Tuesday, 6 March 2018
Wednesday, 20 July 2016
YOUR NETWORK IS YOUR NETWORTH
Most people have a general idea on the value of professional network connections and its contribution to a successful career. Networking not only contributes to a steady career growth, it also helps get things done faster and more efficiently, as one can use the input of their networks in a particular task. However, most people find it hard to actually create functional networks. They consider it unnatural to them and quite the daunting task. They consider networking as unnatural to them and something they cannot do.
The tips below will show you how to go about creating and maintain valuable relationships in the workplace.
Make time
This is about your social skills and your ability to interact with people from diverse professional backgrounds. It is a product of excellent communication skills and a likable personality. Your colleagues in the workplace are social beings who thrive on human interactions. Take time to interact with people every chance you get. Be it tea breaks, lunch hour etc. Talk to someone new, regardless of their rank or background. Get to know what they do and how they contribute to the overall organizational objectives. If you are shy, these are the best times to get over your shyness. Do not wait for a formal class on how to overcome shyness, take opportunities that present themselves in the form of professional tete-a-tete. Please note that office gossip is not the way to go when creating networks. Your target here is to know who can help you be the best version of your professional self, not who did what scandalous thing. In fact, being involved in office gossip will make serious, focused people avoid you. Be careful what you discuss and ensure you remain professional.
Look out for mutual connections
Train yourself in the art of reading people to find a common ground. People feel more connected to other people who share a common interest, ideology, point of view etc. Establish connections with people you find it easy to relate with. It makes the whole process more natural and easy. Someone with whom you share a similar interest is certainly easier to approach and discuss a task in the workplace or an idea. Even the simplest of interests e.g a love for football, a liking for a particular movie genre etc, is an opening for great and valuable workplace connections.
Be Diverse in your connections
Always remember that the potential value of any single connection is never known on face value. Network as much as you can within the office. Apart from just improving your communication skills and interpersonal etiquette, it opens your mind to new ideologies, perceptions, and ideas. While you focus on your professional field, be keen to keep warm relationships with the loose ties in other sectors. You never know when you will need input from the guy in finance or sales for your marketing project.
Even as you maintain diverse interactions with everyone else around you, remember to have a targeted list of things you would like to accomplish with these networks, especially those in the line you would like your career to follow. Senior colleagues in your organization like the CEO or General Manager are busy people and interactions with them will be minimal. This means that you will have minimal interactions with them, so you need to ensure that you make the right impression during such times. When you have requests that require their attention, make the requests specific and to the point. Make it easy for the extremely busy people to help you and create value for your projects by being clear, professional and focused during your interactions with them. When approaching a high profile individual in your organization for their input, make sure you have conducted enough research on the topic of discussion, anticipate the questions they are likely to ask and prepare the appropriate feedback. This way, you get maximum value from a single interaction.
Be reliable in your professional dealings. Let people around you know that you can be relied on to do what you said you will do. Deliver results and always do your best when tasks are handed to you. Be careful not to overpromise results and under-deliver on the same. It makes you lose integrity in the eyes of people you would like in your networks. Relationships are about trust and people around you need the assurance that you can be relied on and trusted. Where you make mistakes, own up and seek to offer as much effort as possible in correcting them. A credible reputation among networks makes confidence of others in your abilities and work ethics grow. This will ultimately open doors for you in your career.
Stay in touch
This is mostly for the networks considered loose or weak because interactions are not as regular as your main connections. It is wise to check on these networks once in a while. Their potent value cannot be overlooked. You might need their assistance in future, and the constant connection will make it easy to approach them. Staying in touch also keeps you in their minds, in case they hear valuable information related to your career.
Build your network strategically. Critically view every interaction as an interview with an individual who could be instrumental in your career life. Choose who to hold close, who to shelf for the moment, and who to keep as just an acquaintance. All these selections should be based on how relevant these people are to the future of your career, the level of connection and shared interests you have with them and how well you click. You will want people who influence, challenge and inspire you as your network connections. Begin creating these networks now and reap the benefits in no time.
Friday, 1 July 2016
DRAGON FIST- JACKIE CHAN
I had the pleasure of watching 'Dragon Fist' today. It is one of Jackie's movies from the Lo Wei years. In fact one of the last Jackie made for Lo Wei. I stumbled across a bit of information the other day that I can't verify but it did come out of a Chinese Biography about Jackie so one assumes it to be fairly factual, which said that Lo Wei, after parting ways with Golden Harvest, had been black listed from making movies in Hong Kong by Golden Harvest which is why nearly all those movies were made in Taiwan or Korea. (It is also why Jackie signing with Golden Harvest was such a big deal at the time.)
