the benefit of their citizens.
Another significant underlying theme of the book is the dynamic relationship between the continent’s two leading economies, Nigeria and South Africa. South Africa is generally treated as being in a class of its own. Nigeria’s emergence last year as Africa’s largest economy notwithstanding, South Africa continues to be the bigger brother. It singlehandedly accounts for half of the continent’s entire manufacturing exports, is the only African country in the G20, and its financial markets and infrastructure remain miles ahead of the rest of the continent.
And you only need to compare the footprints of South African companies in Nigeria (and the rest of the continent) with those of Nigerian companies in South Africa to realise just how much of a gap exists between South Africa and the rest. For every Nigerian brand (Dangote, Globacom) making an inroad across Africa, there are several South African ones: Africans Investing in Africa regularly mentions Shoprite, Pep, Mr. Price, Woolworths, MTN, Promasidor, Naspers, Tiger, and Nampak. Nigeria has as much to learn from South Africa as from China.
For foreigners looking to invest in Africa, it can be an immensely bewildering place. By offering a detailed, immensely knowledgeable map of a territory regarded as the world’s last investment frontier, this book will be a great starting point for new and existing investors. But of course, it really sets out to speak, not to outsiders looking in, but instead to insiders wondering where (and how) to start looking. It is meant to inspire and embolden a new generation of African entrepreneurs and businesses to spread their wings across their possibility-filled continent, and build business empires the world will take notice of.
As the book makes clear, one of Africa’s big tragedies is that so little of its trade is carried out among its countries. In fact, only about 12 per cent of all African trade takes place among African countries, the lowest in the world, compared to about 50 per cent for Asia and North America, and 70 per cent for Europe. From such a low base, there’s great potential for new grounds to be conquered across Africa.
And this is where politics and governance and policy-making come into the picture. Africa Rising is a great story, but without the wholehearted commitment and participation of African governments, it’d be an incomplete story; an impossible-to-complete one in fact, rather like attempting to soar on a single wing. No matter how ambitious African investors, entrepreneurs and businesses get, there’s a limit to how far they can go without supportive African governments.
This is why this book should be read even more wholeheartedly by government officials and policymakers than even by entrepreneurs themselves. Heads of State, Ministers (especially of Finance, Trade, Investment), law enforcement agents (especially Customs and Immigration) – all of these people need to pay attention, and understand that, more than anything else, the job of African governments is to get the hell out of the way.
African governments, like all governments everywhere else, ought to be at the forefront of infrastructure development in their countries – electricity, transportation, etc. But they also need to realise that, as important as ensuring the rapid development of critical infrastructure is the task of dismantling the visible and invisible barriers that stand in the way of trade and entrepreneurship: the red tape that turns border posts and ports into a waking nightmare for business people; the impunity of intellectual property pirates, land-grabbers, and abusers of legal procedures. (Jacqueline Chimhanzi highlights a comment by Ghanaian President John Mahama that there are six border posts to be surmounted between Nigeria and Ghana, West Africa’s leading economies; while Terence McNamee and Daniella Sachs, authors of the chapter on tourism and travel, note that “land tenure and asset security are two of the greatest factors inhibiting investment in many African countries.”)
If every African government, at every level – central, state/provincial and local – woke up every day asking itself this one question: “What obstacle can I take out of the way of potential African investors today?”, Africa would be a much better place – more confident, more prosperous, more equal – for its hundreds of millions of expectant people.

Africans Investing in Africa: Understanding Business and Trade, Sector by Sector; published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2015


 Crowdfnding in Nigeria is still kind of new; I have spoken to numerous Nigerians asking them if they know anything about crowd funding from banks to academic institutions and many more; they just aren't familiar with the word. This article explains reasons why 
you should crowdfund your projects or ideas. 

 with new startups like FINOFUND for Nigerians, Nigerians now have the opportunity to take advantage of the crowdfunding opportunities in the country and contribute to creative ideas of many Nigerians...

 copied about.com/money: 
Crowdfunding (What is Crowdfunding?) is the biggest thing to happen to finance in the last decade. Entrepreneurs, small and large companies, and individuals are finding a new channel to fund their ideas, projects, and business online. Participating in crowdfunding isn't only about doing good-- it's about finding efficient ways to raise money by democratizing the risk and rewards by pooling tens, hundreds, and thousands of contributors/investors together to contribute in your project or invest in your company. With crowdfunding, the future of finance is here.

