Zimbabwe

Thin lines and tight margins!

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It’s been a while since I wrote a piece for the blog and a lot has happened, frustrations, delight and sheer awe at the goings on in my day to day existence. I am also getting normalised or should that re-naturalised, so I am a little more patient and sometimes accepting to the stuff that drove me crazy in my first few weeks.

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I attended a child protection course and a university presentation in the last couple weeks ago both of which brief for moment it gave me a glimpse of what learning and training might be like in the Zimbabwean context. Without painting everyone with the same ugly brush, I would like to say that my experience with the learning environment has left me both shocked and sad at the state of environment in which the country is producing its workforce. On one hand the child protection trainer was well informed of his craft, policies and what not but he couldn’t teach it, we spent 2 hours listening and left without really being equipped with the “what is child abuse and what to do in the event of witnessing child abuse”. He was uncoordinated and lacked a road map of where the training started, what he needed to teach and where it ended.

Then, there was an in event at a local university and for the uninformed, Zimbabwe now has 16 universities! What I took out of the event is that in this part of the world observing protocol is everything even if it means repeating the honoured guests list 5 times at one event! It was tedious and boring after 2 rounds but to seat through 5 recitals of the list was too much especially for an event that was only two and half hours long. But, I learned something, if you don’t want to repeat honoured guest list in its entirety all you say is “All protocols observed”, so why we sat through the other stuff I don’t know. It’s not as if any new honoured guests were added to the list! But beyond that, the event again lacked simple preparedness, coordination and a sense of occasion, which was the point of it all.

I accept that I am quite sheltered in terms of experiencing the daily realities of living on meagre wages and general hardships that the common man and woman here go through but I had a “this is Africa moment” last week. I decided to explore the other side of the city on foot and encountered a market, now before you judge me let me finish! I have been to markets in other parts of Africa and in that hustle and bustle of the people’s market there is an experience that is uniquely Africa. PriceS of veggies goes from $1-3.00 in the shop to 30c – 70c and there are 10 to 15 traders seating next to each other selling exactly the same things and the same price. The products are primarily vegetables, clothes, cheap knock offs of sports shoes and even cheaper knock offs of leading electronics brands. But it was the atmosphere and the fading hope on the traders faces as I walked past each stall that stuck with me. My business brain quickly worked out that prices were so low because of hyper competition but could textbook strategy work here? What else would they traders do? The margins maybe as little as nothing but at least they have somewhere to go in the morning.

Today I visited a boarding school that benefits from my NGO’s support and found something that I remembered from the child protection training, Girls should not be beaten as punishment as school! I am sure there are many girls reading this who will remember being beaten and I saw it happening today! The irony of it all was that I was being shown around by a staff member who attended the child protection training I mentioned earlier and he didn’t notice it! The teacher was smacking the girls on their cheeks! Face cheeks! And in another corner were two boys who were missing lunch because their shoes had no laces! Which made me think, where does punishment and abuse become blurred lines? The lines are very thin….

This can’t be happening!!!

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Another week and loads more experiences to talk about!

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So this week I won’t complain about AirZim, even though it was the same old apologies routine from them. Unfortunately for me, I left my travel arrangements for the last minute and couldn’t get a seat from Harare to BYO so I booked myself onto Pathfinder. I have used it before and it went well so it wasn’t a terrible alternative to have. Well everything went as well as usual until 60kms from the destination. The bus ground to a halt and the attendant announced that there was a fault and the driver has gone to get a mechanic to get it fixed. Zimbabweans are a very patient bunch so we all waited waited without complaining and those that couldn’t wait got off the bus and jumped onto whatever stopped for them. I couldn’t bare the annoyance after the an hour and half so I asked for a number to call and rang everyone and their uncle at Pathfinder only to be told that the fault would be fixed in 20-30 minutes so we should wait! Never mind about a contingency plan should the mechanic fail to fix the fault. 2 hours later the driver comes back, pours diesel into the bus and off we went. Hang on!, did the bus just run out of diesel? Imagine that, the premier bus company in Zimbabwe which does 2 trips 2 times a day, everyday of the year and their bus runs out of diesel!!! How does that happen, Pathfinder?