'Dragon Fist' is a pleasant surprise, apart from being a little confusing in the beginning when you are not quite sure who is who, it warms up into quite a decent story with plenty of really good martial arts action.
There is one scene during the final extended fight sequence that leaves me breathless at the trust shown by the actor/stuntman in Jackie's accuracy. Even making allowances for a little speeding up in the playback of the film Jackie is still punching the guy repeatedly 'in' the face at very high speed. One mistake and some one is VERY sore! Sometimes it is not so much the incredible choreography (one expects this from Jackie) or the amazing agility and accuracy (again this is just expected) or even the martial arts prowess (what can I say - this is Jackie we are talking about) but what does leave me completely amazed is the incredible trust fellow actors/stuntmen show in each others' skill. Mostly it is other actors trusting in Jackie's control but sometimes it is Jackie who trusts some one to thrust (theoretically) very sharp objects near his face and neck (swords, spears and other weapons).
While Jackie's later forays into the never seen before crazy stunts left audiences gasping personally for me what really leaves me gasping is not the sheer bravery (or should that be stupidity) required to jump from a building onto a rope ladder or slide 3 stories down a pole but the incredible physical mastery of one's body in Jackie's martial arts/fight choreography. And that one mostly sees in his earlier movies.
This one is actually one of the better ones. Many of Jackie's really early films you have to say (with some apology) to newcomers 'Well you watch them to just to watch Jackie'. But Drunken Fist doesn't have a bad story even if it is prone to what Jackie calls 'Why you look at me? Fight! Why you look at me again? Fight!' moments. Jackie is of course the good-guy hero who eventually saves the day (but not before quite a few people are dead and EVEN some at Jackie's hand - hmmm Shinjuku Incident was so NOT the first movie in which Jackie killed people in a movie).
It really has some brilliant fight scenes all choreographed by Jackie and you can recognise his hand in the fight sequences even when he is not actually in them.
I know that he says that he thought of choreographing many opponents coming at him at the same time for the first time in later movies (referencing Police Story I think) but I don't agree with him. Even as early this you can see him starting to develop the idea of multiple opponents at once. Although at this point when he does choreograph multiple opponents he is more evasive than actually fighting them. Even at the end of Fearless Hyena when he clearly takes on 3 sword wielding opponents at once, that portion of choreography is much more evasive than confrontational and when he does dispatch his opponents it is back to one-on-one fighting but one can see the thought developing in his choreography even this early on.
Although if one does compare the very realistic fighting multiple opponents he choreographed in Police Story with the almost ritualised 'dance' from Spiritual Kung Fu when he takes on a group of monks with staffs one has to agree with him that he did really only do a proper fight sequence much later on.
Anyway for those of you who haven't seen Dragon Fist some one has kindly uploaded it onto youtube. But again ... if possible please buy a legal copy - apart from anything else it is actually MUCH better than the fuzzy compressed files from youtube.
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Wednesday, 29 June 2016
KENYATTA UNIVERSITY : FACING THE 40TH GRADUATION CEREMONY
KENYATTA UNIVERSITY: THE UNIVERSITY OF OUR TIME
On 15th July 2016, Kenyatta University will be
celebrating its 40th Graduation ceremony at its main campus located
on Thika road, and few kilometers’ from Kenya’s capital city , Nairobi. Time
has come that scholars have formed a unified approach to research and study in
order to make solutions that can provide solutions to the challenges the
community is experiencing. Some of the major challenges that the society is
facing include and is not limited to cyber-security which America has declared
the fifth war frontier. Others include climate change and which has a direct
bearing to food security for our country, Democratic governance and peaceful
elections is still uncommon since we still experience a lot of civil unrests
and many people lose lives due to politics,, Gender inequality and
discrimination against the girl-child.
It is a major requirement in most courses whether in
diploma, degree, masters or Ph.D. that the students do research projects. It is
really encouraging and you find that many a times the comrades spend a lot of
money either from their own pockets or from their parents .The projects always
are meant to provide solutions to major issues affecting the society.
The unfortunate event in all this noble mission is that
despite the amount of efforts the comrades and their lecturers put in writing,
editing and re-editing this projects, few are ever implemented. That is why it
has become imperative that comrades become discouraged and some involve
themselves in ‘theft’ of exams since they no longer get inspired by the efforts
they are making since they believe that the projects are merely meant to pass
examinations and not to alleviate societal challenges .It is important to note
that there is need for all stakeholders involved to come together and help
comrades realize the dream they always have when drafting, carrying out their
projects. Other Universities in Kenya are already shivering because they know
the speed at which KU is growing is so rapid. University of Nairobi, Moi
University,Mount-Kenya, JKUAT, Pan-Africa, Great Lakes University, Jaramogi
Oginga Odinga, Laikipia University to mention but a few but Kenyatta University
still leads the park.
