Lodge Blog – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

James Cameron – New Age Entrepreneur

You can always count on the Staff Blog at Fresh Inc for some business wisdom. Check this:

“With Avatar recently becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time, Hollywood is looking to learn what it can from the mystical blue people of the Na’vi. Entrepreneurs, however, might want to look at the film’s director, James Cameron, for some business advice.

Finance blog, BloggingStocks, has an interesting post about the business lessons entrepreneurs can learn from James Cameron. In their words, “Cameron is a New Age entrepreneur–that is, combining creativity, unconventional wisdom, over-the-top optimism and good business sense.” They advise entrepreneurs to find a way to charge a premium. By making a 3D film, Cameron was able to charge 30 percent more than a regular movie ticket.

It also took Cameron 10 years to make the film, which BloggingStocks says proves that “while some entrepreneurs can make a quick fortune, this is rare. Instead, building real value takes time.”

5
FEB

art, entertainment, entrepreneurship, innovation, management, usa

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is once again stirring up controversy! Check this from Jonathan Brown in the Independent

“They are the grubby prison cells away from home, the matchbox-size rooms with the peeling wallpaper and foetid sheets – at least according to the on-line reviews. But how bad are they really?

The hotel industry is growing increasingly concerned at the power wielded by internet sites such as TripAdvisor, on which often excoriating – yet anonymous – notices are posted that can destroy an establishment’s reputation. It comes after hoteliers reacted with fury, claiming their businesses were damaged, after being included in a list of the 10 “Dirtiest Hotels” in the UK, released to publicise the site.

Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, said hotels across Europe were seeking to persuade the EU Commission to overhaul the rules governing website reviews to ensure that they have been posted by genuine guests and not by rivals or people simply out to cause mischief. The issue surfaced during the most recent meeting of hotel chiefs in Barcelona, when industry leaders called for the rest of Europe to adopt the same standards of authentification that are already in operation in Germany.

Mr Cotton said: “Websites have a responsibility that the person has actually stayed at the hotel or dined at the restaurant. I have been having discussions in Brussels on behalf of the industry so that some sort of common sense should prevail, as it does on sites such as eBay.” He added: “You can’t ban these on-line comments – that is like de-inventing the atomic bomb – and I am in favour of all these methods of modern communication. But we need a fair crack of the whip.”

Mr Cotton said that he was aware of cases where owners had “smelt a rat”. He said: “It might be that someone has picked up some business from a competitor and the competitor wasn’t very happy and they put a whole series of comments saying how bad the visit was by the people who stayed at the hotel. It can really affect a business.”

Perhaps worst hit by the on-line review phenomenon recently was the two-star Grosvenor Hotel in Blackpool’s Albert Road, which was last week named and shamed in the Trip Advisor survey as Britain’s dirtiest establishment. Its owner, Chirag Khajuria, who has had 3,000 guests since taking over the running of the seaside hotel six months ago – garnering just 35 poor reviews – criticised the methodology. “It all seems very biased in favour of the bad reports, when some of our guests have said they would be back again to stay,” he said. Even when the Daily Mail went to poke fun at the hotel it concluded that the £26-a- night room was “no worse – and, in some cases, better – than many other hotels in Britain”.

At least one of the hotels named on the list when approached by The Independent said it was considering legal action against TripAdvisor, claiming the comments were based on out-dated observations made before a major refurbishment. Another London hotelier included on the list, who asked not to be identified, said he had received cancellations since being named.

TripAdvisor said its Dirtiest Hotels list was based on a “proprietary algorithm” which included factors other than the anonymous reviews. In a statement, it said it used “automated tools” to detect fraud, as a well as a team of moderators.”

The picture – Cape Maclear on Lake Malawi – an amazingly beautiful place! Thanks to Go2Africa

4
FEB

Africa, guests, reviews, TripAdvisor

Modern Procrastination (Or Mucking Around On Facebook)

I love Seth Godin’s blog – short, easy to read and always on the ball! Check this one:

Modern procrastination

The lizard brain adores a deadline that slips, an item that doesn’t ship and most of all, busywork. These represent safety, because if you don’t challenge the status quo, you can’t be made fun of, can’t fail, can’t be laughed at. And so the resistance looks for ways to appear busy while not actually doing anything. I’d like to posit that for idea workers, misusing Twitter, Facebook and various forms of digital networking are the ultimate expression of procrastination. You can be busy, very busy, forever. The more you do, the longer the queue gets. The bigger your circle, the more connections are available.