1.  Because other funding sources are drying up (Forbes)

"In the funding days of old (think three-four years ago), venture capitalists were throwing their money at companies with large user-bases without stopping to consider the plan (or lack thereof) for monetization. Businesses like Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram were lauded for their growing numbers and flashy design, but all eventually reached huge struggles with the need for profit. While they eventually did prove successful and figured out a way to monetize, startups copying their business model will not be given the same chances these days. Monetization has to be given higher priority nowadays.
Another contributing factor to this crunch is the ratio of seed stage funding and Series A investments. While they used to be leveled, there is now a staggering difference. Series A rounds have flat lined, while earlier funding rounds have flooded the market, leaving thousands of startups floundering for follow-up funding." 

2.  Immediately land customers (EliteDaily)

"The supporters of your crowdfunding campaign are your customers. Crowdfunding is basically a way to pre-order products before they are produced -- this is invaluable for a startup.  Too often, people produce products before knowing the depth of their customer base. Utilize crowdfunding so you have customers before your product is produced."

3.  Contributors can help you build your company (Forbes)

"To all the skeptics, I’d like to introduce a phenomenon that we at OurCrowd have named, crowdbuilding. Through our equity crowdfunding of over 30 startups in 2013, we’ve identified an interesting phenomenon: that the risk involved in startup investing incentivizes equity crowdfunding investors to get involved and assist their investments in any way they can. Ultimately, this personal involvement exposes these fledgling companies to a lot more then just 'dumb money.'"

4.  Conduct market research, build audience (Fullstart)

"Our Kickstarter campaign got a great response. In addition to covering the production costs of making an app, there were additional benefits we didn’t see coming. First, Kickstarter provided effective market research and publicity for us. We developed an audience that cares about our product, who can get others around them to be excited about it too."

5.  Participate in the world's incubation platform (Guardian)

"Crowdfunding is quickly becoming the world's incubation platform, changing the role of gatekeeper and finally giving the world true choice in determining which ideas come to life. Such meritocracy has never existed in the world of finance before. Thus, crowdfunding is changing finance for the better." 


6.  Create more equality and opportunity in emerging markets (McKinsey)

"By enabling crowdfund investing, governments in the region can harness the power of the social Web to provide more equal access to capital, reduce friction in the process of investment, and improve communication between investors and entrepreneurs. Because crowdfund investing platforms promise efficiency, transparency, and market validation, they can also be an appealing vehicle for individual and institutional investors, as well as public sector investment funds that focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)."

7.  Connect with a younger audience (NYTimes)

"Crowdfunding is particularly attractive to younger donors who are looking for a more direct connection to the causes and people they’re supporting,” said Katherina M. Rosqueta, executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania. “I think of it as a tool, one which might bring stories and issues to particular donors who wouldn’t otherwise be aware and prompt them to give." 

8.  Crowdfunding provides financing for public projects that lack funds (Slashdot)

"According to the BBC, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has set up a way for people to donate small amounts of money via text message; in theory, the funds will go towards equipping Ukrainian troops. “The campaign has also been hijacked by Internet mischief-makers trying to trick Russians into messaging the same number,” reported the news service.
The Ukrainians aren’t alone in attempting to crowdfund public security services. In October 2013, citizens in Oakland, California started three campaigns to raise money for security patrols. Each of those campaigns, started on crowdfunding Website Crowdtilt, wanted between $20,000 and $25,000; dozens of people contributed. While upscale neighborhoods regularly pay for private security patrols, the Oakland scenario sparked a debate over whether crowdfunding could be used to pay for a broad range of municipal projects."

9.  Helping build small business ecosystems outside the U.S. (HuffPo)

"Equity crowdfunding is helping entrepreneurs market their companies and fundraising efforts in a new way and not just raise capital, but in many cases attract the attention of mentors, advisors and partners.
If you're an entrepreneur, investor or someone who wants to support local entrepreneurs then now is the time to get involved online by joining an equity crowdfunding platform and connect to your local community online."

10.  Screw the big banks (Economist)

"Peer-to-peer lending is growing fast in many countries. In Britain, loan volumes are doubling every six months. They have just passed the £1 billion mark ($1.7 billion), though this is tiny against the country’s £1.2 trillion in retail deposits. In America, the two largest P2P lenders, Lending Club and Prosper, have 98% of the market. They issued $2.4 billion in loans in 2013, up from $871m in 2012. The minnows are doing even better, though they are growing from a much lower base.
Neil Bindoff of PwC, a professional-services firm, speaks of a “perfect storm” supporting P2P’s growth. Interest rates are close to zero, the public is fed up with banks, costs are low (one third of a typical bank’s, according to Renaud Laplanche of Lending Club), and e-commerce is becoming part of daily life. People use the internet for peer-to-peer telephony (Skype) and shopping (eBay), so why not loans?"

