management – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

Imagine Rural Development Initiative

I found this wonderful project through Steven Putter @stevenputter on Twitter.

Imagine Rural Development Initiative (IRDI), a Zambian registered non-profit organisation, is providing skills-training in moringa cultivation to 30 previously unemployed local Zambian women. This skills-training program forms part of IRDI’s Moringa project, which aims to empower local Zambians through the sustainable production of moringa, an affordable and highly-nourishing superfood, to fight malnutrition, improve health and eradicate poverty. Imagine Rural Development Initiative is providing this skills-training program free of charge to these local women, many of whom are widows and are sole breadwinners in their families and who take care of not only their own children, but also grand-children and orphans who have lost their own parents due to HIV/AIDS and other illnesses.

The 6-month training program covers moringa propagation, planting, crop management, harvesting and processing techniques. It also includes training on making aerobic compost and using moringa-based organic fertilizer to alleviate the need for petroleum-based fertilizers and harmful pesticides.

After successful completion of the training program, these local women will be contracted by IRDI to propagate and plant moringa in rural and peri-urban communities across Zambia. The women will also train local community members in moringa cultivation, creating further empowerment through skills transfer. The women will also have the opportunity to provide their services to other local agricultural co-operatives and independent local farmers.

IRDI aims to create sustainable income-generating opportunities for program beneficiaries, and this skills-training program will empower these local women to provide a secure future for themselves and their families. By completing this program, the women will be able to support themselves financially within the next 6 months. Although our local women’s group want to improve their livelihoods by learning new skills, the reality is that they still need to put food on their tables, provide shelter for their families, pay for transport and send their children to school.

100% of donations to this appeal will go directly to these women to assist with living costs for themselves and their dependents, including food, transport and school fees. A donation of $25.00 will cover a week’s living expenses for one woman engaged full-time on our skills-training program. Our goal is to help raise $3000.00 a month for 6 months to provide financial support for the 30 women in the group for the full duration of their training.

While IRDI provides skills-training to empower these women, you can give them the peace of mind of having their basic living costs covered while they are in training. We will provide regular updates, feedback and photo’s on IndieGoGo, from the women who receive your donations.

18
NOV

Africa, charities, entrepreneurship, family, food, garden, innovation, Lusaka, management, Twitter, Zambia

Consumer Diaries

Here’s a good website for consumers in Zambia having a hard time at the moment! Consumer Diaries, written by Zambian consumers for Zambian consumers. The latest post involves the suspension of the air service permit for Zambezi Airlines by government – no great surprise there – they’ve been in a shambles for weeks with delayed and cancelled flights. Yesterday there were about 15 stranded travellers at Harry M Nkumbula International Airport in Livingstone, negotiating seats on other airlines flying to South Africa.

We hope Consumer Diaries will soon turn their attention to Zambia Breweries and the constant annual shortages of beer and soft drinks in Livingstone and other parts of Zambia through October and November – not alright in the nominated (should that be nominal?) ‘tourist capital’.

And what about Zesco? Most Zambian consumers thought that one of the first impacts of the new government would be restoration of constant power supplies – not so – even though the President did fire the Zesco MD nothing has changed there! Just as well we have a good stand by generator at Chanters Lodge!

“The Consumer Diaries is a Zambian consumer’s mouthpiece written strictly by consumers for other consumers. It contains a compilation of reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from consumers themselves. This is done in order to help people have an opportunity to rate product/service experiences that they have had, and also to investigate new products or services in order to make informed decisions.”

Wish them the best of luck!

The picture? A bottle of Zambia’s great Mosi beer – currently unavailable from distributors in Livingstone, Zambia.

31
OCT

Africa, airlines, Consumers, development, Economy, electricity, energy, guests, infrastructure, livingstone, management, politics, rsa, transport, travel, Zambia

Hotels Online

I liked this by Melanie Nayer on 4Hoteliers not surprising, I suppose, considering the amount of time I spend on line! Here’s the piece:

“As more consumers move online, it’s becoming more important for business to maintain trust and respect on social channels. Without face-to-face conversation, your consumer needs to rely strictly on your word. Bottom line: if they don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you. So, how can you ensure you’re building trust through social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and FourSquare?

I consulted a few hoteliers to get their thoughts:

“We view social media as a powerful channel to build consumer trust and deliver on our brand promise, which is to surprise and delight our guests by providing service that is gracious and sincere,” said Mac Joseph, Social Media Marketing Manager for Mandarin Oriental Hotels, which currently has 8100 followers on their main Twitter page @MO_HOTELS. “We focus on building genuine relationships with consumers on Facebook and Twitter by engaging in two-way dialogue. Through listening first to our audiences, we are able to add value to their experiences with our brand online.”