And the big event of the week was some personal possessions of mine have finally arrived from England after sailing dates were cancelled, chopped and changed! They arrived in Namibia so my driver went to fetch my van laden with the said possessions and drove it to Plumtree. I had to meet him there so I could clear it and boy was it an education!!. The day was long, stressful and could have been expensive! Well it was expensive but could have been much worse. The first lesson was you need a good driver first of all, one who is well known at the border otherwise it could be 2-3 days there. Secondly, unlike what I had been told, claiming returning residency is not easy at all. You must prove all manner of things before they accept it so it’s not an option. Thirdly they don’t care what you say your vehicle is worth, it depends on what they find on Autotrader at that point that remotely resembles your car and is more expensive. The final lesson is even if you have been given the last stamp to get out, you can still be searched and be asked to pay more! You will need a lot of patience because you wait for everything and everyone! And you won’t make it anywhere without paying a bribe. Sometimes it’s the only way out and thank you to the officers at the border who took bribes from me, it was worth it!!! Yes, it does happen!

Lastly, some work related goings on. I have spent all week meeting people with potential projects for me to consider for funding and there is a death of meeting etiquette in this place. People don’t take serious shit seriously, I have grown tired of under dressed, under prepared and downright uninspiring people coming into share their dreams with me. The great shame is that some of the projects have a lot of potential. So I have been teaching people how to present themselves, their ideas and to think 360 degrees about the impact of their projects. Now, where else in the world would the person with the money tell them person who wants the money how to get the money? I want to help my kin folk but come on! Who do we blame though, for grossly under prepared graduates leaving university with degrees but little to offer the world? Is the government, the lecturers or the students? Why is this happening?

But it’s not all doom though, I have been compiling a catalogue so business opportunities for some of your to consider, I am just working on an investment vehicle that will manage the venture on behalf of investors. And, no! I don’t want to steal anyone’s money! You can keep your money if you don’t trust the scheme but there are areas in which a little investment and long term thinking can bring good returns to investors. We are capable of building businesses that are ethical and founded on trust. If you are into get rich quick, this won’t be for you.

This is Africa!

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It’s been a month!, some times it has felt like a whole year and other times I have been left trying to catch my breath at being here. And on many occasions I have been told “chill out Taf, this is Africa!”. It’s funny how much of the africaness of Africa I had forgotten and the frustrations I have felt trying to change things to my suit my expectation especially with business contacts! So today to mark my one month in Africa I will share with you some “This is Africa” moments I have had so far, I hope I can remember them all!

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I suppose nothing about being in Africa screams it out as loud as remnants of colonialism and I stepped right back to Cecil J Rhodes’ days when I stopped at the Bulawayo Club. The nastiness of colonialism ain’t there any more, at least not visibly so. Just walking into the place made me go “WOW”, the wood panelled walls and resistance to modern norms was just amazing to see but the most peculiar thing about the Bulawayo Club is not the 1800s feel of the place but the fact that until 8 months ago women were not allowed in the bar! All women had to sit on the chairs outside the bar while their men drank from inside. Now if your history on Cecil J Rhodes is sound you might be able to understand why women weren’t allowed in a bar where gentlemen enjoyed each others company. That’s just my own conclusion! As of now women can enter the bar but must abide by a strict dress code, most of which sounds to me like no feminine sexuality allowed, still.

Because of business commitments in both Bulawayo and Harare I have done a fair bit of commuting on Air Zimbabwe between the cities. First of all, well done to AirZim for recognising that charging what people can afford puts bums on seats! Ever since the airline introduced the $61 one way ticket, flying is now a real option for many people. But, a big but! It is not OK to operate on the pretext that you can always apologise for being unprepared or under prepared? On every occasion that I have used the airline, 6 times in 30 days, they apologise for being late! How about making it an objective of everyone on a shift that you do everything possible so that you do not apologise for being let yet again. It is not OK to say sorry, not if you say it all the time!. There is an apologist mentality that allows for inadequate performance which must stop, SHAPE UP and do things right!