So Nigerians, lets get funding and funded. check out finofund projects and find the one you would like to support.
cpoied:naijapreneur
Entrepreneurs advantage
 What’s the one thing that gives an entrepreneur the unfair advantage over others?
Time freedom.
The fact that you own 100% of your time is your greatest advantage as an entrepreneur.
While others have to give up their time in exchange for salary, entrepreneurs make use of their time to create products/services that makes them money. I’ve previously written about this; how entrepreneurs create wealth in their spare time.
For an employee, there’s a limit to their income potential because there’s a limit on their working hours. For an entrepreneur, you own and determine your working hours and also get to choose the activities to devote your time to.
However, knowing that you have this advantage is not going to automatically make you a successful entrepreneur. Having 100% ownership of your time is only the beginning, a greater part of success depends on how well you make use of this time and on what activities you engage in with this time freedom.
So what are those critical areas you absolutely need to be focusing the bulk of your time freedom on as an entrepreneur?

The Key To Unlocking The Entrepreneurial Advantage

I partially answered this question in a previous post about how entrepreneurs should be spending their time. I identified 5 highly effective activities that you can focus on as an entrepreneur; I referred to them as the 5Cs of time management for entrepreneurs.
So in a way, this is a follow up post to that article as I will be sharing 9 key drivers of business according to Jay Abraham that you need to devote your time on regularly.
But before we dive into these 9 key drivers of business, I want to quickly talk about the key to unlocking the entrepreneurial advantage in your business.
The key to unlocking the entrepreneurial advantage of time freedom is to focus it on building your business rather than doing business.
This distinction is very crucial and needs to be clarified, if you spend all of your time freedom doing business, you will eventually end up as a worn out self employee. Your business will further entrap you instead of freeing you. The bigger it grows, the tighter its grip on your time and eventually your life if you failed to focus on building rather than doing.
Here’s a previous post that sheds more light on the need to build rather than do business; the paradox of business. You should read it!

 

Jay Abraham’s 9 Drivers of Business for Unlocking The Entrepreneurial Advantage

There are obviously a million things you should be focusing on as an entrepreneur, but not all of them will give you high return on time invested. But the following 9 areas have been tested and have been found to generate the highest possible leverage for your business by one of the greatest business minds alive; Jay Abraham.
While these 9 drivers of business may not be foreign concepts to you, the underlying mindset here is to spend your time freedom on continually improving and fine tuning them. The keyword is improvement. This is essentially the crucial difference between building a business and just doing business.

1). Marketing

This is your number one priority as an entrepreneur because until you can consistently find, attract, convert and retain a profitable customer, you are not yet in business. You knew that already right?
But here’s the winning difference according to Jay Abraham;
“…if you can get people who were selling 1 out of 7 prospects to sell 1 out of 3. The sales leverage available to you is profound. If you can get sales letters that were pulling 0.5% to pull 4%…if you can people who were buying $250 to now buy $400…if you can get people who were buying once a year to buy once a quarter or once a month…if you can get people who weren’t referring anyone to you to start referring five new customers each a year…the combined effect of that kind of marketing leverage is exponential growth.
That’s exactly how you increase your business, your revenue, your sales, your profits, your wealth, and your net worth by factors of ten times or more. That really is.”
But how do you improve on your marketing to unlock this unfair advantage in your business?
Again, according to Jay Abraham, the answer is pretty simple;
“First thing you do is you do an internal marketing audit and inventory. You identify all the marketing activities, processes, and elements going on and then you start looking at the best performing ways to improve upon it. How do you find them?
There are three approaches:
  • Look within your organization and see who else does what you want to do better. Model, codify and replicate the highest performing people in your company doing various selling or marketing processes. And get everyone else in the organization to start applying it or adding its best elements to their previous method.
  • Go outside your company. Look at other enterprises in the same field outside your market (or even in your market) that have better ways of marketing, of selling, of lead generating, of conversion, of re-selling and of up-selling¾and borrow their success processes.
  • Go outside your industry, to related industries, and look at their best practices. Look at the spectrum of opportunities out there that other people have found, uncovered, discovered, refined and are using each and every day with massive success¾to either identify prospects, sell direct, run ads that pull great response, make better sales presentations, get appointments, or attract people to trade shows.
Then borrow, adapt, adopt, and directly funnel and apply those processes and approaches to your business and start doing this exercise as a regular on-going process in which you measure, monitor, analyze, quantify and figure out how many different things you can add to your current success approach by either adding new additional elements or replacing the underperforming ones that are not justifying their time, their effort, their opportunity cost or their existence.”