Joseph told me that Mandarin Oriental recently came across a tweet from a guest at Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona, wanting a guestroom with a bathtub. Joseph said his team connected with the hotel, who were able to move the guest to the desired room type that same day. “Through this open dialogue, the guest and our audiences witnessed first-hand that we are not simply pushing content through our social media channels but also listening, in the hopes of making a difference in the guest experience,” he said.

InterContinental Hotels, which also has various twitter accounts for individual hotels but one main channel, @InterConHotels, with over 7,200 followers, recently made headlines with their new mobile platform and iPad accessibility in worldwide hotels. The hotel group also uses social platforms to introduce guests to local information before they check in, giving them a sense of environment before they arrive at their destination. “Even though we are interacting with our guests and our friends as a brand, we try to be as human in our interaction as we can,” said Charles Yap, Director, Global Brand Communications for InterContinental Hotels. “This means being conversational with our approach, highlighting some of the fun discoveries our guests have made in their travels, providing local assistance through our InterContinental Concierge teams to those who need it, and taking every opportunity to help should things go wrong.”

As a consumer and industry expert, I’ve found a few things to be beneficial when working with hotels online:

Constant tweeting and Facebook messages are great ways to promote the hotel and converse with guests, but it’s also a great idea to post testimonials from your clients. These reviews are coming from the guest themselves, and other potential guests will rely on the feedback of their peers before making a purchasing decision, especially when it comes to travel.

Keeping it personal adds a level of emotion to your conversation. By putting a name with a Twitter account or Facebook post, you’re introducing your guests to other hotel employees, allowing guests to learn a little more about the hotel and destination on a local level.”

The picture? The stunningly beautiful Lake Malawi, I worked there some time back!

15
OCT

Africa, facebook, guests, hotels, Malawi, management, marketing, Socialmedia, Twitter, Zambia

Hotel Trends

Here’s some future hotel trends for you to ponder from the USA via:

msnbc.com

It all left me rather bemused. The photo? Le Meridien, Picadilly, London – the first hotel in which I ever worked, a long time ago. It was simply Picadilly Hotel in those days and I was a commis chef!

Increasing fees:
Your hotel bill may include some unpleasant surprises. Not just the usual $20-a-day resort and amenity fee, which you pay whether or not you use the tennis courts and pool complex, but how about a required $12 housekeeping surcharge or a fee for storing your luggage in the lobby? Total fees and surcharges collected by U.S. hotels are increasing from $1.7 billion in 2010 to a record $1.8 billion in 2011, according to new research from Bjorn Hanson, dean of New York University’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and Sports Management.

Lobbies as social hubs:

Colorful seating, free Internet service and trendy cocktail and coffee bars are helping to turn once-sterile hotel lobbies into social hubs. Hanson says while baby boomers might see the lobby as a place to meet at 6 p.m. sharp before heading to a prearranged restaurant location, younger travelers may prefer to gather more informally in the lobby, hang out for a while, socialize and take their time choosing where they’ll spend the evening. They might check email, go online using a cell phone or iPad to look for dining recommendations, or try whatever snacks or drinks are readily available from the lobby market or bar.

Disappearing tubs:

Unless you’re booking a suite, your next stay in a hotel room may not offer the luxury of a bath. Many newly built hotels are offering showers only. Marriott, for example, is “advising our newly built hotels to put showers in 75 percent of the rooms and bathtubs in 25 percent of the rooms,” according to Marriott spokeswoman Laurie Goldstein. “Our research shows that business travelers prefer showers to baths but families like the flexibility of a bathtub as well as a shower.”

Pump dispensers:

The advent of pump dispensers in hotel bathrooms is good and bad news for those guests obsessed with the tiny bottles of shampoo and individually wrapped soaps that have been a beloved amenity for decades.

The good news: If you need more shampoo than what may be as little as a half-ounce in those small plastic containers, you can pump as much as you want from the dispenser. You can also feel greener if you use the pump. No more adding plastic throwaways to the waste stream.

The bad news: What if you simply love those little bottles? The hand lotion is the perfect size to slip in your purse; and if you have leftover shampoo, the container is small enough to get through airport security. Or what if you find the pump dispensers unappealing?

Checking in electronically:

Who needs to wait in line at the front desk to check in? Some of Starwood’s Aloft hotels are offering “Smart Check-In” to Starwood Preferred Guest program members. Members are sent a keycard with radio-frequency identification technology, and on the day of a planned stay, a text message is sent to the guest’s mobile device with a room number. Upon arrival, the guest proceeds to that room, and the keycard will open the door.

Locavore options:

The locavore and hyperlocal trend that has taken over the food world is fast becoming de rigueur in the hotel industry, particularly at high-end and boutique properties where chefs are growing their own herbs and even hosting their own beehives. The W in San Francisco in September had a local beekeeper, Jack Ip, install hives on a rooftop with a goal of eventually producing honey for use in the hotel menu. In New York City, the Andaz Wall Street hotel in Lower Manhattan sponsors a farmers market May through November in an arcade next to the hotel where produce, bread and other goods are sold by farmers and other vendors. The Andaz also sells fresh-squeezed juices and sandwiches in the market, and customers include hotel guests and neighborhood residents.

