Month: January 2012

Where is the money in 2012?

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Back again, this time with weekly updates as usual. Thanks to those that inspired me to stop being lazy and get writing

So, the whispers of a recession are getting louder in the media and Tesco’s announcement that they lost business over the festive period hasn’t been helpful at all. But Aldi and Lidl made profits!, surely not. Well, according to Kenneth it’s only Tesco that didn’t make money in December even Sainsbury’s made money. Why?, well it’s all about clarity of message to the customer, Sainsbury’s are not shy about their prices being a little higher than the rest, they justify it by suggesting that their food is of the highest quality and as such customer are comfortable paying more. Lidl and Aldi on the other hand are also very clear about their offer to customers, low prices and unfamiliar brands. So at these supermarkets there is no confusion for customers, they know exactly what they will get for their money and they problem for Tesco is simple. What do they stand for? Not price because Asda wins that hands down, not quality because Sainsbury’s wins that battle as well. To sum it all up for the first time many customers had no reason to go to Tesco, those with a little extra money went for better quality at Sainsbury’s while those with less money went for quantity at Aldi and Lidl.

Going back to the topic, where is the money in 2012?, I think it will all be about cash, those with cash and other moveable assets will make the most gains this year. Cash or liquidity will give entrepreneurs opportunities to react first and fast. Investing in immovable assets does nothing except tie up your cash and opportunities that come from being liquid. Houses are cheap for a reason at the moment, they are hard to dispose of when you need cash and the low prices are a sign of desperate people trying liquidate their assets.

Movable assets like cash are more useful in a recession because, as you all know, money is good anyway in the worlds so if the economy in the UK continues to shrink you can take your money elsewhere and grow it there. I am developing model for farming without the limitations of owning a farm based on this same understanding. If I can move my farming technology or machinery at a moment’s notice I can get away from drought regions to where the rain is every season. Obviously having movable farming infrastructure will need ready cash and farms available to rent, which shouldn’t be a problem based on observations from my last visit to Zimbabwe. Land redistribution gave farms to people with cash problems, the can’t farm with no cash, Windmill is only selling fertilizer on cash basis and so are the seed companies. Cash is king in these situations.

So, remember to keep you cash ready for use, trade is fast turn around high yield commodities like gold, diamonds, grain and production inputs but only on cash basis because with the current low interest rates financing is not paying much and it ties up your liquidity!

Arsenal plays United following two away defeats, I feel a win coming!! Have a great weekend!!

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Welcome to 2012

Taura Khuluma Say it!!1 Comment

Well, we made it! 2012 here we come with all the supersticious nonsense surrounding it, some say it will be the end of the world, some say it won’t but I say this is my year, evolution of the man!

So I went on a quick jaunt to the motherland for christmas, first ever christmas in africa for 11 years and boy did it live up to my wildest imagination. Zimbabwe is on the up!, I hadn’t been home for 6 years and I had resigned to not going if things were as bad as they got in 2009 but many friends were coming back with rave reviews about Zim and Harare in particular so with little trepidation I set off home. A quick stop in Kenya was not a good advert for African  customer service but I was impressed by the goings on at Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan Airways have called themselve the pride of Africa and I agree with them. Arriving at 0610 in the morning were hundreds of us all connecting to several regional destionations and the stewardess recited no fewer than 13 conecting flights feeding off that one flight we were on, and all departing within 2 hours. That showed me African airlines can do something that seems to have eluded Air Zimbabwe for decades, why are we even flying other countries’ airlines when our national airline has a departing slot from England? surely it is not because there is no business because the Kenyan flight to Harare was full of people coming from London!, But that is a story for another day

Back to Harare, the vegetation was green for a change, air was clean, there was a breeze unlike the stiffling humid stillness at JKA. There was a certain vibrance in the people that was distinctly lacking from my previous visits when people were grappling with the ever changing prices and exchange rates. The US dollar was a both an economic and political master stroke for those that championed dollarisation, because it brought back life into the economy. I noticed cans of coke were being made in Harare and not somewhere in South Africa, shops were full with anything you could wish for, I felt prices were a little too experience for an African economy but people seem comfortable with them so why worry? at least for now!. I remembered Cornelius coming back and inboxing me about the cars in Harare, wow, if it’s not there it’s not worth buying because you name it there have it, including a Jaguar dealership and the new VW truck, which I haven’t yet seen in the UK, they have it there, loads of them! I remember remarking to Tate about the calibre of people driving big ticket cars, it doesn’t matter anymore because a person’s outward presentation has no bearing on the car they drive, gardner looking dudes are rolling in benzez and bimmers in H-Town!

But some things never change, I went to the passport office to get a new passport and it seems the vibrance that has gripped everyone and everything else in Zimbabwe hasn’t found it’s way to the workers in the passport offices. Customer service is not a term or practice they have heard off but more on that later.

For now, welcome back to the blog, thanks for the time you have taken to read my rumblings and here is to a special 2012!!!!