Kwabena A-Manager, Author at TalkAfrique

January 31, 2013

The Unexpected Coffee Break

I had a conversation with a friend who has just been fired from his work. He told me that when his manager invited him to get a cup of coffee, he considered it a chance to have discussion around promotion, pay raise or a new assignment. He was performing well at work and getting positive feedback from colleagues and supervisors. But a few minutes into the coffee session, his manager broke the news. “You’re fired”, may be in a more diplomatic way but whatever form it took, it translates to one thing, he was fired.

We’re told that if we to do the right thing at the right time and get ourselves at the right place at the right time, we can ensure job security, promotion, and stability and happiness. In truth, even after we’ve done everything right, even after you’ve done what your manager expected you to do, and have been voted the employee of the month, change suddenly pops up. And sometimes change can be big and unpleasant. Continue reading “The Unexpected Coffee Break”

January 21, 2013January 21, 2013

Being Smart Is Not Good Enough for Today

Yesterday, being smart was good enough. Today, the landscape is different. The business environment has evolved and become super competitive. The world is moving faster than we can cope. Today, being smart is not adequate. You got to be getting smarter each day. It is only by stretching yourself and exploring opportunities for continual improvement that you will be able to both secure the space you have and acquire new territories.

You can explore continual self improvement articles here.

January 14, 2013

Don’t Give it, Go First and Receive Feedback

Individual like you and me originate actions that spice up life but being a ‘starter’ is not always fun. Going first can be risky because it frequently attracts criticism and judgment, and to many of us, that is enough reason not to take the lead.

Generally, we are giving feedback, judging, or criticizing or we are receiving feedback, being judged or being criticized. In order to achieve you full growth potential, you must find opportunities to both give and receive feedback or criticism. Giving feedback comes naturally; doing the thing that will place you at the receiving end, that is, going first doesn’t come naturally. Many of us work to avoid that. Continue reading “Don’t Give it, Go First and Receive Feedback”

January 10, 2013January 10, 2013

The Emerging, Booming, Rising Stories of Africa: Hype or Hope?

Over the past few years, Africa and other emerging market economies spurred by the rising middle class, extractive industries dependant on natural resources like oil, and foreign investment have dominated the editorials of financial and economic news and conferences. Different groups incessantly spew out cooler than cool and hotter than hot data about Africa that has such calming fragrance that I ,someone who is often fed up with the negative caricatures about Africa, do welcome. McKinsey reports that African consumer industry is expected to grow by $400 billion by 2020. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are among the fastest growing countries in the world; at least six of the world’s top ten fastest growing economies are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sometimes, in some places, the statistic appears accurate and real on the surface. I was in Ghana last year. I was amazed at the changes in several sectors of the economy and society. I witnessed an increasing growth of consumption industries in the category of telecommunication, internet services, financial services, high-end grocery, clothing and apparel in the big cities like Accra and Kumasi. Cinema halls are enthusiastically patronized by the so-called middle class with fat wallets and purses. Not bad at all. Really welcome.

Unfortunately, however, as soon as I drove out of the cities into the outskirts of the country, everything I’ve read and heard appeared like hype and not hope. Continue reading “The Emerging, Booming, Rising Stories of Africa: Hype or Hope?”

January 6, 2013January 6, 2013

It’s Not Bad to Be an Outsider, After All.

I was reading the transcript of an interview done with Chrystia Freeland, the Editor of Thompson Reuters Digital on her book Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else. In that interview, Ms. Freeland said something that I found very interesting. She said:

“I think it’s quite helpful in having both an outsider’s perception of the world, which helps to see change, and maybe an outsider’s desire to succeed”

That’s a very powerful statement: an outsider’s perception to see change, and an outsider’s desire to succeed.

This is my brief commentary on her statement. If you’re part of a system, if you’re an insider, you see change as a threat; you’re comfortable with the status quo. But if you’re an outsider, you see change as an opportunity to profit, a chance to succeed, an opening to take a new position. Continue reading “It’s Not Bad to Be an Outsider, After All.”

December 9, 2012

John Mahama Declared Winner in Close Ghana Election

Ghana’s presidential election has been won by incumbent President John Mahama, the electoral commission has announced.

The electoral commission said that Mr Mahama had won 50.7% against his NPP rival Nana Akufo-Addo on 47.74%.

The announcement came hours after the opposition accused the governing party of conspiring with commission staff to fix Friday’s poll.

Police in the capital Accra fired tear gas to disperse opposition protesters from outside the commission’s offices.

Roads around the electoral offices were also barricaded by police as the results were announced.

“Ladies and gentlemen, based on the results given, I declare John Dramani Mahama president-elect,” electoral commission chief Kwadwo Afari-Gyan told journalists.

Ghana, one of the world’s fastest growing economies, is regarded as one of Africa’s most stable democracies.

Mr Akufo-Addo lost the 2008 presidential poll by one percentage point, but accepted the result.

However, on Sunday his party said they had “enough concrete evidence” to prove that he actually won this year’s election.

“The ruling NDC conspired with certain EC staff in constituencies across the country to falsify the election results and thereby abuse the mandate of the people of Ghana,” the party said.

“It was this planned, systematic stealing of votes at the collation level that was, thankfully, discovered in time.”

The party cited discrepancies between initial tally sheets and the results reported in the media.

August 4, 2012August 5, 2012

Presidential Mortality in Africa is Higher than Infant Mortality

Being an African President is a Dangerous Business: Presidential Mortality is Just one of the Risks

Since 2008, eight Head of States or Presidents have died in Africa; the latest the drink the curse is Ghana’s John Atta Mills. Before President Mills, other presidents who left for the ancestral land include Guinea-Bissau’s Malam Bacai Sanha, Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, Nigeria’s Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Zambia’s Levy Mwanawasa, Guinea’s Lansana Conté and Gabon’s Omar Bongo.

Considering that there are 54 countries in Africa, this translates to a presidential mortality rate of approximately 15%. If this doesn’t scare you, compare it to the infant mortality rate of Afghanistan and Sierra Leone which are 14 and 13.5% respectively (Afghanistan and Sierra Leone top the world in infant mortality rates). What this means is that even a baby born in Afghanistan or Sierra Leone has a higher chance of surviving the first four to 5 years in life than an African presidents has in surviving a couple of terms in office.

Why is this so, considering that over the same period (from 2008), no president died in South America, only one president died in Asia (North Korea), one president died in Europe (Poland), only one died in North America (Barbados).

So what is happening in Africa? Continue reading “Presidential Mortality in Africa is Higher than Infant Mortality”