Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Weaves.



We just love to hate them don’t we? I am in actual fact a founding member of the MAWE* coalition. A think-tank dedicated to rid the world of the weave.
(*Men Against Weaves Everywhere)

A “weave”, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, is defined as :-

Weave : verb \ˈwēv\

  1. to form (cloth) by interlacing strands (as of yarn);specifically : to make (cloth) on a loom by interlacing warp and filling threads
  2.  to interlace (as threads) into cloth : to make (as a basket) by intertwining

Hmm, it isn’t even in the dictionary (10 points to MAWE)

I had to look elsewhere for a more definitive definition, “weave” is defined by the world renowned UrbanDictionary.com as :-


A form of hair extension often used by black women and celebrities.
It's woven, or glued, into the hair from the track. If done right, it comes out cute. It may even look real, if it’s done real good.


Now, women do all sorts of things to look good. A weave is just one of them so why all the hate?

I come from accounting background, so for me, as a professional, as long as you have the receipt, it’s your hair.

I don’t even have a problem with the concept that its “fake”, I’m routinely bewitched by girls wearing contacts all the time, even when I know that there’s no way in hell an African chick has gray eyes.

Weaves have even been proven to save lives!

In fact, millions of women and girls in Kenya routinely add thin strands of black, brown, occasionally red and sometimes luminous green plastic to their hair all the time (they call them braids), but you never hear anyone hate on a chicks braids, that is of course, when they are freshly done, occasionally, some women will keep braids in longer that they should, THEN we have a problem.

Therein lies the root of the problem I have with weaves,

I M P L E M E N T A T I O N

Most weaves are just done badly, from Day 1 it just looks off.

There’s a noticeable bump, or the thing is a different colour from the rest of the chicks hair, or the hair moves independently from the head it’s on, I really could go on for ages.

I choose to look at any enhancement a chick does to look hot as being similar to special effects in a movie.

The movie industry depends on a phenomenon they call “willing suspension of disbelief” to introduce special effects into movies, your mind on some level has to accept the special effects as being real for you to enjoy the movie.

Weaves, when they are done as badly as they are done in Kenya are like bad special effects, they ruin the movie.

So ladies, if you’re not willing or able to spend the thousands of shillings needed to get a weave like Tyra’s…

JUST  DON’T  DO  IT

Monday, December 20, 2010

Sauti Sol


Sauti Sol Rocks.

I was at Blankets & Wine St. Marys Alumni Edition, The generator failed, their performance ended prematurely. So they come down off the stage.

For about 30-45 minutes there are frantic attempts to get it back online, but to no avail, Eric Wainana who was on next, disappears into the crowd, Muthoni, stressed out, was still right there at the generator trying to get it fixed (Pole sana madam, these things happen), The Oyier Brothers, nowhere to be seen, but Sauti Sol...

They come down right to the tents where guys are sitting and do a micro-show, no band, no fancy stage and big sound, just Chimano, Bien and Delvin singing their hearts out with Polycarp on the Guitar, just like when they were a group of guys in the garden at the Alliance Francaise trying to impress the girls.

Chris Bittok sees this, runs to his car, gets his sax and joins in.

That 20 minute “show”, the 6 odd songs they did, right there in the middle of that small crowd, that was worth the Shs. 1,000/= I paid for the ticket.

Their new album, Sol Filosophia is out right now, I suggest you go out and buy it for one reason...


Sauti Sol gets it, the fans are everything.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

ENABLIS FUNDS FIRST ENTREPRENEUR IN KENYA

 Moses Mwaura, Regional director Enablis East Africa (Left)  congratulates Mr. Athanas Matheka.

The Enablis Entrepreneurial Network East Africa today announced the first loan disbursement of KES 20 Million to a Kenyan entrepreneur through its Loan Guarantee Program with Chase Bank.

Speaking of the occasion, Enablis Africa CEO, Sally Moodley said, “This is another critical milestone for the Enablis network of more than 1,000 entrepreneurs in Africa. Our Enablis entrepreneurs in Kenya are now able to access loans from Chase Bank with Enablis providing the necessary guarantee, in partnership with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), that allows the Bank to consider the entrepreneurs’ applications favorably.”