Kenyatta University is like a rare gem, those who have
discovered it are saved. Academically speaking.Only we need to spend on not
only writing our noble projects but also implementing them, with this Kenya and
Africa and the whole world will never be the same again !
Kenyatta University is privileged to be led by powerful
leaders and with Professor Wangari Mwai as the new Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Administration,
I believe the sky can only remain to be the limit.
Friday, 24 June 2016
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
Intriguing tale of Mandera boy who found fortune in Coast
Intriguing tale of Mandera boy who found fortune in Coast
Growing up in the rough and dry terrains of the remote village of
Girissa Rhamu in Mandera County, Saeed Abdirahman’s life appeared set
against all odds.
Tuesday June 14 2016
Saeed Abdirahman, Mombasa business man. PHOTO | DICKENS OGANGO O.
Growing up in the rough and dry terrains of the remote village
of Girissa Rhamu in Mandera County, Saeed Abdirahman’s life appeared set
against all odds.
The fifth born in a family of eight could hardly imagine that he would one day walk away from the ravaging poverty to become a multi-millionaire businessman.
Today, at the age of 34, Saeed is the owner of the Mtwapa Coast Breeze Hotel and the founder and chief executive officer of Mombasa-based logistics company Sidoman Limited.
Although his sleek Range Rover may not betray the hardships Saeed has overcome to be where he is today, the road to success in business and personal life has been anything but a stroll in the park.
As Mr Saeed told Money, it has taken hard and smart work, and a firm determination to succeed.
“We were not wealthy. My mother owned a few cattle which she traded in to see us through school,” says Saeed, a father of three boys.
After sitting for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in 2000 at Sheikh Ali High School and attaining a mean grade of C (minus), Mr Saeed enrolled for a diploma at the Kenya Technical Teachers training College.
“I graduated in 2006 with a diploma in IT,” he says. During this time, only a mere 5 per cent of children made it to college in the Northern Kenya.
“Graduating was a milestone for me, my family and village. It gave me the assurance and confidence that I could break the ceiling and achieve much more,” he says.
His heart was in business and he knew that’s what he would eventually do.
“I could have opted to look for an IT-related job, but my eyes were trained on becoming a top businessman, and to achieve this goal, I had to move from my mother’s nest,” he notes.
Walking to work
He travelled to Mombasa and got a job as a driver. “I rented a single room a few kilometres from my place of work. In order to save, I preferred walking to work instead of using matatus,” he says.
In mid-2007, Mr Saeed quit his job as a driver and started working for shipping and logistics firms at the Port of Mombasa.
“I was first paid in commissions before getting a job as a regular worker,” he says.
However what stood him in good stead for success in business was that he saved almost religiously.
“I saved consistently for three years. Every month, I would set aside between Sh8,000 and Sh10,000. By the end of 2009, I had Sh300,000 in savings,” says Mr Saeed.
However, saving faithfully every month for 36 months was not an easy task. “I had to sacrifice a lot. I couldn’t afford the same luxuries that my working age mates could since I had to pay rent for a single room and cater for all my daily bills.”
His business dream began to take shape when he registered his own logistics business, Sidoman, offering a wide of range of services such as clearing and forwarding, sea and land freight, warehousing and cargo handling.
“I was convinced that there was enough space for me to thrive in the shipping and logistics business,” he says.
Interestingly, although the Sh300,000 he had saved was not enough to put his new start-up on a solid foundation, he did not take a bank loan to boost his business.
“I had problems getting adequate capital when I started, but taking a bank loan was not an option. Neither has it ever been for me,” he says.
Mr Saeed’s Islamic faith prohibits him from taking bank loans that attract interest. He therefore opted for small debts from his fellow Muslim friends which he would pay without interest.
“These (loans) enabled me to stay afloat and continue looking for business,” he says.
In the early months after starting his company, the entrepreneur operated from his briefcase and mobile phone.
“I had no office or car with which to run my business. Sometimes I would get a good deal and due to my limited resources, I would refer it to established logistics businesses in exchange for commission,” he says.
However, in 2010, Mr Saeed set up his offices in Mombasa town as his business started looking up. And Since then, the sky has been the limit for him.
In 2014, six years after starting his logistics business, the businessman decided to diversify into the hotel and catering industry. He bought the Mtwapa Coast Breeze Hotel in Kilifi County at Sh75 million and renovated it to be the sparkling facility it is today. The two-star hotel has 34 furnished apartments.
Mr Saeed has employed 30 people at his logistics firm on a full-time basis, and another 20 workers at the hotel.
