World cup Schedule

Courtesy of A Nairobian’s Perspective ! find attached a schedule of the 2010 world cup with the exact kenyan timings.

Passion =Interpreneurship =Success

I came across an interesting article on the Sunday Standard which is one good example of how passion,hobbies and interests if pursued with the intent of offering value can develop into successful businesses that help one to put food on the table.The story by Gertrude Mungai,eve weekly ‘Between the Sheets’ columnist of how she started giving talks to married  women on romance,love and sex  illustrates the essence of finding something you love doing,something that one enjoys doing even for free ,creating value and monetizing it.To Gertrude whatever she had learnt from her Taita culture,translated into a fully fledged business in which she gets to make money doing what she loves,at a minimal cost and from the article one can tell that she is making some good cash from her Taita culture.

An article on likechapaa titled ‘Do you have to work Hard?’ had this to say about Passion:

‘Passion kind of ties everything up together and makes you focus. If you aren’t passionate about what you do, you will not be very successful at it. When times get really tough, passion is what makes you able to persevere.’

My call to you is that you indulge in the quest for determining what you love doing most,if it means trying a few interests or hobbies,so be it.Try and see if you can offer value to other people around you through doing what you love most.

Published Draft Constitution

Find attached the recently published draft constitution,read it and make an informed choice.

Book Review :Get Rich Quicker

Book Review: How you can Get Rich Quicker by M.R. KOPMEYER

As I stumbled on the book ‘How you can Get Rich Quicker by M.R. KOPMEYER’ at my local book library, The Book Villa, I thought it must be another get rich quick scheme crafted by a hungry author out to make a quick buck. Upon reading the book page by page I came to the conclusion that no book is perfect more so financial and personal development books, not everything will apply to our daily lives bearing in mind that we live in totally different environments but the most important thing is trying to get the one thing that if you can implement in your life will make a difference. Back to How You Can Get Rich Quicker, the book provides tips on the expected mindset required to achieve success which would translate into getting rich. Below are some of the ideas or points I noted that could be of interest or help to one’s pursuit of success or financial independence journey.

Give people more of what they want, less of what they don’t want.

A good example that comes to mind is the success story behind companies like EQUITY, the strategy of targeting the poor.

Find out what people will want in the future and produce it for them.

Good example of this would be the Apple Ipad gadget. With the extensive use of notebooks and smart-phones ,Apple must have realized the need of coming up with a gadget that bridges the gap between a user who would want the mobility of a smart-phone like the Iphone while maintaining the applications and functionality of a notebook.

You first have to give other people what they want or help them get it before you can expect them to give you what you want.

Could this be the reason why so many organizations, institutions and even individuals engage in corporate social responsibility nowadays?

Acquire and develop the trait of making yourself do the things you should do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.

Most of us are affected when it comes to procrastination; we just find it hard to do the things we ought to do for various valid or reasons. Being disciplined to do what is expected of us is one of the traits that lead to success and achieving of the big financial goals we make.

You earn more by deserving more, you deserve more by being more useful, the more useful you are the more successful you will be.

A good example would be the organizations and companies that we have worked in where there is always that one person who is good at what he or she does, the person who goes the extra mile in helping the company save on costs, increase its profits by coming up with brilliant ideas. The same person also always rises up fast, being considered for promotions and thus in the long run earning and deserving more money. The only way of becoming more useful and earning more money is being an expert in an area, highly skilled and finding a way of using your skills in helping other people achieve their goals. Be an expert at something.

Create profitable ideas by discovering something that has never existed, inventing something or modifying something which already exists.

The creator of Facebook being the best example of how you can get rich by modifying what exists. Creative ideas are based on reducing costs, saving money, increasing sales, increasing productivity, increasing profits and improving relationships.

Other tips noted on the book are listed below.

• Make yourself indispensable, be a constant source of ideas for profitable improvements.