Enablis, a public-private partnership, operates at the grass-roots level and is dedicated to delivering to its member entrepreneurs key business enablers like capacity building support, business management training, mentorship, networking opportunities, and access to finance. Enablis loan funding partners in East Africa include Chase Bank in Kenya and National Microfinance Bank PLC (NMB) in Tanzania.

Enablis member Athanas Matheka, the entrepreneur recipient of this KES 20 Million loan, is the owner of Greenforest Foods Ltd (GFL). GFL deals in refining, bottling and marketing of high quality pure natural honey. Greenforest Honey is a leading brand sold through all the major supermarket chains.

The funding will be used for expansion of the business into processing and marketing of edible nuts, and growth of the honey market regionally. While receiving the funds, Mr. Matheka said,

“With this facility, I will expand my business and create direct employment through additional staff, and indirect employment for the farmers and other suppliers from whom I will source materials. Clearly, access to this level of funding made possible by the Enablis guarantee and the Chase Bank facility will transform my business and contribute to poverty alleviation. I am extremely thankful to Enablis and the Government of Canada who made all this
possible and to Chase Bank for a wonderful new relationship.” 

Moses Mwaura, Regional Director, Enablis East Africa, commented, “This Loan Guarantee Program gives us the ability to fulfill our mandate of providing support to entrepreneurs in all spheres of their businesses. It also allows us to make a substantial difference to the sustainability of Kenyan entrepreneurs in terms of skills development, networking opportunities and finally access to finance.”

Friday, October 01, 2010

Nokia N8 on its way to Kenya



According to a press release from Nokia the brand new Nokia N8 is set to hit East Africa within weeks.

*UPDATE*
The N8 is being launched on the 12th of November 2010

 Ken Oyolla, the General Manager for Nokia East and Southern Africa, had this to say “With the N8, and the new Symbian software, we are bringing a familiar, faster and more intuitive user experience to the world’s most popular smartphone platform. "

The new software he's refering to is Symbian S^3, Nokias replacement for the ageing S60 platform.
Symbian S^3 teems with over 250 new features including multiple personalised homescreens, multipoint touch HDMI and support for something Nokia calls "Intelligent Networking". You can find a full set of new features  here.

In addition to the brand new OS the N8 will also be the first Nokia to ship with support for the Qt Developer framework. Qt allows open source and commercial software developers to code less, create more and deploy everywhere. With Qt, developers can build innovative applications and touch-enabled user interfaces once and then deploy across all major mobile, desktop, consumer electronic and embedded platforms without rewriting the code.

In English, what this means is that it will be easier for developers to create apps for the N8 and all future S^3 powered devices.

Enough about the software now, let me move on to the hardware.

The N8 packs a 3.5 inch AMOLED screen , 16 GB onboard storage (which you will definitely need seeing as it has a 12 megapixel camera) , 256MB RAM and 512 MB ROM. The radio chips run HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2.0 Mbps and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with UPnP technology.




All this is powered by a 680 MHz ARM 11 processor, not as powerful as the Nexus Ones 1GHz monster but with a 3D graphics hardware accelerator you're not likely to notice a marked difference in performance between the two. The rest of the specs you can get here

End of the day this looks like an amazing phone, it should be a viable alternative to the android powered HTCs and the iPhone,

Hope it also has a flashlight :-)

*UPDATE*
The phone will retail at between Shs. 41,999 at Safaricom Retail centres with a free 300MB bundle thrown in

Saturday, September 25, 2010

The Wallypower Superyacht



In case you've read my profile and you're wondering exactly what a 118ft WallyPower SuperYacht is, allow me to explain,




The 118 WallyPower is a high performance yacht integrating technology with design, resulting with unique and marked characteristics like the vertical bow, the air inlets, and the deck superstructure.

The sleek lines of the 118 WallyPower are the result of an extensive R&D programme that included the tank testing at the SSPA facility in Goteborg, Sweden, and the wind tunnel testing in the Ferrari facility in Maranello, Italy


Wind Tunnel Testing


The pure lines of the 118 WallyPower are enhanced by the absence of visible cleats, mooring winches, radar antenna, TV dome, anchor system: everything is perfectly and neatly concealed and hidden without sacrificing functionality.