My imprisonment at the Holiday Inn came to an end a week ago, I was desperate to leave, nearly 4 weeks in hotels is no fun for anybody not least me with all my habits! I like what I like and after a week I had figure out I didnt like the long corridors of the hotel or the lack of choice in food, buffet every night is just laziness on the part of the chef or chefs! And at $26 at a time it’s daylight robbery. But its not just the Holiday Inn where things are inexplicably expensive, its everywhere! Now at the risk of sounding far removed from everyone’s reality here, beware, it’s my reality. Remember, I like what I like, so I went into a supermarket with a list of stuff to buy so I could make something to eat and this is what I found – 500G Mushrooms – $5.00, 500G Cucumber – $4.00, 12 Eggs – $2.50, 500G Butter – $6.50 (imported $12.00), 125G Cheese $3.55 and a non stick pan to make it all in $42.00. That has got to be the most expensive omelette you an make! Oh and the Plastic spatula to turn the omelette with $6.95! I have left a whole bunch of other stuff that added to my $195 trip to TM on my first day in my flat. Now I know regular families will not buy what I bought but still in a country where the average wage is $300, I am amazed the supermarkets sell anything at all. Even the less luxurious stuff is expensive but should it be?

Somewhere on this blog I once complained about timekeeping but that was just me on flying visits here. I have had to learn to tell time the Zimbabwean way. 3 minutes here is not three minutes at all whether it is social or business. 3 minutes ranges from 15 minutes to whatever minutes and even then you will still have to remind your appointment that you have been waiting for them since they said 3 minutes but it’s now 45 minutes. And, the will still say ” I am 3 minutes away!” When I make an issue about time, all I get is ” T.I.A – This is Africa”. But why do we accept it?

My last T.I.A moment was when I went to get satellite TV from DSTv. Forget phoning your provider, agreeing an installation time, they turn up with everything and when they leave you are connected. So I walk into their office and they sell me the set top box and they take my money for it but then tell me that for the subscription I must go to one of 7 banks and make a deposit then bring the deposit slip back to the office so that they could activate me. What about installation? “Well” say the least helpful front person ever “here is a list of 3rd party electricians that can do that for you if you have a satellite dish, if you don’t have a dish you should ask if the electiricans have dishes! But I have already paid for this other stuff and I am connected! The lady says “Well sir that’s how we do things here!” and I say “Fuck off this is rubbish, you are lucky no one can afford to give you competition otherwise you would be out of business!” I am the politest person in the world but they had pushed me too far. What did I pay for? I walked out dreading that I would not be able to watch the TV channels I had paid for but luckily I had a dish connected and didn’t need the engineers. But why do we put up with it?

Because this is Africa and I should stop trying to change this world because I will have a cardiac like the dear old English lady who has adopted me keeps telling me!

Maybe I am being naive!

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Over the last two weeks I have encountered different types of services, private and public and on all occasions I have been left wondering, “what is the reason behind this never ending relationship between customer service and the ball point pen in Zimbabwe?”. In almost all instances there is always a computer at every service desk! Sometimes both the pen and the computer are used to record the same event, meaning I have to wait twice as long to be served without any real improvement to my experience of that service.

Am I expecting too much, does anyone else not see that, for time and age that we are living in at this very moment, we are not equipped to be effective and efficient? One colleague reminded me that my problem is I have diaspora expectations, I should accept that things are different here but what is the real difficult in producing customer service provisions that exceed current levels? Surely it is not because investing in information technology is expensive, the technology is already there!. Could it be a lack of training or is it management myopia holding back the development of better service provision quality?