• Have a high degree of interest in your work, which should become a magnificent obsession.

• As you plan and dream big, one will always encounter obstacles and handicaps which act as our own challenges and there arises a need to overcompensate, to do better, much better and with fierce determination and unstoppable persistence that success is always inevitable.

• Ask, believe and give thanks in advance as though you are receiving it or already have received what you want. The principle behind ‘The Secret’.

• You must constantly improve and do better at what you do, since unless you increasingly do it better you will be asked to do it again.

• You must first take the first step and start implementing your goals and dreams while not regretfully looking backward at past failures.

• Write a plan/list of what you are going to achieve every day, crossing out any activity not specifically directed towards your improvement and your progress towards your goals.

• Doing actually generates the power to do, begin and the work will get completed. If you intensely want to do something and confidently begin it, you will receive all the power necessary to do it as you move on.

• Be a problem-solver, stop finding fault and find a solution. Learn to solve your problems and other people’s problems, be a spirit lifter.

• Law of increasing abundance: Be thankful for everything and in return you will receive in increasing abundance.

• As a leader devote yourself to making the dreams of others come true.

• Do not be too quick in saying yes or too slow in saying no.

• A business succeeds or fails based on its competitive rate of improvement.

What is your take on this, if you were the author of the book what is the one principle that you live by that would accelerate the rate of achieving success or financial independence?

How Business is done

Something I came across that was inspirational and i thought i might share with everyone,credits to the url below at the end of the post where i got the content.

Father: I want you to marry a girl of my choice

Son: “I will choose my own bride!”
Father: “But the girl is Bill Gates’s daughter.”
Son: “Well, in that case…ok”

Next Father approaches Bill Gates.
Father: “I have a husband for your daughter.”
Bill Gates: “But my daughter is too young to marry!”
Father: “But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank.”
Bill Gates: “Ah, in that case…ok”

Finally Father goes to see the president of the World Bank.
Father: “I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president.”
President: “But I already have more vice- presidents than I need!”
Father: “But this young man is Bill Gates’s son-in-law.”
President: “Ah, in that case…ok”

This is how business is done!!
Moral: Even If you have nothing, You can get Anything. But your attitude should be positive

http://nitinkblog.blogspot.com/

Census:My Experience

I had been patiently waiting for the enumerators to knock on my door since the census process started and was almost giving up, when I heard a knock on my door and a young energetic lady requested to count me. While sharing my experience, I noted that it would have been far much better if the enumerator had been prepared adequately on the importance of asking a variety of questions. For example, I was totally baffled by being asked the type of material used for my ceiling. Can someone please explain to me why such a question? Based on some of the questions asked, I think I need to get a Tuktuk and a boat; some of the things they were interested in knowing if I had but were not in my possession.

Speaking to the enumerator I was enlightened on a number of challenges they were facing. As an example, while some enumerators got the privilege to be allocated areas in which they reside, others were not very lucky thereby incurring various costs that limit their ability to save owing to the limited allowances allocated for the exercise.

The compensation provided for conducting this tedious work is fair; around KES 25,0000.00 (around 320 US Dollars) for the period between 24th August 2009 and 31st August 2009. The enumerator attested that the whole experience was getting a good response from majority of Kenyans interviewed with few cases of hostilities and a number of Kenyans questioning the importance or relevance of a number of the questions asked. Based on my experience I had the following suggestions:

• The enumerators should have a good understanding of the whole census process and the relevancy of the questions they ask.

• From the viewpoint of a Kenyan who appreciates application of technology in our day-to-day lives, it would have been interesting to have a census website where you can post your queries, maybe a Facebook census group, a twitter account where supervisors can track the pace at which the enumerators are conducting the exercise. Basically, use of technology in making the census an easy and effective process that is accountable.

• The identification of structures and house numbers is not effective since the use of chalk to write on the wall or on the door will not last especially for a whole month.

