The World Of Work 2006 Team

Back to ancient time, classical tasks of the state have been making war and ensuring internal order. However, the event of modernism has seen the state mostly performing a role of economic transformation and development achievement though still performing its classical roles.

In present times, there is mounting evidence that success in development depends, to certain extent, on internal structures that a state is made of. Many studies such as the one by the sociologist Peter Evans prove enough that differences in the level of development is much due to the nature of states and the kind of relationships states develop with their societies.

As far as sub-Saharan Africa is concerned, the observation is that conditions of empty democracies easing elite to capture many states, failing and under-resourced bureaucracies, corruption, and many other symptoms still prevail. Yet without state, the other master institution of modern society (markets) cannot function (Evans 1995).

On the other hand, “managing an economy is not an easy task, especially in a context of global imperatives, where a country that deviates from the global norm is meted with punishment by global capital. The task is more difficult in a society like ours [South Africa] with conflicting imperatives. … These competing imperatives pose critical challenges for building one nation that belongs to all South Africans. To a large extent, South Africa’s ability to effectively address these imperatives will be dependent on the ability of the ruling party, the African National Congress… (Edigheji, 2005).

However, this long quote should not be taken for excuse. Instead, Africa should learn that the 3 successful post-war development experiences over the world emphasize the role that state apparatuses have played:

• The Marshall plan, which consisted of funding the post war reconstruction of Europe. Great results where achieved by European states such as France.
• The East Asian Growth and Development Plan (where US capital inflows helped to generate anti-communist states), and
• The European Integration Programme (attempt to promote growth and overcome regional inequalities in Europe).

In the East Asian case for instance, the East Asian miracle, countries did not only receive US aid to prevent communist expansion. Well known as the tigers, states played a vital role by:

• Successfully using financial instruments to channel investment decisions in line with national priorities, hence the concept of state-capitalism;
• Effectively initiating and presiding industrial transformation, hence the concept developmental state;
• Surmounting particularistic interest and securing collective goals, hence the concept embedded autonomy.

In the 1990s, the World Bank initiated a research in more than 200 countries to determine prospects of development based on six sectors:

• Voices and Accounatbility, measuring political, civic and human rights;
• Political Instability and Violence - measuring the likelihood of violent threats to, or changes in, government, including terrorism;
• Government Effectiveness - measuring the competence of the bureaucracy and the quality of public service delivery;
• Regulatory Burden - measuring the incidence of market-unfriendly policies;
• Rule of Law - measuring the quality of contract enforcement, the police, and the courts, including judiciary independence, and the incidence of crime;
• Control of corruption.

All the 6 indicators used by the bank relate to governance, that shows how good governance is determinant for development.

In 2005, the World Bank research was released and its main findings indicate that a realistic improvement in just one of the 6 areas within a country, can result in about 300% increase in the national per capita income over the long the term!
Main conclusions of the World Bank report are that:

• Improved governance leads to higher standards of living and poverty alleviation;
• Such improvements in governance are realistic;
• Measuring governance changes over time: significant improvements are feasible;
• Yet the worldwide reality is sobering: limited progress on average;
• Demand for rigorously monitoring progress: the power of data.

Hence the Bank to conclude: ‘Yet good governance is not a luxury that only wealthy countries can afford’.

Despite this brief book review one should be aware that I am not an advocate of the World Bank, in fact my empirical study in DRC last year made me side with those still questioning the genuineness of the Bank’s latest policy regarding poverty alleviation, I do respect most of their research findings.

Besides that, the UN Convention against Corruption has just set some institutional arrangements to fight corruption and urges States to appoint bodies to coordinate prevention and enforcement measures (UNDP, April 2006).

All this makes me conclude that the thesis that development’s outcomes in third world depend on the role a state performs is still valid to a certain extent. Thus, good and stable governance, sound macroeconomic policies, pro-poor bureaucracies and service delivery will characterize African countries that are going to make a difference.

NEPAD (www.nepad.org) is the African initiative for development which is an attempt to put Africa on the path of good governance and prosperity with a consolidation of peace, security and stability. It is especially an attempt to shift the ideology of a donor-recipient relationship to rather a partnership between nations to give and receive aid.

It realizes the need for policy reforms in order to establish sustainable development within all African states. It is an attempt to redefine the concept of development assistance, and it has a strong emphasis on partnership to be able to do this. Thus it seeks policy reform and enhanced investment within the following sectors: Agriculture; human development, particularly in health and education; developing a better infrastructure which incorporates transport, energy, and information technology; more diverse economies with regards to their export and production particularly with regards to mining, tourism and agro-industry; promote trade between African states and increase access to developed markets of the world. These aims and policy reforms are very similar and can be directly related to that of the Post Washington Consensus.