7
OCT

accommodation, Customers, food, hotels, London, management

Charles Chulu – Ag Station Manager Zambezi fm

We were delighted to welcome the seemingly serious, studious Charles Chulu (pictured above) as the latest guest on the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild – that’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing live on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station at 20.30 hrs Zambian time and now streaming live on the internet too! 18.30 hrs GMT.

Charles had just been promoted from Programmes and Production Manager to Acting Station Manager and we were happy to be able to announce his appointment live on air. Mr Chulu is a 2009/10 graduate of the University of Zambia where he read Mass Communications and Development Studies. Whilst at University he gained experience working at the University radio station and served an internship with PANOS. He had been educated at St Clement’s High School in Luapula Province before attending University.

Charles told listeners that his long term challenge at Zambezi fm was to increase the listenership. In the short term the immediate goal was to host a car wash in Livingstone on the following Saturday to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Zambezi fm commencing broadcasting in 2006. Management, presenters and disc jockeys from the station would wash cars to raise funds for the Ebeneezer Orphanage in Livingstone. Charles thanked Chanters Lodge and others for the donations they had already received in this respect. Richard looked forward to Milli Jam washing his car at the weekend.

The music on the show was great! We opened with ‘In Your Bed’ by Mohombi. “Who’s in your bed?” I teased the Chanters Girls over the air. We followed Mohombi with the late, great Amy Winehouse and her classic ‘Back To Black’ speculating that the track might make the number one spot on the singles charts in UK that very evening. As it happened it didn’t. George’s local selection was O.C. ft Wendy Harawa with ‘Super XZ’ and Afunika’s ‘Ba DJ’. Good stuff! Milimo chose Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’ and Mya ft Sean Paul with the soulful ‘Rear View Mirror’.

Our ‘Oldie Of The Week’ was Celine Dion’s ‘Think Twice’ and we gave away a dinner for 2 at Chanters Lodge to the first person to text us the name of the artist on the track. The listeners struggled but the prize was won! We gave the usual information about Lodgeblog and Twitter where we are @Livilodge, as well as the UK and USA pop charts update. ‘Private Dancer’ by Chris Brown closed the show.

Milli Jam wanted to know if Charles was married. He replied that he was not. “So you’re available then?” Milimo continued as the Chanters Girls at the lodge perked up their ears. “No I am not” replied Charles “I am very much spoken for!” I could sense the disappointment at the lodge through the air waves! “What football team do you support?” Milli Jam asked. “Locally I support Mufulira Wanderers and in UK I’m a Man Utd fan” Charles replied. “Play some music” I instructed as we laughed and did just that! (It’s an Arsenal show of course!) cutting off our station manager before he could wax lyrical about Rooney et al.

“Where would you like to be and what would you like to be doing 10 years from now?” Milimo asked Charles at the end of the show. “I have a passion for mass communications” replied Charles thoughtfully “so I would like to be broadcasting internationally from my own radio station, but in the meantime I want to work hard for Mr Swithin Haangala to make Zambezi fm the best radio station in the land”! “Super!” We said.

2
AUG

Africa, communications, copperbelt, entertainment, livingstone, management, radioshow, Zambia

Ben Blazer

George da Soulchild, co-presenter of our weekly radio show, sent the following report about an interview with Ben Blazer, seated above with some of the young musicians he’s helping!

Renowned producer and songwriter Ben Kalulu fondly known as Ben Blazer has become one of Zambia’s biggest names in the music industry and has produced a number of artistes. The youthful ‘ music maker’ has produced prominent names in the likes of Petersen, Ephraim, Danny, JK, Uniq and more. The Weekend Post recently had a chat with Ben in the following interview:

What is your latest project?

Ans: Well I am working with four artistes namely J.O.B, BobbyEast, Franciar and Flexville. I produce these artistes and I decided to bring them together to form a crew. As for now I am focused on the four so that I can turn them into big stars, then I can incorporate artistes and I do not want to have many people on the click because at times you may find that you have many artistes but only a few have what it takes to be one.

From your own understanding, just explain something about music.

Ans: Music is not like accounts where you are given a formula and you have to solve it. You have to go to school and most importantly have the passion for it because there are times when we have our difficult times but passion always keeps you moving. Whether you admit it or not, music imbeds our daily life, weaving its beauty and emotion through our thoughts, activities and memories. So if you’re interested in music theory, music appreciation, Beethoven, Mozart, or other composers, artists and performers, we hope you’ll spend some time and learn from these music articles of note for all ages and tastes.

Talk about your relations with your artistes.