• It is my sincere hope that in recruiting the enumerators, the unemployed youth were considered.

• It would have been a great opportunity to get feedback on distribution of resources and government policies, maybe a short structured questionnaire would have been adequate where Kenyans could write down what they feel about a number of issues.

What was your census experience? Please do tell us and lets help Kenya in making the process better.

The Place of Public Relations in Entrepreneurship

People vote for the artist not the Painting!

On Wednesday 19th 2009 between 1800 hrs and 2030 hrs at the New Stanley Hotel, a good number of professionals were seated at a hall attentively listening to Mrs. Gin Din Kariuki Managing Director of Gina Din Corporate Communication(GDCC) as she tackled the topic: The place of public relations.

A little bit of some background on Mrs. Gina Din, “who is Mrs. Gina Din Kariuki?”
She is the Managing Director of GDCC and was recently appointed goodwill ambassador of the Kenya Red Cross based on the frequent times she has been involved in mobilizing resources for humanitarian assistance on behalf of the Kenyan Red Cross.Mrs. Gina Din is a board member of Ecobank Kenya Ltd and member of the East African Council on Superbrands. She has spearheaded GDCC to a level that has seen the company consecutively win the prestigious public relations consulting firm ward for a number of years.

GDCC has been at the forefront and has set the pace in Kenya as regards public relations which can be attested to the high profile clients that the company has handled, for example handling the crisis communication management of the Kenya Airways Doula crash. You would thus agree that GDCC is an authority as far as public relations in Kenya is concerned.

Mrs. Gina Din had the following tips for companies and individuals in terms of what they should consider as they look at the place of public relations (PR) in their companies and persona lives. On an individual level PR can be equated to personal branding/personal image.

• PR is a win-win situation that involves me, you and the us. It’s a team effort.
• 93% of communication is usually about the tone and body language.
• Reputation is a big element of PR, its about you as a person,the employee or the C.E.O
• Reputation is easily lost and requires hard work to earn and maintain a good reputation.
• At times all is not lost and reputation if tainted can be recovered, slowly,one cannot change the past but you sure can change the future.
• One thing to note is that when experience (delivery of a service or product) doesn’t match the promise (standards and quality) then the reputation declines.

How then do you as an individual or a company safeguard your reputation:

• Build trust
• Commit
• Be transparent
• Provide satisfaction
• Be honest

Reputation of a Chief Executive Officer is without a doubt very crucial in the performance of a company. Clients interacting with the C.E.O. look for an emotional experience based on the following qualities:

• How credible is the chief executive officer?
• Does the chief executive officer inspire employees?
• What is the financial performance of the company?

In addressing issues or challenges that exist within PR departments within organisations Mrs. Gina Din Kariuki emphasized on the need to have PR departments or professionals handling the department be directly under the chief executive officer and not necessarily within the human resource department. What is the place of Public Relations in your department?

The internet has made PR public and we have a new phenomenon known as digital PR that incorporates social media, blogs, online releases.(Gina Din Kariuki is on facebook).In conclusion Gina Din, MD GDCC had the following advice for everyone to implement in their personal lives or at the workplace as we all strive to make Kenya a better place, which forms the action plan for this post, things to you need to do:

Be a brand, a super brand by standing up to the promises you make, be a person who delivers and keeps the promise.

Always remember that you cannot be a butterfly without going through a metamorphosis, it’s never too late to spice up your brand.

Next British Council Leadership forum will host Haco industries Managing Director Mr. Polycarp Igathe,who will talk about career progression on the 16th September between 1830 hrs and 2030 hrs ,so make a point to note this in your diary, do not miss out on a chance to network with professionals from diverse backgrounds.

Tribute to Maruge

Mzee Kimani Maruge,passed away this week after succumbing to colon cancer.The oldest pupil as recorded in the Guiness World Book of Records was an inspiration to many kenyans.Old as he was he had the determination that he would one day be able to read verses from his Bible and thus he went back to school disregarding the norms or expectations of a society that an old man is not fit to go back to class.I believe he is a Kenyan hero,am sure he encouraged many old men and women to go back and further their education and it is my sincere hope that you will remember his family in your prayers.