For instance a panel in the forward deck opens hydraulically and vertically to reveal the spacious lazzarette housing the tender (small boat used to go to shore without docking the ship) and water toys like JetSkis, which are launched with a crane.


Some other technical solutions contribute to the yachts appeal, like the shape of the bow which allows for a 50 per cent reduction of the vertical acceleration i.e. the "jumping" motion caused by sudden acceleration, and the superstructure design that features flat surfaces in order to appear transparent.




The bottom of the hull is built in solid fibreglass. Topsides from the waterline are hybrid fibreglass/carbon composite with balsa core. On deck this becomes a Nomex/full carbon composite. The deck superstructure is made of laminated glass with carbon frames. The interior bulkheads and cabin soles carry no structural loads: they are constructed entirely of thin wood and laminate veneer skins with cores.


Chameleon Effect


The chameleon-like paint finish is metallic dark green and changes reflections and colour depending on the light and landscape.


The deck is flush and features from bow to stern: the tender garage, the social cockpit, the glass superstructure, and the aft cockpit. Large open areas are designed to comfortably and safely move around the deck when at anchor.


Interior


The deck, cockpit, navigation, dining and saloon areas have been conceived as one continuous element. Inside the superstructure, the atmosphere if that of a New York style loft. The open space incorporates three areas, from stern to bow: the saloon, the dining/seating area, and the navigation cockpit.

The saloon is designed with the same relaxed life of the cockpit; the drop-down bulwarks increase the view from inside. The teak planes are covered with cushions to serve as sofas, while the spaces between the teak planes contain various functions such as additional seating, tables, storage and technology. The teak soles are a continuation of the deck teak enhancing the inside-outside living concept of the yacht.


Dining Table


The carbon fiber dining table seats eight people. The port and starboard teak cabinets serve for storage of china, silverware and glassware.


Dining table spilt and moved to the side


The dining table is made of two identical halves, and splits longitudinally to be moved over the teak cabinets of both sides, and transform the area into a large clear space. Alternatively, the dining chairs can be locked to the soles creating underway seating.


Owners Master Bed


The owner’s stateroom is forward, featuring a king size bed. Plenty of storage is provided by the side cabinets. A 20” plasma screen is mounted in the aft bulkhead. The cabin has plenty of natural light coming for the top skylight.



The spacious galley encloses the crew mess with 15” plasma screen. The galley is equipped with professional oven and stove, as well as plenty of fridges.

The two identical guest cabins feature queen size beds and en-suites with separate head and shower. The 15” plasma screen is in the aft bulkhead.




The propulsion system consists of three gas turbines generating 16,800 HP, driving water jets - two steerable outboard and a non-steering on centreline. For manoeuvring and long deliveries, the steerable water jets are powered by two diesel engines of 370 HP each. The exhaust system is made of titanium that saves weight while being very resistent to the high temperatures generated by the gas turbines.

The yacht displaces only 95 tons thanks to the sophisticated building technology that used a hybrid structure to save weight while reacting in a very sound manner, without transmitting shockwaves therefore making comfortable the rigidity of the composite hull.

At speed, the 118 WallyPower is comfortable and stable as a result of the V hull shape combined with the construction technology and the perfect isolation of the machinery noise and vibration.
It is capable of reaching speeds as fast as 60 knots (70 mph, 110 km/h)

Oh and by the way,The cost of the 118 Wallypower is US$24.83 million for the triple gas turbines or $16.55 million for the twin diesels only.


Please forgive the tacky music in the video :-)



Friday, September 03, 2010

Emergency




Emergency is a miniseries written and illustrated by Chief Nyamweya. It is based on pre-independence Kenya as seen through the eyes Chege Karobia and Kim (Dedan Kimathi).

Chege is an illiterate but street-wise Nairobian. He had been a childhood friend to Kim and his brothers, all of whom are very fond of him.

He is amiable and has a fondness for alcohol. Having never read a book in his life he is fascinated with Kim's ease with English.

Months before Kim's arrival in 1945 which is announced by a letter, Kim's brother Wambararia requests Chege to receive Kim in Nairobi.

Dedan "Kim" Kimathi returns to Nairobi in 1945 after serving 4 years with the King's African Rifles in Burma fighting the Japanese on behalf of the British Empire.

