The other day, I watched our president address Russian investors, trying to woo them to invest in our country. A great move in my opinion, though I couldn’t help but think that he ought to fix a few simple (and not so simple) things that make it difficult for us to do business in Kenya. In 2011, Transcentury Kenya’s first investment club gone big listed…
Read MoreThey say that most start ups die within their first 3 years. The statistics are worse in Africa where starting a business is fraught with challenges ranging from lack of capital to legislative difficulties and of course the worst, lack of sufficient local market. When I think of the businesses I would advise anyone to start, cheese is the last on the list. Africans aren’t…
Read MoreI am no expert at passing interviews, I haven’t done too many interviews over my career, but I have never “failed” a job interview. I have also conducted hundreds of interviews, made tens of hiring mistakes, and hired a couple of right employees, and looking back I can share a few things that helped me pass my job interviews and have led to some people…
Read MoreWhen you drive into Eka hotel along Mombasa Road, the first thing that strikes you is the number of staff waiting to usher you in, all smiles. I was having a rather harassed day, but by the time I got to The Spur their steak house, I was all smiles. I always check out a restaurant’s wash rooms, and Eka’s public washrooms are excellent, though…
Read MoreAre pursuing your passion and making money mutually exclusive? Do you currently hate your job and are hoping to make enough money to some day quit and do that which you are truly passionate about? Are you sure what you’re passionate about is what you are genetically encoded to do? This 4 minute video talks about how to make sure your passion also pays your…
Read MoreTwo monks were strolling by a stream on their way home to the monastery. They were startled by the sound of a young woman in a bridal gown, sitting by the stream, crying softly. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she gazed across the water. She needed to cross to get to her wedding, but she was fearful that doing so might ruin her beautiful…
Read MoreHas this ever happened to you? You are reading a book, watching TV, scrolling your tweets or shuffling papers while your significant other (or your friend or mother) is talking to you. Suddenly you hear, “You are not listening to me.” You look up and say, “Yes I am.” And calmly provide a verbatim playback of everything said to prove that you were listening and…
Read MoreThis is hardly the best home for a poem, but this poem by Marrianne Williamson has gotten me through a rather tough week, and I thought it would be good to share it. We all make mistakes, but some mistakes beat on our self esteem more than others. For some, work mistakes get them down while they breeze through life issues, while for others, career…
Read MoreMany thanks to Bankelele for suggesting that instead of a city, we could model Konza around Doha’s Education City. I’d not heard of the city before, but reading up on it, I like what I see so far. An initiative of the Qatar Foundation For Education, Science and Community Development, the Doha Education City currently hosts six American universities (including the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University), one Qatari…
Read MoreMid December, I decided to take a break from reading my Twitter updates. It wasn’t prompted by a big life event, and I really didn’t have any particular goals in mind. I just wanted to see what role Twitter plays in my life, and to break the habit of checking my Twitter updates every so often. I feel like I’ve had enough, maybe it is…
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