Laziness in a white collar job has nothing to do with avoiding hard physical labor. “Who wants to help me move this box!” Instead, it has to do with avoiding difficult (and apparently risky) intellectual labor.

“Honey, how was your day?”

“Oh, I was busy, incredibly busy.”

“I get that you were busy. But did you do anything important?”

Busy does not equal important. Measured doesn’t mean mattered. When the resistance pushes you to do the quick reaction, the instant message, the ‘ping-are-you-still-there’, perhaps it pays to push in precisely the opposite direction. Perhaps it’s time for the blank sheet of paper, the cancellation of a long-time money loser, the difficult conversation, the creative breakthrough…

Or you could check your email.”

Brilliant as usual!

Or perhaps more succinctly – something I saw on Facebook this morning:
Put ♥ this ♥ on ♥ your ♥ status ♥ if ♥ you ♥ are ♥ mucking ♥ around ♥ on ♥ facebook ♥ instead ♥ of ♥ getting ♥ shit ♥ done

Lol! As they say!

3
FEB

blog, facebook, management

Meagan Hawley

Yesterday on Twitter and on Facebook I mentioned our shock about and prayers for Meagan Hawley, from Namwianga Mission. Meagan has been a frequent Guest at Chanters Lodge in the past few years – a lively, lovely vivacious girl doing an amazing job at the mission. This is what the Gregersens, also great friends of Chanters Lodge, wrote on their blog:

“Meagan Hawley, our dear friend and co-worker here at Namwianga, is on her way back to the US for medical treatment. She has been having symptoms which lead her doctors to suspect serious health problems. On Saturday, a specialist at OU looked at photos of her lymph nodes and tonsils and said she needs a biopsy immediately to diagnose or rule out lymphoma. She will have surgery in Oklahoma City on Monday or Tuesday. Meagan had just 12 hours notice to get ready to leave Namwianga, making it very difficult for her to say her goodbyes and pack for the trip while she processed this frightening news.

Meagan has devoted the last three years of her life to caring for the orphans here at Namwianga. Most recently she has been in charge of Marjorie’s House, a facility to care for babies who have health problems or compromised immune systems. Words cannot express the impact she has had on all of us who know her and especially on the little ones who rely on her tender care.

Please pray for Meagan, for her family, and for those of us here at Namwianga who need her back soon. “

We’ll do that and hope for her speedy recovery

2
FEB

Africa, Chanters, charities, friends, guests, health, usa, Zambia

Offices

Our new small office block is taking longer to build than we’d hoped at Chanters Lodge in Livingstone. But there’s some progress as evidenced by this picture.

Most of the roofing materials are now to hand (if not yet paid for!) And we hope the roof will be on this week, weather and builders permitting. If we’re occupying the offices and solvent by the end of February, we’ll be happy enough! Even if it means sitting on beer crates with laptops on laps!

1
FEB

Chanters, electricity, extension, infrastructure, innovation, livingstone, victoriafalls, Zambia

What A Woman Wants In A Man

What a woman wants in a man:

Original List:
1. Handsome
2. Charming
3. Financially successful
4. A caring listener
5. Witty
6. In good shape
7. Dresses with style
8. Appreciates finer things
9. Full of thoughtful surprises

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 32)
1. Nice looking
2. Opens car doors, holds chairs
3. Has enough money for a nice dinner
4. Listens more than talks
5. Laughs at my jokes
6. Carries bags of groceries with ease
7. Owns at least one tie
8. Appreciates a good home-cooked meal
9. Remembers birthdays and anniversaries

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 42)
1. Not too ugly
2. Doesn’t drive off until I’m in the car
3. Works steady – splurges on dinner out occasionally
4. Nods head when I’m talking
5. Usually remembers punch lines of jokes
6. Is in good enough shape to rearrange the furniture
7. Wears a shirt that covers his stomach
8. Knows not to buy champagne with screw-top lids
9. Remembers to put the toilet seat down
10. Shaves most weekends

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 52)
1. Keeps hair in nose and ears trimmed
2. Doesn’t belch or scratch in public
3. Doesn’t borrow money too often
4. Doesn’t nod off to sleep when I’m venting
5. Doesn’t re-tell the same joke too many times
6. Is in good enough shape to get off the couch on weekends
7. Usually wears matching socks and fresh underwear
8. Appreciates a good TV dinner
9. Remembers your name on occasion
10. Shaves some weekends

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 62)
1. Doesn’t scare small children
2. Remembers where bathroom is
3. Doesn’t require much money for upkeep
4. Only snores lightly when asleep
5. Remembers why he’s laughing
6. Is in good enough shape to stand up by himself
7. Usually wears some clothes
8.. Likes soft foods
9. Remembers where he left his teeth
10. Remembers that it’s the weekend

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 72)
1. Breathing.
2. Doesn’t miss the toilet.