However, he is morose from battle and lack of money due to a premature discharge. His discharge also makes it difficult to find a job commensurate to his education (he is fluent in English and has a Secondary education).

His discharge papers get him as far as Nairobi, so he temporarily puts up with a childhood friend, Chege, as he saves up to return to his family in the native reserve.

Emergency explores the birth of our country from a fresh perspective and presents it in an amazing new way.

Its the culmination of one and a half years of research into Kenyan history mixed with a little comic book artistry and a whole lot of amazing.

Check out the trailer below :-


Emergency Webcomic Promo Trailer from emergencywebcomic on Vimeo.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Lets Map Nairobis ATMs!!

Here's how to do it, it takes about five minutes.

Think of an ATM, any ATM :-)

On your PC open up your browser and go here ~ http://j.mp/MapNbiATMs

You should see this




Go to the Upper right hand corner and sign in



Once you're in, go over to the pane on the left and click edit


A new menu should appear on the top left hand corner of the map itself,


Click on the blue placemark and move it to the location you thought of in step one above, the building with the ATM.

Once you set it down, you should see this:-


Fill in the details like my friend Geoffrey did here below, save it and your done.

Which details?
Well, is it a deposit taking ATM? Can you withdraw money via M-Pesa? Is it VISA/Mastercard branded? Is it part of the Kenswitch network? Anything that someone may find useful.




To view the map on your cellphone, you need to install Google Maps for mobile. It works of just about any phone.

Go to http://m.google.com/maps on your phone and follow the instructions

Go to layers> browse layers > My Maps > ATM locator and there!! Your ATMs will be on the Map, available to all, for free!!

And all it took was five minutes of your time!


Big heads up to Lamzana , without whom this would never have happened, Thank you!!

Safaricom



This whole Safaricom thing got me thinking after @MainaTs tweet. What is the effect of


Safaricom reducing its tarriffs on its bottom line?


Well. Heres my completely unprofessional, paper napkin analysis based on Safaricoms results announcement, a huge (30MB) PDF file which you can find here: http://safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=929





Hopefully someone will build on this.


OK, first things first, lets assume:
1. No change in subscribers (or their peculiar habits) i.e subscriber numbers remain constant
2. No change in consumption and consumption patterns, so the number of minutes remains constant as does the ratio on on to off net calls


OK, The statistics now, page (or slide) 21, Total Gross revenue is 83 Billion, Page 22 breaks it down so we have 63 Bilion of this attributable to voice. Thats roughly 75%


Back to page 21. Net profit is 15 Billion. 75% of this is 11 Billion.


OK, page 10, Safaricom has roughly 16 Million subscribers.


11 Billion divided by 16 million subscribers... Thats Ksh 688 per subscriber (On Page 22 Safaricom reports a voice ARPU of Ksh.356 so I may be wrong)


Lets further assume that the tarrif was Ksh. 8 per minute, Ksh.688 divided by Ksh. 8 per minute gives you an average of 86 minutes per user per year (a very rough approximation complicated by the Supa Ongea "dynamic tarriff" nonsense)


Lets use the new tarrif, Ksh 3 x 86 minutes per user, per year x 16 million users.


That gives you roughly 4 billion, a 63% drop from the 11 billion , (which is basically the drop from Shs.8 to Shs. 3 per minute).


There is however a little mitgation. Interconnection charges went down by half, so that gives Safaricom a Ksh 2 Billion saving (see page 24)


This would push the profit up to 6 Billion and reduce the drop to 5 Billion (45%).


Safaricom has free cashflows of 6 Billion (Page 20)


Not too bad is it? Well, the problem is that the ratios, those percentage drops could spook the market. The ARPU would also go down and thats a pretty important metric for a telco.


The Business Daily today also raised another interesting point, Safaricom lost a big dealer to Orange recently, if demand for Safaricom airtime wanes, more dealers may follow suit. This may be a serious problem for Big Green.


Zap has better merchant integration than M-Pesa (the KPLC and Nairobi Water time delays being a case in point) more Zap dealers will threaten Safaricoms dominance in this sector. M-Pesa is basically a customer retention tool (its about 9% of Safaricoms total revenue [Page 21]) so this is bad.


In short, things are thick for big green, the timing is also tricky, Bob Collymore clearly needs to hit the ground running.