Here are two examples of why I am complaining, at my previous hotel, I had some dirty laundry washed, my details and the list of items to be washed where added onto my room information on the hotel’s computer system, later as I came to collect laundry I was asked to pay cash, even though this was midway through my stay, I produced the money to pay. Payment details were added onto my room information and a receipt book with ball point pen attached was produced to duplicate the very same information for which I was given a copy but only after a 20 minute wait. Upon checking out I was given a 4 page folio copy printed by the system detailing every single thing I had done that week including the laundry business! why do I need it again or why did I have to wait for all that 20 minutes in the first instance when I could have just got the information on checking out?!

The same goes to my mobile phone provider who made me wait in three queues to be saved at 3 desks in order to change my micro sim to a nano sim! on all three occasions I was asked to repeat the same information for which three different colour hand written receipts were produced while the information was simultaneously added onto the information technology system! After 45 minutes waiting for this elaborate process to be completed I got to the payment station and I was told the cashier didn’t have change for $20 so now I had to find that in order to pay! Life is way too short for this BS!

But all is not lost, as I discovered at Harare Airport where I arrived to check in for my flight to Bulawayo, my first with the airline for 14 years!, with nothing but an emailed e-ticket on my iphone. You can forgive the nervous ball of anxiety in my stomach as I got to the check-in desk but the helpful gentleman checked me in with a smile and without asking any further question or even an ID!

Isn’t it a scary world when anything related to AirZim is an example of best practise! Ahh, its supplier of handling services at the airport should get the applause instead, well done to the NHS for not using a ball point pen! (No!, it stands for National Handling Services, not that other NHS!). As for AirZim, we left on time, well 20 minutes late is no reason to complain when the national airline is the service provider on any trip!

I am sure some will have a counter point and an explantion or rationale for all my complaints, maybe I am just being naive but, come on!
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Update from Zimbabwe

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Hello world!

I-Love-Zimbabwe-T-Shirts

My first ever blog as UK returnee, that’s what people like me are called out here. Throw into that my work life and business life, its been an eye opening week. I have drifted into a new world here, I am now into art, culture, development work and value creation. It’s a fascinating departure from teaching global marketing strategy! But I am relishing the prospects of what is in store in both lives. I am getting to grips with working with limited amounts of very expensive internet, pay as you go calls, $2.55 tins of Heinz Baked Beans and $11 for 500g of Kerry Gold butter. The trip to the shops was a proper “shit just got real moment”. Actually that trip explained why nearly all fridges I open here are just water coolers!

But, from a business perspectives the prospects are seemingly unlimited. It’s just a matter of how innovative one is in identifying projects, financing them and planning that could be a limiting factor. Innovative and creative solutions to problems are few here. This market is very short term in its outlook, pricing is unrealistic with every business looking to make as much money as possible today. I feel its unsustainable in the long term especially if a new player enters the market with a different pricing strategy. It will take a shift in culture across all sectors to steer businesses towards a different perspective.

And the politics keeps everyone guessing but I suppose the less said about that the better, there is a lot of guessing to keep everyone entertained without me adding to the rumour mill! We all wait patiently, what other option do we really have? What is more fascinating for me is how politics influences areas that I had never thought could cause discomfort to the political agenda of the day! I have so much to learn here.

As for now I am sitting in a hotel room watching a TV on mute and listening to music as I write. This is going to be the hardest part of the transition, the darkness of the night consumes daylight by 1715 and time drags on slowly until morning. I have 13 channels of nothing I would like to watch and BBC iplayer seems to have been told I moved from England because it now says I am not allowed to watch stuff I have missed! I might need saving from myself soon!

The premiership is back, Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis are lucky to be living in country where the people and regimes are tolerant, if it were a different country someone would have been shot by now. I will have more on everything next week, albeit from a different hotel room!

Can all business ideas work in all markets?

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nofrills

So at the risk of making terrible assumpations as well as branding some ideas as in incompatible with certain markets, cultures and people. I would like to suggest that in my opinion some countries can not run certain busineses in the same way or loosely similar business models as other countries. I mean the people in those countries not the nations as a single entities. I came across these thoughts while discussing a business opportunity within my network in Zimbabwe which led to a focus on low cost, no frills airlines. The leading examples in this market are Ryanair and Jetblue which have shown that the airline industry can still be successful despite nealry all major international airlines issuing profit warnings as we await the publication of financial results for 2012/13.