Throughout this brief background of NEPAD it can clearly be seen that the central policies outlined in NEPAD, namely constant macroeconomic policy and strength, greater openness of African economies to the world, and good governance, are at the heart of the Post Washington Consensus policy instruments. Similarly, these two mechanisms for development realizes that developing nations need stable financial guidelines, competitiveness, policies to assist in the transfer of technology, and transparency, to name a few aspects ignored by the Washington Consensus. Like the Post Washington Consensus, NEPAD understands that without government action there will be too little investment in the production and adoption of new technology.
Initiatives like NEPAD can be seen as a response to these reforms, trying to apply the Consensus reforms in a positive way. It is a reaction to the failures of the Washington Consensus, but it also takes some of the positive aspects and it attempts to promote greater integration of Africa into the international economy from which it has been marginalised. One of its main goals is increased international competition by, for instance, encouraging regional production chains and the development of the markets around Africa.

However, NEPAD faces some problems. In brief, the major difficulty they are facing at present is the fact that it is not very clear about the development path that needs to be obtained in order to reach the clearcut goals they have set forth. There is also the worry that NEPAD is taking on the same policies that have been in the running for 20 years which are linked to the Bretton Woods institutions, and in turn the Washington Consensus. And many critics argue that NEPAD is only there to answer the call of institutions like the World Bank (www.worldbank.org) and donors countries for Africa to implement policies that reflect those of the Washington Consensus.

Having mentioned the above however, one must also note that without the commitment on the part of both government and business on the continent towards issues of good governance, both politically and within the corporate sector these ideals will not see the light of day. Continuous engagement between the two parties on issues such as the foreign policy objectives of a country also becomes very important. Here, one refers to not only the political objectives but also government always being on the lookout for possible contracts on behalf of companies in their respective countries. Another matter that requires urgent attention and cooperation is on the infrastructural challenges facing the continent, an important component of Nepad. Expertise and experience from all over the continent needs to be harnessed in order to meet the ultimate objectives of the programme. Technological expertise needs to be shared amongst African countries and further regional integration needs also to take place.

Last Friday I attended a conference which brought 8 former African presidents to address the public at wits. Great initiative! This was part of the African Presidential Roundtable co-organized by Boston University and the African Presidential and Archives Research Center (http://www.bu.edu/aparc/). Pierre Buyoya from Burundi, Masire from Botswana, Rawlings from Ghana, Kaunda from Zambia, Offman from Mauritius, Nicefore Soglo (Benin), Maria Pereira (Cape Verde), William B Mkapa (Tanzania), and Hassan Mwinyi (Tanzania) were there. They are controversial figures since many people relate African misery to them. Avoiding the blame game, I took away two things from them:

• Excellence Kaunda (Zambia) said: ‘Young people, you are the legacy of Africa, and if you do not take over your responsibilities, then Africa is lost’.
  
• N Soglo (Benin) argued that, once in office I was confronted by things that I never learnt from university: I realized that corruption was a world institution, institutionalized and protected by the west!

Drawing from that, my first premise is that African development needs a strong leadership form the current generation.

Many attendees at that conference may disagree with me. Indeed, the discussion we had mostly turned around questions like: corruption, why very long stay in offices, why didn’t you implement what you are saying now, why, why and why.

Disagree or not, WHY is the most difficult question on this earth. One day, after watching some pictures of some ‘wanted’ gangsters in his city, a little boy went to see a police officer in his vicinity and asked him this very question: “why did not you guys catch these gangsters when you were shooting them?”…

And so was our conference.

To answer the question on overstay in power, ex president Ketumile Masire stood up as the respondent on behalf of the group. His argument, “you can be in that office as long as you perform…in the US, people were overstaying up to when one took too long. Then they decided to fix a term. We are simply coping from them. Chirac in France, Thatcher in UK, etc overstayed and no one complained…”

Another argument ex African president sticked to, was that: we fought for our independences.

The real question that we should ask our self, as next generation or rulers, is how well prepared and ready are we compared to them?

It’s always good to look at deficiencies of a predecessor, but I think we better move the debate beyond that.

Being endowed with diversity of natural resources brought misfortune to Africa. Western countries, helped by African elite in power have been looting our riches. The aim of those powers has always been to have control over the Liberian or Sierra Leonean diamond. Belgian declared DR Congo a geological scandal! Since the last discovery of petrol in Chad, the country is now subject of international attention from some western powers after years of neglect.

As Soglo (Benin) said, corruption is like tennis game, you need a receiver on the other side to send the ball back to you. Do not blame African leaders only; it’s a highly organized network. Moreover, your university curriculum will never teach you about that.

When blogging on that, I do not mean that we should go for corruption! Instead, it teaches me about ethics, and that is my second premise.

If African leaders do not understand their role in the expected change, things are likely to not improve. Zimbabwe celebrated her national day 5 days ago, but the situation there leaves much to desire. Mugabe is a great nationalist, true and great, but we want to see that being translated in improvement of people’s lives and national economics. Emigration in that country has tremendously increased, would you tell me that Mugabe is doing well. On the other side, his opponents seem to be short of inspiration.

LD Kabila took over Mobutu’s 32 year-rule in DRC. I liked that guy, fluent in more that 7 international languages. His discourse was seducing: “Le peuple congolais a besoin du changement” (= Congolese need change). Indeed, we were tired of Mobutu. Then, Kabila ruled for 4 years but except his discourse, he never proved to be the nationalist (Lumumbist, Lumumba) he claimed to be.