In the meantime, apparently there was a Zain truck parked outside Safaricom HQ with packed with speakers blaring loud music, Specifically the Song "Bendover", check it out!














Friday, August 20, 2010

Black Swan - Thom Yorke



This is a Song I came across using Shazam. It was in an Episode of the 2006 series "Smith".

Its called Black Swan, its from the Eraser, the debut solo album of Thom Yorke the lead vocalist of the Band Radiohead.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Wamathai Exclusive


Building on the success of its inaugural event, Wamathai.com will host its second spoken word extravaganza on Thursday, the 5th of August 2010 at Secrets VIP Lounge, View Park Towers Nairobi.  

Hosted by the incredible Dela, the event will feature performances by Wanjeri Gakuru, Jemedari, Wanjiku Mwaurah, Kevin Gachuma, Mike Kwambo, Njeri Wangari, Anyiko Owoko, Immah & others.

To ensure the right atmosphere for proper appreciation of the performance, There will be a limited series of only one hundred tickets available. To reserve yours, call or text 0722-352 239 or send an e-mail to wamathai@wamathai.com (Tickets are Kshs. 300)

In addition to poetry there will be music by Skiza & Lele as well as a screening of up and coming director Mark Kaigwa’s Film Dawa.

There will be an after party with DJ Steel playing Afro-Fusion & Neo Soul music 

Come and enjoy a unique night of poetry & music!




Saturday, July 10, 2010

Letter to my 13 year old self

It seems I was blissfully ignorant of what was going on with the letter to my 13 year old self thing going around. Well, I've been tagged by Kawaria, so here goes:-


Dear Bobby,

Wassup, its tough being the youngest guy in class isn't it? Dont worry. You never will grow much facial hair so quit worrying about it. Being younger than everyone else will pay off later, you'll have an impressive amount of experience for someone your age one day.

Avoid beautiful girls named Njeri, they have a tendancy to break hearts.
It will be difficult but you need to MAKE SURE you go for "beats of the season" you will NEVER regret it.

Some of the guys you are friends with are arseholes and some of them will be your friends till your late twenties, I wont name names, just choose who you spend your time with wisely.

You like to play around with gadgets, torches, radios, Mums jewelry box (you will get the beating of your life, but the box will be fine for years to come) tear them down and build the up again. Dont ever stop, that trait, the burning desire to know how things work will be an asset one day.

Play around with the comps in the computer lab, one day they'll do even cooler things than multiplayer "Doom".

Work hard in school but always remember to have fun.
Bonitas, Scientia, Disciplina
You and sports that don't involve a ball don't mix, just don't. Really, do not.
Learn how to play chess, the earlier, the better.

Be good to your Aunts and Uncles, they will help you alot in the years to come. Be nice to mum, she has your back like you can't believe.

Raphael, your neighbour, will not make it to his 21st Birthday, I know its sad but be there for the dude, make sure you do your part to ensure he lives a good life.

Ahenda will grow up to be a breathtakingly beautiful woman. Pay a little more attention to her now.

All in all, enjoy being a kid, life gets tougher when you grow up but its still lots of fun.

--
RK

Tagged:



*P.S. - Tell dad to buy you shares in some company called "City Trust" for your fourteenth birthday

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

From my Inbox - The Abundance versus the Scarcity Mentality in Professional Development and Growth





A speech delivered by Eric Kimani to the Kenya Institute of Bankers, Mombasa Chapter on 1st December 2006.

When the Kenya Institute of Bankers, Coast chapter invited me to come and speak to you they gave me ample notice. One would therefore  imagine that it is very easy to have chosen what to speak about- It is not!, I thought for weeks what it is that I can speak to you that would add value both ways away from the usual advise you might find in the newspaper.  But I continually drew a blank.  Then I thought to myself why not be controversial and speak about something as basic as how our mentality affects our professional careers. I decided to talk about how our attitudes and mentality affect our career growth or stagnation- 


The Abundance versus Scarcity mentality.

 Let us start with some long winded definitions

 What is an abundance mentality- this is a deep belief that there is enough for all- enough work, enough jobs enough resources. It is living with a favor-minded attitude. One can define it also as optimism. Seeing the glass half full rather than half empty.