31
JAN

joke

The Kwacha and The Jump

Standard Chartered Bank said this during the week:

“Technically, US $/kwacha is now perched at key support levels the 100-week moving average stands at K4,440, and a decisive break of these levels can see an acceleration to the downside a key 50 per cent retracement level lies at K4,210,” said Khan. “We revised our US $/kwacha forecast profile to show more near-term kwacha strength and only very modest weakness further out. Without wishing to downplay slow local event risk, it is noteworthy that at many maturities Zambian government debt offers an attractive prospective total return on our central scenario of very mild kwacha depreciation on a one-year horizon.”

And Standard Chartered Bank has projected that Zambia would record 11.4 per cent rate of inflation this year while GDP is projected at 5.5 per cent with the kwacha expected to close at K4,925 against the US dollar.

I can’t pretend to understand exactly what it all means, just hope they’re right that the Kwacha will be K4925 to a US$ by the end of the year….that will mean a lot to Chanters Lodge

The picture? The Jump – my son Jan jumping into the Zambezi in October 2006 – if the Kwacha goes the other way – just watch me!

30
JAN

Africa, family, livingstone, rafting, Zambia

Zambia Reserves

From ThePostOnline

“There’s no underlying need for Zambia to build reserves beyond the current US$1.8 billion hence the surplus should be directed at infrastructure investment to stimulate the local economy, observes Standard Chartered Bank head of research for Africa Razia Khan. And Khan has said there are possibilities of extra-budgetary expenditure in the run-up to the 2011 elections that may see the government to overshoot its planned domestic debt issuance.

Khan challenged the government to put in place measures that would ensure the economy to be ‘firing in all cylinders’ to result in satisfactory and meaningful growth that would subsequently reduce poverty levels in the country. Last year, Zambia recorded US$1.8 billion, which is about four to five months import cover due to increased inflows from the International Finance Institutions, mainly the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which boosted the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

However, financial market experts and analysts have questioned the motive behind the continued stockpiling of the reserves, saying Zambia should just save slightly above what is required as import cover and use the surplus for infrastructure development such as roads. It is also understood that there were several challenges in maintaining large currency reserves, which included fluctuations in exchange rates, low international interest rates and reduction in purchasing power of the reserve currency due to inflation.

The financial experts, who preferred anonymity, stated that there was no need for Zambia to continue stockpiling foreign reserves when the country’s infrastructure capacity which is key to enhance economic growth was not being developed. “Why do we want to keep so much money doing nothing instead of investing it into infrastructural projects that will help stimulate the country’s economy?” questioned the experts.

Commenting on the issue and giving a foreign exchange market outlook for Zambia last week, Khan said the Zambian Kwacha had started 2010 with a powerful advance, leaving the US$/kwacha at 4.2 per cent below turn-of-year levels and at 22.7 per cent below the K5,750 which was the 2009 peak.”

And that 22.7% represents the Kwacha income loss we’ve suffered in a year as a result! What a lot of sense this piece makes, though I don’t suppose anyone will listen!

29
JAN

Africa, infrastructure, innovation, leadership, trends, Zambia

African Economy

Continuing yesterday’s post from Reuters

“That is not to say it will be a smooth ride. Eric Chirwa, a 40-year-old Zambian miner, can tell you what a tough year it’s been in Luanshya: its century-old copper mine was mothballed in the depths of the global slump, leaving 1,700 miners out of work and at the mercy of the banks with whom they had racked up huge debts in the boom years. He’s been tracking world copper prices on a daily basis, and has seen them rebound: “In the past, we never used to know the copper price,” he said. “Now I’m checking the price every day in the internet cafe.”