My stance is based on a recognising that running a successful airline requires  arutheless determination to cut costs at all psssoble opportunities while driving revenue at the same time like Ryanair and Jebtblue. My questions is this,  can we be confident that the Zimbabwean business culture  as it is can hostthis type of business and stick to those requirements enough to deliver a successful business?

Honestly having regularly been at the end of customer service events, business meetings and even banking interactions in Zimbabwe, I have strong reservations that we have that mentality and culture required to run a succesful no frills airline with the same ruthlessness as Michael O’leary at Ryanair, actually not many in Europe can manage either. The issue is not so much the skills and experience to run such as business but I think its a cultural orientation issue in the African context.

But then again I might be wrong.

Any thoughts?

Renewed ambition

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social-entrepreneurship-word-cloud

I know its been a while since I have been on here to write about business and my take on events.

I have been busy trying to become established in ventures back in Zimbabwe. So far so good I have gone into Education, Web based utilities and exporting horticulture produce as a full investor or part owner.

Over that past few weeks I have been thinking about how to take the blog forward as a vehicle for fostering entrepreneurship amongst us all so the blog will take an educational tone in some posts but also continue with the commentary updates as well.

So as a start,  here are some questions for those of you interested in going into business, hopefully by answering these questions you will be able to frame your thoughts and focus your course of action towards achieving your business goals;

To develop a business or a product ask yourself the following questions;

Why do you want to do it?  – The answer should not be to “make money!”

What is the end game?  – what do you aim to achieve in the short term, medium term and long term

Who are the benefactors? – who will your idea benefit and how will they benefit?

Based on understanding the reasons behind the actions or idea you will be able to build a business or products that fulfils your ambitions.

 

Until next post,

 

What’s on for the weekend

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I thought I’d bring back this part of the blog because sometimes talking business can be a little boring and we all need to zone out of that for a moment!

So what’s on this weekend? I am going to the Mukanya’s show, it has been all of 20 years since I last seen the Mukanya live in concert. If you are in England I would recommend the show as well because judging by his

latest live in concert Youtube Videos it looks like it will be a good show.

Formula 1 is also on this weekned but if you are like me and you are support Lewis Hamilton the week promises to be a difficult one again. The last 3 races haven’t gone well at all and Lewis’ private life being in the papers for his alleged transgressions doesn’t help either but he’s led both practice sessions today so maybe it could be a good weekend after all.

New music wise check out Nas’ Life is Good album, Nas is back to illmatic goodness on this baby!!, my stand out tune of the album right now is Daughters. Rick Ross is also close to releasing a new album and the track doing the rounds from that piece is Three Kings with Dr Dre and Jay Z partaking in some chest beating for all their achievements in the rap game. I haven’t really taken to the song as some have but maybe if I put it on repeat this weeken it will grow on me!

Elsewhere, it’s Olympic season in London and if it wasn’t for piles of marking I might have gone down to soak up the atmosphere, it threatens to be a once in a life time event tonight around London. Speaking of the Olympics, I have a bad feeling about Usain Bolt, that dude might ruin his legacy this term coz it don’t seem like he is dialled in physically yet but you never know!.

Remember when Gadhaffi was caught and I wondered why he hadn’t ran away when they caught him. Al Assad needs to start making exit plans coz the tide is rising and when the people ain’t scared to die for a cause anymore then time is up. But I am sure he is still convincing himself that the Syrian people really want him and it’s only foreigners causing problems so he will stick around until we see some big ass soldier putting hands on him live on telly! And we will all ask, why didn’t he run away? They never learn, someone said dictators are power drunk so they can’t see trouble brewing.

May the sun keep shining and your cups keep over flowing, be safe and have fun!!