Thinking big and expecting big. I will draw very many examples which I seek your indulgence if they sound like self-praise- they are only meant to help clarify the message. I recently led a group of some passionate Kenyans in a charity fundraising. Some of them thought I was out of my mind to suggest that we can ask Kenyans to donate Ksh.7m. This initiative realized close to 12m! The barriers are in our minds and we will not go beyond the barriers in our minds.


By contrast the scarcity mentality is a belief that your success will simply mean someone else's failure; that there are scarce resources and if you get them you must deny someone else; that there is scarcity of jobs; that the cake is not enough and I must grab my share. The scarcity mentality is one of our biggest problems in this country today with politicians believing that they have gone to parliament to ensure get the largest share of the national cake for "their people/electorate" . 


This was also epitomized lately by a senior executive friend of mine whom I approached in September to donate money to the national charity cause I referred to above that incidentally helps more people from his village than anywhere else in Kenya. He responded that he could not help because they have a similar initiative to help his village. 

His scarcity mentality- That there is not enough for his village and the national initiative
blinded him in seeing that he could achieve what he is doing for the village in a more far-reaching manner.

So much for the definitions.

I hope to show you by the end of my talk that the difference between
successful people and the less successful is largely their mentality of abundance or of scarcity.


 People with an abundance mentality have an internal security based on a principled centered living. Their value system is self-anchored. They are not too worried of saying/doing the wrong thing because they ordinarily talk from a point of truth. This frees their mind to bigger/better thoughts because they have nothing to cover. What They said yesterday is what they will repeat today without contradiction

This internal security enhances their humility. It allows them to enjoy professional freedom. They can choose what they want to do. By contrast people with a scarcity mentality seek their validation from groups.
They will rarely want to take action on their own. The group must validate what they do. 
To draw an example from my own career, I have left employment 3 times in the last decade and at no time have I ever felt that there would be scarcity of opportunities. I believe strongly that there is something better out there awaiting you to discover. I have always relied on my sense of internal security to anchor myself. Do not owe your employment to your boss's favor or anyone for that matter. 


Believe you are the best there is and you will work towards it and become it!


People with an abundance mentality seek solitude and enjoy nature.
By taking time out in solitude and nature, you allow yourself to access
your deepest thoughts and hence your human spirit with which we are all
equally endowed. Most successful people I know will take time out to reflect. I try to take a solitary one or two night retreat away from family and work once every year and try and access my human spirit. You have to experience it to believe it. It re-energizes you.

People with an abundance mentality keep their mind and body tuned through wide reading and exercise. It is a pity that most of us stop reading on graduating. Most successful people read voraciously- they are in sync with what is going on around them. They are current. They do
not spend an hour reading newspapers or watching TV but will spend hours reading the latest management thoughts for example. I try to read as many books in year as I can. I have tried to keep fit for over 10 years and my wife who is my jogging and walking  partner can attest
to that- we call exercise our lifeline! Without the mental and physical fitness we would not have survived the vagaries of disease and the challenges of everyday life!

People with an abundance mentality serve others. Like one writer put it
and I quote "Service is the only rent to pay for the privilege of living in this world" Are you paying or are you robbing the landlord? Service enhances internal security and fuels the abundance mentality- at the beginning of this year I pledged to donate ksh. 2m to a
cause....I chair the Disciplinary committee of the Accountants; I chair Help Age Kenya, I chair The Palmhouse Foundation among many others. Nothing gives me greater joy! People ask me where I get the time- some of my friends have asserted that I have a 25-hour day!
I tell people you have time for what you value. An abundance mentality gives you time and opportunity to serve others.

People with an abundance mentality let those below them grow and hence give themselves the opportunity to grow even faster and higher. I keep saying to people that if you are good at what you do, the only place those who want your job can push you is upwards. They work with the
best minds. They seek out those who are better than them! A scarcity mentality tells you it is dangerous to let your junior became as good or better than you- nothing could be further from the reality! My career success would not be what it is without those who worked under me.
People with an abundance mentality know when to Get out before they get stale. I have left some of my previous jobs as soon as I realized that my best was no longer good enough. Some of us stay too long on jobs we do not enjoy hoping that our boss will get out of the way sooner! M y
advise to professionals who do not enjoy what they do is - for heavens sake move on elsewhere! At one time I left a job that was so well paying at the time that my wife thought I was crazy- You cannot excel where you do not enjoy!