Internet access is one aspect of the technology driving changes in Africa that go far beyond letting a miner anticipate fluctuations in copper prices. In central Africa, Rwanda has invested heavily in broadband and is promoting itself as a business services hub. Far more visible, of course, is the cell phone. One person in three has one: in 2007 Africa had 270 million of them, according to industry association GSMA, up from 50 million in 2003. The uptake shows little sign of slowing as five years of annual growth above 5 percent swell the middle classes.

Mobile money transfer systems such as M-PESA from Kenya’s Safaricom (SCOM.NR) have allowed people with no bank accounts — still the vast majority — to ping money to each other for a fraction of the cost of transfers or a bus ride to deliver cash. The system has evolved to incorporate an array of payments from taxi fares to food, drinks and movie tickets, making it possible to spend a whole day in Nairobi without carrying cash. Cities, towns and villages are cluttered with billboards advertising the latest cell phone service or gimmick.

The macroeconomic effect is huge.

A World Bank study released in November suggested half the 5 percent growth Africa enjoyed from 2003-08 was due to improvements in infrastructure, mainly telecommunications. “Cell phones have already transformed many economies in Africa,” said Arthur Goldstuck, head of Johannesburg-based technology research firm World Wide Worx. “But the cell phone will become far more important than it is now.”

Researchers of M-PESA’s impact on Kenya say it is boosting rural incomes by as much as 30 percent, allowing small farmers to diversify out of subsistence agriculture. As browser-enabled “smart” cell phones go mainstream in the next 5-10 years, Africans will gain access to the internet-based services and information that have driven huge productivity gains in the rich world.”

Comment
In Zambia pity then that internet services are still so unreliable and expensive, and that the cellphone network also grinds to a halt so frequently. We’re told that more Africans have access to a cellphone than to running water. How’s that for ‘development’?

The Picture
A Kenyan enjoying Victoria Falls on the Zambian side!

28
JAN

Africa, Economy, infrastructure, internet, Zambia

Hope Yet?

I found this interesting from Reuters

“With the stoicism demanded of all who hope to make money in Africa, Beauty Chama sits in her empty hair salon in a leafy town in northern Zambia’s Copper Belt and looks forward to better times. “We are waiting patiently until the miners start making their money,” she said, fingering the heavy gold chain around her neck that testifies to past fat years. “Then we shall start making our money. It’s only a matter of time.”

Africa for the investor is like that: a story of boom and bust, where famine and disease are punctuated by coups and civil wars. For many, its tales of war and diamonds, tribal rivalries, plundered treasuries and secret Swiss bank accounts make it too risky. Somalia is fast approaching its third decade without a functional central government, and the prolonged ill-health of Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua has created a troubling power vacuum in Africa’s most alluring frontier market.

But after the implosion of such supposedly sophisticated or promising institutions as Lehman Brothers or Dubai World, the confidence of the Zambian hairdresser is finding echoes as far away as London, New York and Beijing. The International Monetary Fund believes growth in sub-Saharan Africa will be 1 percentage point above the global average, and puts eight African countries in its top 20 fastest-expanding economies in 2010. Oil-rich Angola and Congo Republic will lead the charge with growth rates of more than 9 and 12 percent respectively, both beating China, according to the IMF’s most recent projections.

“Africa,” said Tara O’Connor of Africa Risk Consulting, “is the continent of the long game. It’s not perfect, but the overarching trend is one toward entrenching political stability, which then allows businesses to operate much more consistently.” For some African countries, particularly those helped by Chinese investment and its thirst for energy and minerals, another boom may be approaching.

Investors with cheap cash needing to spice up returns in more obscure parts of the globe are asking whether Africa can shift from final investment frontier into the emerging market mainstream. Reflecting this interest, Africa gets top billing at the annual meeting of the rich and powerful in Davos this week. “Not investing in Africa is like missing out on Japan and Germany in the 1950s, Southeast Asia in the 1980s and emerging markets in the 1990s,” said Francis Beddington, head of research at emerging market investment house Insparo Capital.

He believes that in the long term, Africa has the potential to be home to a sizeable chunk of the factories and warehouses of tomorrow’s world. The Africa of old — aid-dependent, and with large tracts of the economy controlled by corrupt and capricious governments — has not disappeared. But for all the previous false dawns, there is a growing belief that the continent — home to 53 countries, a rapidly urbanizing young population of a billion people and as much as a third of the world’s natural resources — is changing.”

Hope yet?

27
JAN

Africa, Economy, Zambia

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