Get On With It:MindSpeak

My first MindSpeak business club meeting at SilverBird Westgate is worth telling and sharing and I hope it will inspire you. Aly Khan Satchu hosted Mutoko, the queen of radio in a very well attended event where I got a chance to understand ‘Who is Caroline Mutoko?’ In my own words I would say she is a professional who hosts the Kiss fm Morning Breakfast show,someone who loves what she does, loves swimming, passed through Valley Road, from the tone of her voice you could comprehend that her life revolves around what she does like for example sitting down with a notebook and pen in the evening as she watches news to jot down any ideas that she might incorporate for her morning show or the many times she has had to work late into the night to finish on a project.
An interesting thing about Mutoko is the relationship she seems to have with God and her mother, one could tell that she derives a lot of comfort, support and strength from her mother. She values the importance of having a good education and if she was to have her way she would have Kenyans going back to school. The next time you get a chance to meet in person you might just have to call her Dr Mutoko, the lady has got ambition of going back for her PhD.
For a lady that has made a great impact in journalism she had a few tips for the youth, to get on with whatever passions they had, to Just Do It in the words of Aly Khan borrowing from Nike and to have the patience required in every career(Doing the time).Its been 9 years of experience in the radio industry for Mutoko and she is looking forward to that day when she could be managing director, at least she is equipped for the task having obtained an MBA in Strategic Management from the University of Nairobi. She laid emphasis on the need to come up with strategic plans in business and life in general, something most Kenyans haven’t mastered and to never shortchange yourself in terms of what you are worth. She knows what she’s worth and she’s going for it. From her perspective the 20′s is a prime age for everyone and the youth should maximize on the energy by living it up in terms of their goals. All in all it was an interesting and interactive session and I would recommend that you attend the next session, details on the dates will be posted on the blog or you can check out Aly Khans website for the full details where you can also listen to a podast of the different sessions that Khan has hosted.

Simu ya Solar

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It’s a Friday,furahi day to be precise and after a busy week you cant wait to end the day and meet with your pals at over a drink, as usual you are dressed to kill, and using the latest and only means of communication nowadays that is facebook you have agreed to meet over at Java-Koinange so as to come up with a consensus as to where the party will be at. Just as you are about to log out for the day, the unexpected happens, a beep tone from your sleek iphone 3GS informs you that your battery power is low. Before you put on the gloomy face that warns your phone ‘you better not pull this stunt on me’ , your phone goes dead. Never being the one to cram your friend’s phone numbers you are left hopelessly thinking of what to do next, it seems your pals will have to spend another merry making night without you, only because you forgot to charge your phone. What to? If this has ever happened to you, am sure you understand the importance of the latest gadget in the mobile market, Simu ya Solar (Solar-Powered phone) launched on Wednesday 12th August by Safaricom in partnership with China’s ZTE Corporation. The first solar powered phone in the region will retail at a price of KES 2999 (39 US Dollars using 1 KES=78 US Dollars) .The product is in response to the current power rationing situation in the country due to falling power generation. The solar powered phone is manufactured from recycled materials and a built in solar panel that charges a phone using the sun’s rays.

Simu ya Solar will prove to be a great resource to the folks in the rural areas who have no access to electricity and have had to walk long distances to nearby shopping centers to have their phones charged at a fee. We are living at a time when there is great need to look at renewable sources of sources of energy and various products in the market are trying to satisfy this need. Suntrica, a Finnish company has developed solar-powered charges that can be used with mobile phones, digital cameras and mp3 players.
Have you ever considered the option of solar power or solar energy as an alternative source of energy for your home? Maybe it’s high time you got to know more about solar power, it just might save you a dime!