 

Is it time to change the tune on ownership of strategic resources

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Not a week a passes without someone from Zimbabwe talking about the problems with services being delivered by the electricity company, water company, train operator or the bain of every Zimbabwean in the diaspora, the national airline!. Not since the middle of the 1990s has there been consitent supply of service from any of these government owned companies and some attribute the fall in quality and supply of these utilities to the economic restructuring programme, the referendum and sanctions levelled against the country for a variety of reasons. But, and this is a big but no one seems to label any blame on the government ownership of the these services, why?. Is it because Zimbabweans expect the government to produce and provide the service. It appears not many people have thought about how the government can afford to provide consistent supply of the services given all that has gone on since the mid 1990s.

While there are differing opinions on who should own strategic services such as water, electricity, trains and the national airline, I feel there is need for internal assessment and honesty in all parties that have a vested interest in the consistent supply of these resources, be they government, lay men, businesses or community services providers. There are examples within Zmbabwe that show private ownership of strategic resources can be a good thing, look no further than the health industry and the education industry. Private operators have consistently supplied these services through all the problems and the challenges experienced by the country in the last 16 years. In health and education the government and private enterprise are operating in the same sectors without much friction, while this is a simplistic view of the issues that lie within the daily operations and provision of those serives, I feel there is enugh evidence for me to think that it is time for the government to seriously consider liberalising the provision of water, electricity, trains and aviation.

There is enough wealth within the people of Zimbabwe at home or abroad to bring consistency back to the supply of electricity, water, trains and aviation through expertise and financial resources that seem to elude the government at present. The roadmap to recovery must give freedom to private enterprise, must strive to adopt clean and sustainable technology as well as being affordable to the common man on the street. Achieving affordability will require significant change in the mindset of Zimbabwean business thinkers which will entail adopting a long term view to profitability rather than the current short term gains driven mentality which has led to local milk being more expensive than imported milk. Effectiveness and efficiency should be the sources of profitability rather than supernormal mark ups of 65% on cost which is the norm in Zimbabwe at the moment. The long term approach to profitability will require government support in creating an economic environment that is consistent in decision making, authorisation of permission to operate in the strategic sectors and the transperancy as a business culture.

Change of tune is not only the responsibility of the government, Zimbabweans in general must also change and look amongst themselves to find the solutions to the supply of strategic resources, maybe we should start seeing ourselves as airline operators, train operators and energy suppliers. Impossible is nothing for a determined people

 

Commercializing your talents

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Looking through Twitter this week I got caught up in a discussion about how Zimbabwean hip hop artist and producers are failing to grow consumership in the Zimbawean market or any other market for that matter. The discussion  brought foward several issues that observers felt contributed to the lack of the development in the genre’s quest for recognition and market share. The aim for any artist is to be recognised for their craft and for the craft to be taken seriously but it seems achieving this or knowing how to achieve it is beyond the grasp of the players in the music industry. This is an which goes beyond just the artist because there are record labels  investing in studio time and production of music which does not bring in much revenue.

The question amongst many participants in the Twitter discussion was what can be done to change the market position of hip hop music in the Zimbabwean market and then also package the music so that it can be sold to an international audiance? I think the starting point for everyone concerned with this product is to put themselves in the position of a customers and ask the following questions;

What value do I get from the product?

Why should I choose this product instead of the alternatives that are in the market?

It is also good practice at this point to do some market research with whoever the industry considers to be their target market. It is my opinion that most of the products that fail to gain any foot hold in their target market would have failed to answer these two questions. But these are very important questions for any customers and require an answer. That answer will be the reason customers buy the product.

Once those questions are answered all players should then look at their product in terms of attractiveness of the markets and this could be done by asking the following questions;

How much of the market is a potential market for our product?

Who are we competing with?

Who is the market leader and what are their core competencies and USPs?

How can we nullify their competitive advantage and convert their advantage into our own?

What resources to we need to achieve this?

It is my belief that in answering these questions honestly the musicians will come up with a product that is acceptible to the market, competitive against its rivals but more importantly the artists will be more aware of the value they give to their customers.

But some people will say good music or art does not need commercialisation or strategic planning, it sells itself….