2). Strategy

Marketing without strategy, according to small business guru, John Jantsch of Duct Tape marketing, is the noise before failure.
Here’s how Jay Abraham defined it;
“Strategy is the master purpose your business is all about. It’s different than your business model. Strategy is literally the explanation of the entire operating approach your business is following and why and how every element of it integrates, advances and deploys the big picture outcome that you’re after.”

But how do you improve on your strategy to unlock this unfair advantage in your business?
Jay Abraham identified 3 key steps you need to take;
“1.) The first thing is by understanding that you do have strategy you are currently following even if it’s a reactive one. You’ve got to adopt, first and foremost, a proactive long-term strategy.
2.) You’ve got to figure out what it is you’re trying to do, accomplish, build and sustain with your business.
3.) You’ve got to figure what big operating approach will get you the greatest outcome you want in the fastest period of time on the most sustaining and enduring basis. Once you figure that out then you’ve got to think through your tactics.
These are the actions or vehicles that help deliver the strategic result you’re after. What actions, what activities, what concepts, what approaches will deploy your “big picture” strategy best. Meaning what are the best moves and maneuvers to achieve the big outcome you are after.”
For more tips on strategic marketing, read this unusual article; The Idiot’s Guide To Strategic Marketing.

3). Capital

I’m sure the first thing that came into your mind as soon as you saw capital was money, right? Well you are half right, but that’s not the only capital we are referring to here.
According to Jay Abraham; capital also includes your human capital, your intellectual capital, and yes, your financial capital.
  • Human Capital:
These are basically the people working for you. If you can get everybody performing higher you’ve got incredible leverage. How do you do it?
Training.
Every dollar you spend in training will produce 20-200 times return annually in yield. So, do you train your people? If so how often or frequently?
  • Intellectual Capital:
This is one of the hardest things for any competition to copy in business. It refers to the sum of all the knowledge, skill, talent and experiences of all the people in your company. So what do you all have between your ears?
  • Financial Capital:
Are you questioning the yield you’re getting on the money you’re spending¾on the people you’re paying (both staff or contract services), on your marketing expenditures, inventory and technical services? It all ties in.
It’s your responsibility to question the capital expenditures you’re making and the ROI (Return on Investment), the ROE (Return on Effort), the ROP (Return on People), the ROA (Return on Activity), and the ROO (Return on Opportunity).

4). Business model

The business model is different from strategy. It’s basically the means you’re using to affect or achieve your strategy. It’s different than tactics. The model is the whole integrated approach.
The business model you follow can make all the difference in your profitability and there’s enormous leverage here because you can change one element and it could change everything.
Here’s an example by Jay Abraham;
“Let’s say that your business, basically, is a one-shot business. And your business model is you advertise or direct mail market to get leads. You convert them to a one-time sale. You do nothing else with them after they buy or even if they didn’t buy and that’s your business model.
Well, if you added one more dimension to it, after the people that didn’t buy from you and you figured out how to do something else with them for other products and services that are complementary to the need they came to you originally to help them solve or fill. And for the people that do buy, you figure out how to sell them other people’s products or services afterwards. You’ve just added two new dimensions, elements, or layers to your business model and that simple shift in thinking could triple or quadruple your profit.”

5). Relationships

As an entrepreneur, time spent developing your professional network is a huge opportunity for potential growth.
According to Jay Abraham, these are the different sources of relationships available to entrepreneurs;
  • Business Relationships: people you met during the course of doing business; clients, suppliers, employees, partners, etc.
  • Professional Relationships: people in the same field as yourself; colleagues,
  • Collegial Relationships: people you attended school with; course mates, school mates, etc.
  • Mastermind Relationships: brilliant minds, mentors, business coaches, fellow entrepreneurs, you brainstorm together.
So what do you do with these relationships?
Jay Abraham says;
“If I were you and I had relationships in any kind of other business in any field of endeavor, I’d tap into it regularly. Anybody who, knowingly or otherwise, could be a vessel for you to gain greater expanded understanding or hone in on better performing approaches, strategies, etc., I would first and foremost start picking their minds.
I’d ask them questions. I’d tell them your problems. I’d tell them your goals. I’d ask them questions of whatever their area of skill was, what the highest performing thing they did to accept or solve the issue or objective you’re intent in learning about, what was the secret to be successful at it, what they saw, find out what their company or their employer or their industry did best that you don’t do well and learn how to improve from the discussion.
I’d ask them a myriad of questions that would expand my knowledge base proficiency and perspective. I’d write them down. I would record them. I’d add it all to my current operating system. I would keep borrowing the success processes I learned from these activities, from all kinds of different people I know, and apply them to my business opportunities or challenges.”