He says to get the best from employees, you have to motivate them and impart in them virtues such as hard work.
“My former employers taught me virtues of instilling work discipline and motivation in employees, and these are the ideals I strive to pass on to my workers so that tomorrow, they can walk in my shoes,” he says.
Interestingly, at a time when many people are avoiding from the tough road of painstakingly building wealth in favour of get-rich-quick schemes or corrupt dealings, Mr Saeed says that he has had zero scandals or court cases on his path to business success.
“Above all, I am happy to be a clean book so far,” he says with a smile.
The fifth born in a family of eight could hardly imagine that he would one day walk away from the ravaging poverty to become a multi-millionaire businessman.
Today, at the age of 34, Saeed is the owner of the Mtwapa Coast Breeze Hotel and the founder and chief executive officer of Mombasa-based logistics company Sidoman Limited.
Although his sleek Range Rover may not betray the hardships Saeed has overcome to be where he is today, the road to success in business and personal life has been anything but a stroll in the park.
As Mr Saeed told Money, it has taken hard and smart work, and a firm determination to succeed.
“We were not wealthy. My mother owned a few cattle which she traded in to see us through school,” says Saeed, a father of three boys.
After sitting for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in 2000 at Sheikh Ali High School and attaining a mean grade of C (minus), Mr Saeed enrolled for a diploma at the Kenya Technical Teachers training College.
“I graduated in 2006 with a diploma in IT,” he says. During this time, only a mere 5 per cent of children made it to college in the Northern Kenya.
“Graduating was a milestone for me, my family and village. It gave me the assurance and confidence that I could break the ceiling and achieve much more,” he says.
His heart was in business and he knew that’s what he would eventually do.
“I could have opted to look for an IT-related job, but my eyes were trained on becoming a top businessman, and to achieve this goal, I had to move from my mother’s nest,” he notes.
Walking to work
He travelled to Mombasa and got a job as a driver. “I rented a single room a few kilometres from my place of work. In order to save, I preferred walking to work instead of using matatus,” he says.
In mid-2007, Mr Saeed quit his job as a driver and started working for shipping and logistics firms at the Port of Mombasa.
“I was first paid in commissions before getting a job as a regular worker,” he says.
However what stood him in good stead for success in business was that he saved almost religiously.
“I saved consistently for three years. Every month, I would set aside between Sh8,000 and Sh10,000. By the end of 2009, I had Sh300,000 in savings,” says Mr Saeed.
However, saving faithfully every month for 36 months was not an easy task. “I had to sacrifice a lot. I couldn’t afford the same luxuries that my working age mates could since I had to pay rent for a single room and cater for all my daily bills.”
His business dream began to take shape when he registered his own logistics business, Sidoman, offering a wide of range of services such as clearing and forwarding, sea and land freight, warehousing and cargo handling.
“I was convinced that there was enough space for me to thrive in the shipping and logistics business,” he says.
Interestingly, although the Sh300,000 he had saved was not enough to put his new start-up on a solid foundation, he did not take a bank loan to boost his business.
“I had problems getting adequate capital when I started, but taking a bank loan was not an option. Neither has it ever been for me,” he says.
Mr Saeed’s Islamic faith prohibits him from taking bank loans that attract interest. He therefore opted for small debts from his fellow Muslim friends which he would pay without interest.
“These (loans) enabled me to stay afloat and continue looking for business,” he says.
In the early months after starting his company, the entrepreneur operated from his briefcase and mobile phone.
“I had no office or car with which to run my business. Sometimes I would get a good deal and due to my limited resources, I would refer it to established logistics businesses in exchange for commission,” he says.
However, in 2010, Mr Saeed set up his offices in Mombasa town as his business started looking up. And Since then, the sky has been the limit for him.
In 2014, six years after starting his logistics business, the businessman decided to diversify into the hotel and catering industry. He bought the Mtwapa Coast Breeze Hotel in Kilifi County at Sh75 million and renovated it to be the sparkling facility it is today. The two-star hotel has 34 furnished apartments.
Mr Saeed has employed 30 people at his logistics firm on a full-time basis, and another 20 workers at the hotel.
He says to get the best from employees, you have to motivate them and impart in them virtues such as hard work.
“My former employers taught me virtues of instilling work discipline and motivation in employees, and these are the ideals I strive to pass on to my workers so that tomorrow, they can walk in my shoes,” he says.
Interestingly, at a time when many people are avoiding from the tough road of painstakingly building wealth in favour of get-rich-quick schemes or corrupt dealings, Mr Saeed says that he has had zero scandals or court cases on his path to business success.
“Above all, I am happy to be a clean book so far,” he says with a smile.
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