People with an abundance mentality have a long term view of life and hence are visionaries- they are able to see what many cannot discern. They create uncharted territories. This is because they already believe everything is possible- How many times have you wondered how come that many times that successful guy/lady is ultimately right? Many say he/she knew what they were doing. The truth is that such people operate from a paradigm of abundance.

People with an abundance mentality are problem solvers and are hence popular with their superiors. They provide unusual solutions to problems. They are  able to separate people from the problems. They attract others into the team with their sincerity. I lead many volunteer teams in
very successful initiatives. I love looking for the third alternative to problems and hence my popularity with employers. The scarcity mentality on the other tells us we should not stick our necks out and should remain as passive followers.

People with an abundance mentality are courageous. One must however remember that courage is not to absence of fear but more the mastery of fear. I have experienced fear in my life- I cannot for example remember anything as fearful as changing jobs. A friend of mine told me recently that a herd of sheep led by a lion will defeat a pack of lions led by
sheep! The courage to take action is one of the greatest attributes of great leaders. Courage is a consequence of the abundance mentality. 

People with an abundance mentality understand and respect the law of the Farm or the law of the harvest. They know how/when to forego immediate gratification in favor of delayed and long term satisfaction. They appreciate that you will reap what you planted!
They understand the need to prepare the ground, plant, weed, water and tend before you can harvest. They are not moved by peer pressure. I still marvel at some of my friends who I grew up with who tried to violate the law of the harvest - they are or have already paid dearly for this. Imagine if at the age of 18 you have your own chauffeur driven Mercedes? What would you be working for at 50? Does it surprise us that many of our kids are on drugs? We have not exposed them to the law of the farm! Those who do not know me for example may not know the painstaking effort I have put in my career, like many of you,  to get where I am today- seven years ago I was still studying! 
I still take time today to learn new technology and read widely to keep myself relevant. An abundance mentality reinforces the law of the harvest. The scarcity mentality fools us that we can cheat the law of the harvest and short-circuit it- it never works!


People with an abundance mentality are passionate about everything they take up- They live their short lives in greater harmony than mediocre people. They are ordinarily positive about much in life and this seem to produce a self-fulfilling prophecy of success. When they see a mountain they think of how best to climb it and not about the dangers of climbing. They see opportunity where others see no hope An instructive story is told of two shoe salesmen sent to Africa to see what opportunities there were. One came back saying he was disappointed that
there was no market for shoes because the Natives do not wear shoes. They other came back and saying there was a huge opportunity because the natives do not have shoes!


Professionals with an abundance mentality treat whatever they take on as a project. A project to be executed so well that it guarantees extension or another project. I like reminding people that like Tom Peters, the great management guru keeps telling us - the life of indentured servitude is over! You must treat your job as a project to be executed meticulously and create a brand name for yourself in the banking industry and believe me before long people will be looking for you to do other lucrative projects. From Tom Peters masterpiece "the Circle of
Innovation) in 1998, I discovered this ground Breaking truth that convinced me to leave my job then and never to be Employed again! Every work I do is a project. I endeavor to complete my projects successfully.

I will endeavor to finish my Sameer/Yana project as successfully as possible. I will give it my best. Some projects will take longer than others but this does change the Fact that they are projects. I appeal to all of us present to stop considering  ourselves as permanent
employees- the 21st century has no place for this! Only successful team players working on deliverable and measurable projects will survive the white collar revolution! If you are under 40 and hoping to retire in your current job, then something is wrong with your project! Seriously
re-examine your options. If there is one industry that has been the victim of change and technology, it is banking! More retrenchment has been seen in this sector that any other I know- and in my view we have not scratched the surface!! Learn how to be a project contractor
-there is no longer room for employees in the 21st century!

I would like to conclude my talk with a favorite quotation often wrongly
attributed to Nelson Mandela but is actually by Marriane Williamson and I quote;

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a
child of God.Your playing small does not serve the world. There Is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~ Marianne Williamson

I hope you have enjoyed my talk. Thank you and God bless you.

Cheers!!!

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