 

6). Distribution channels

These are the various means through which your products/services get into the hands of your target customers.
According to Jay Abraham;
“You have a number of unrecognized distribution channels you don’t fully maximize and there’s enormous leverage in them. For example, let’s say that you distribute your product through five hundred retailers. Well, that is a distribution outlet for all kinds of other products.”
By spending more time to maximize the value of your distribution channels, you open up your business for more growth. For example, if you are a retailer with a physical outlet and you decide to take your business online through eCommerce, your capacity to sell to more customers will be significantly maximized.
There are basically two ways of leveraging your distribution channels;
  • Increase your distribution channels: this is quite obvious, just like the example above. If you have only one distribution channel, adding more will increase your company’s capacity to grow.
  • Offer more products through your existing distribution channels: this is less obvious, and if well executed can increase your company’s growth potential with less investment on your part. Here’s a fantastic case study from Jay Abraham;
“We had a company that had two products in the athletic clothing field. They were doing about $2 million and making half a million in profit. They came to me because their products were starting to slow down. They wanted me to give them a breakthrough idea. I looked at their business and I saw that their real assets weren’t their two products. They had accounts with 5,000 retailers. Amongst them all were Nordstrom’s, K-Mart, Target, JC Penney and Parkway and Hosiery.
I showed them that all they had to do was secure the rights to other people’s athletic products then give those people a royalty for their clothes design, start having those products manufactured for my client, put their licensed products through the same distribution pipeline and they’d make ten times as much selling these other products through their distribution channel as they did from their main products. They did it and I was right. They made a fortune.”

7). Products and services

How many other places could you take your existing product, service or combinations or variations of them and apply it to other fields or other regions or buying groups. Or could you license other people to use it?
Could you package it in different ways sizes or combinations? Could you package other people’s things with it? Could you package your products or processes and make that a product or service? How many new products or services could you come out with that are your natural extensions, embellishments, top of the line premium versions, higher performing versions, or stripped down white label versions? Just by adding one or two or five different components you can create an entire new product and penetrate new market niches.

8). System

Every business mechanism can be broken down into its driving processes and sub processes. Once you figure out what the processes driving an activity are, they can be measured, they can be quantified, and they can be vastly improved.
When you figure out how your given processes currently perform, (which is nothing more than a function of analysis, monitoring and measurement), you can then find other people in your organization or other people in your industry or other people doing the same function outside the industry who are doing it much better, faster, easier, safer, more productive, more effective, more profitably. Then simply adopt it to your business.

9). Ideology

If you’re very introspective and you’re anti-social, you’re not going to be able to go and build mastermind groups and pick people’s minds and borrow success processes. If your ideology is: You only like what you like; you’re not going to be able to travel outside your comfort zone and study other people, other business philosophies, other mindsets, other ideologies.
You’ve got to figure out what your ideology is, what your belief system is, what your whole value system is and how it either helps or hampers your current business activities. Then it needs to either be strengthened and fortified and connected to and or replaced, based on your current business model and your strategy.
You also need to study other people’s ideology to compare how yours is better, different or worse and what elements of other’s you can borrow and add and what elements of yours you could teach to others. When you do that, you’re going to expand your capability and your sense of what’s possible.

Conclusion

The entrepreneurial advantage is time freedom and the key to unlocking it is focusing on building rather than doing business. We’ve identified 9 key drivers of business according to Jay Abraham that can help you fully maximize the entrepreneurial advantage of time freedom at your disposal.
- See more at: http://www.naijapreneur.com/entrepreneurial-advantage/#sthash.W92w9M5w.dpuf

Share. 


I am very concerned with major political trends and of the view that politics is dynamic; its element and strategy are in constant change driving by the everyday trends in the community. I once occupied a post in the university and was amazed at the way common student feel they automatically become blown POLITICIANS after winning an election. After emerging as the Social Director of my faculty, I was caught in the dilemma of whether i was occupying a Political position or a Managerial position; But i honestly felt i was occupy a management post and not a politician.
It is important to know that the strategy employed in contesting and winning elections will qualify you to be a politician. But after winning election, you automatically become a manager in the affairs of the people you lead. i.e a manager constantly employing political strategies. The question is; Is it good to employ politics in managing the affairs of the people or is it proper play politics in management position?