Ans: I love working with artistes because we are like family. We chat and throw jokes, if you have realized our songs are crazy this is because someone comes up with a word and another also adds up a word just like that. It keeps us moving.

Any music producers you have worked with?

Ans: I have worked with T.K has always inspired me I have worked with him. I have noticed that most Zambian ,musicians just release one song and that is it why? This is because they do not have enough resources to support their music, my advice to the people is that we should buy original albums for artistes so that we can still see and hear their music.

Do you think you now have more people recording at your studio?

Ans: (laughs) well, I can say I am better the way I am now compared to last time where people could pay less money, now they pay good money and there is an acceptable number of people.

Shed some light on your branch in Lusaka.

Ans: As you are aware we have opened a branch here to enable some artistes in Lusaka record from Ben Blazer studio. I have been receiving a number of people coming to the studio to record which is a good thing.

Your advice to other fellow producers?

Ans: If you have never taken a course in of music, you don’t know what you are missing out on. The radio will never sound the same to you again. Everything will seem much more rich, much more luminous, and much more important. A new song can reflect a new way of being, and a new way of imagining life in the world. This is what learning about music means to many of us.

25
JUL

Africa, entertainment, Lusaka, management, marketing, music, radioshow, Zambia

Aircraft Maintenance

Another classic from Judy in Australia! Airline unnamed!

Repair Division Of A Famous International Airline.

In case you need a laugh!

Remember, it takes a college degree to fly a plane but only a high school diploma to fix one. After every flight, pilots fill out a form, called a ‘Gripe Sheet’ which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form and then pilots review the Gripe Sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humour! Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way this airline is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what friction locks are for.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny………… (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last………………
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

6
JUN

airlines, communications, management, staff, travel

Long Work v Hard Work

Check Seth Godin

Long work is what the lawyer who bills 14 hours a day filling in forms does.

Hard work is what the insightful litigator does when she synthesizes four disparate ideas and comes up with an argument that wins the case–in less than five minutes.

Long work has a storied history. Farmers, hunters, factory workers… Always there was long work required to succeed. For generations, there was a huge benefit that came to those with the stamina and fortitude to do long work.

Hard work is frightening. We shy away from hard work because inherent in hard work is risk. Hard work is hard because you might fail. You can’t fail at long work, you merely show up. You fail at hard work when you don’t make an emotional connection, or when you don’t solve the problem or when you hesitate.

I think it’s worth noting that long work often sets the stage for hard work. If you show up enough and practice enough and learn enough, it’s more likely you will find yourself in a position to do hard work.

It seems, though that no matter how much long work you do, you won’t produce the benefits of hard work unless you are willing to leap.

16
MAY

management

Corporate Speak

Loved these from Judy in Australia!

A magazine recently ran a ‘Dilbert Quotes’ contest. They were looking for people to submit quotes from their real-life Dilbert-type managers. These were voted the top ten quotes in corporate America :

‘As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday, and employees will receive their cards in two weeks.’
(This was the winning quote from Fred Dales, Microsoft Corp in Redmond WA )

‘What I need is an exact list of specific unknown problems we might encounter.’ (Lykes Lines Shipping)

‘E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business.’ (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)

‘This project is so important we can’t let things that are more important interfere with it.’ (Advertising/ Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)

‘Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule.’ (Plant Manager, Delco Corporation)

‘No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We’ve been working on it for months. Now go act busy for a few weeks and I’ll let you know when it’s time to tell them.‘ (R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/ 3M Corp)

Quote from the Boss: ‘Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say.’ (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)

My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died on purpose so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday. He said,’That would be better for me.’(Shipping executive, FTD Florists)

‘We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees.’ (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)

Honestly!

12
MAY

communications, management

Economies of Small

Loved this from Seth’s blog! The picture? Victoria Falls – not small!

Economies of small

Economies of scale are well understood. Bigger factories are more efficient, bigger distribution networks are more efficient, bigger ad campaigns can be more efficient. It’s often hard to defeat a major competitor, particularly if the market is looking for security and the status quo.

But what about the economies of small? Is being bigger an intrinsic benefit in and of itself? If your goal is to make a profit, it’s entirely possible that less overhead and a more focused product line will increase it. If your goal is to make more art, it’s entirely possible the ridding yourself of obligations and scale will help you do that. If your goal is to have more fun, it’s certainly likely that avoiding the high stakes of more debt, more financing and more stuff will help with that.

I think we embraced scale as a goal when the economies of that scale were so obvious that we didn’t even need to mention them. Now that it’s so much easier to produce a product in the small and market a product in the small, and now that it’s so beneficial to offer a service to just a few, with focus and attention, perhaps we need to rethink the very goal of scale.

Don’t be small because you can’t figure out how to get big. Consider being small because it might be better.

Amen – ed

21
APR

blog, entrepreneurship, management, victoriafalls, Zambia

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