Why do politicians feel a need to listen to ordinary people only when elections are coming?

As politicians, managers are called upon to bring together parties with different (and often competing) agendas, and to demonstrate the experience, capabilities, and qualities necessary to solve problems and make decisions in a timely fashion. As politicians, managers must be keenly aware of the human and organizational aspects of conflict – along with techniques to resolve it – while successfully balancing individual, group, and organization-wide goals and priorities.

the term “good politician” is not necessarily an oxymoron. Through hard work, good managers can be good politicians and good politicians can be good managers. Politicians wishing to be seen as good managers of their country’s affairs should take a few pointers from good chief executives or from what it takes to be a good chief or other senior executive in a thriving corporation.

First, to get elected, political leaders must articulate a clear and compelling platform. Who can argue that a credible vision conveyed in a convincing manner would not be good for any party and its leaders?

Second, the political candidate and party must spend an inordinate amount of time getting the message across. The most effective managers communicate to ensure commitment throughout the organisation.

Third, once elected, politicians and their parties must display the ability to negotiate with other politicians who have their own interests. Only through effective alliances, diligent persuasion, and strategic compromise can one be a successful politician.

These attributes can be seen as aspects of a single, essential characteristic: the ability to see things from another’s point of view and take varying viewpoints into account. People who can’t visualise legitimate outlooks different from theirs will have little success in changing those outlooks.

By studying the varying motives and interests in their communities, working diligently to accommodate those interests, and campaigning convincingly for a just cause when compromise is impossible, politicians can engage in constructive management behaviour. Thus good politicians can be good managers.

We must tell our politicians campaigning for our votes that we need managers more than we need politicians these days. Like good company managers, good politicians provide the injection of new ideas and prevent stagnation, while public servants ensure a sober second thought before new ideas are implemented. A working political system needs both of these seemingly contradictory characteristics: enough change to prevent entropy and enough stability to prevent system overload.

Politicians must take a clear leadership role in policy setting and stay out of administration and management; administrators must comply with the directions of politicians and not stray into the political process. Politicians and staff members must respect one another and understand their differing roles.

Like company managers and chief executives, today’s politicians are vastly different from those who reigned 20 years ago. Politicians now need a host of new skills to deal with a world ruled by empowerment, increasingly stringent corporate governance rules, globalisation, and fast-paced technological innovation.

Our politicians must possess leadership and team-building qualities; must have a performance-driven personality; have good judgment anchored by prudent risk-taking; financial acumen; an international and global perspective; an external focus; credibility; have communication skills, values, and the ability to deal with change; an eye on tomorrow, a strong bottom-line orientation and a successful track record of results.

Politicians who possess these qualities act boldly, with courage, tenacity, and persistence, but are objective enough to realise when a cause is lost. Today’s political leaders must have a global perspective combined with significant international market experience and must be sensitive to social, political, and environmental factors. They must have credibility inside and outside, along with the stature and personality to deal effectively with key constituencies.

It is vital for a chief executive to possess a solid record of ethical behaviour, integrity, candour, and sensitivity to people. This must combine with a positive, but aggressive, attitude that will not tolerate corruption. This is true too of politicians.

Lastly, like company executives, politicians must be able to deal with change, and cope with adversity as his or her party undergoes structural change. It is virtually impossible for our political leaders to possess all these qualities in perfect proportion. After all, they are only human. Nonetheless, political leaders who have a satisfactory balance of these diverse traits will be the ones to best manage our country in this century and beyond.a
source: Liza van Wyk

Now think politics in Lagos, Nigeria between the two candidates AGBAJE AND AMBODE; decide who you want to vote for.

NB: SENTIMENTS AND PARTY APART
Powered by Blogger.

Contact Us

Name

Email *

Message *

Popular Posts

join

Meet The Author

;Proudly social I am a New School; A young budding creative and innovative business developer, social entrepreneur and free lance blogger. Co-owner RIcci's, co founder Finofund.com; Belief the unbelievable, as your level of success is determined by your ability to belief in what common people perceive as unbelievable" "The word impossible comes from the word possible which reads ' I'm possible '

author

Blog Archive

Facebook

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Comments

Random Posts

Popular

Ads

Flickr

NOW TRENDING

Popular Posts