South Africa, at least what sub-Saharan Africa can be proud of, is still struggling with a crisis of leadership and a jobless growth that is not yet correcting the wealth divide caused by Apartheid.

This generation of ours is the next to take over the destiny of the continent. What a huge responsibility! If we are not aware of it, we are likely to do the worse.

Cyrille

This post is by Guy Kawasaki, copied from his blog at blog.guykawasaki.com. I regard him as one of the great gurus of the business world. He's new-ish to blogging, and already has a huge following. That's cos he follows his own advice. Walk his talk.
-- Roy Blumenthal.

The 120 Day Wonder: How to Evangelize a Blog

Now that the debate over the gospel of Judas has reached its peak in news during the time Christians celebrate Easter, some are focused on the first democratic elections in the DRC (32 candidates!) and others are concerned with the mixture of the next Italian government, I am shifting away from all that to blog on the ambiance we had in the World Of Work (WOW) training. Definitely, this is one of the experiences that I will always remember in my life.

From March 13 to April 11, 2006, as interns of the WOW program; we were addressed by almost 40 people from different organizations. Some of them spoke for as long as 20 minutes but said as much constructive as longer presenters. One of the earlier things I learnt is an advice from Shameen Naidoo (CCDU) who addressed us on emotional intelligence (EQ) and stress management. Being altruistic by nature, my main challenge was how to find a balance between self and social awareness. Her advice was simple; three of the 5 elements of EQ concern the self […], therefore allow sometimes to you and give yourself this month then work from that. Three weeks later, I have realized that it was the done thing to myself and I can still find room for people surrounding me.

After a school attendance of 24 years, despite some interruptions here and there, it was time to negotiate an eventual shift. Please note that, the record for school attendance among 2006 WOW interns was held by Maina with 25 years!

We were a group of 17 interns, all humanities students but from all over the world. The beauty of the thing was that we had to see each other and spend at least a third of each working day, which was quite different from post-graduate studies we have just finished. When attending postgraduate classes (at least at Wits), the longest sessions we had were two-week block studies intermittently held. In the WOW, I started to realize that my formal studies were over though I am still struggling between embarking for the workplace or progressing towards a Phd, which is another story.

The WOW was a sort of ambiance I had to discover and learn from. Planning to work in an organization with diversity as main characteristic, the WOW was the shadow of the career environment I have been longing for. Not only that the caliber of guest speakers was high, but also the diversity of study programmes and countries we all were from gave it a special character.

Besides that, we had two special ladies: Jean Power and Lesley Emanuel managing the programme. I like the power and heart Jean has; you can’t be insensitive to that. On the other hand, Lesley’s frankness, desire for excellence and high-standard pieces of work taught me a lot.
Another opportunity this program gave me was to make me part of the the blogosphere, this complex virtual community of people from all over the world, not limited by space and time, but always interacting through web blogs. I really felt what it entails to be a citizen of the global village. Thanks Roy, thank you to all our guest speakers (since I cannot name each individually).
Now, with this blogteam, my wish is to see the very same atmosphere, not as real as the physical we had, but a virtual interaction through blogging.

I learnt a lot and space does not allow me to list what I have been empowered to. In short, after attending this programme and listening to all our guest speakers, I feel like being given and taught on a pack of two things: ‘a map and a compass’ with their user’s guides. Drop me in the Amazon forest and for sure, with the two tools, I can still find my way out, I can still locate South Africa or DRC. I mean, I am ready to ‘go to work’ in South Africa, Brazil, DRC or elsewhere as long as it is on earth where I can use my map and compass.

Thanks a million,
Cyrille

Yesterday an Executive Director asked students to prepare a presentation on aspects of his organisation. For early next week. Very early. From my corner of the room, I could see the turmoil on all the students’ faces: the opportunity (of the presentation) versus

-difficulty getting computer/internet access
-family commitments
-other work demands!
-holiday time (so well deserved right now, after WoW training sessions)

One brave person spoke for all the others: “Actually, could we have more time? We have holidays...”

Deadlines, when you’re trying to gain access into an organisation, can’t be negotiated. When you don’t have an established reputation, or when they don’t know you, employers make a very easy jump to some very damaging conclusions when prospective interns/employees try to shift things to suit themselves:

-“he’s not keen”
-“ah, so that’s his work ethic: holidays come first!”
-“she doesn’t really want this job”
-“that kind of attitude won’t fit in here.”

If you’re an intern, or an entry-level employee, you are going to have to make some personal compromises in areas like these.

Actually, this isn’t only true for interns. I know a married couple who have worked together for the last 30 years. They create databases, she designs and he delivers. They got a great contract. She designed – and he had to install it, right in the middle of an extraordinary, wonderful camping holiday to Mozambique that they had planned with extended family. She went. He worked.

They complained bitterly - to friends only, of course. He did the work professionally and only mentioned the fact that he had missed his holiday in passing, once, to the company CEO. The story ends with the contract ending successfully. Lots of subsequent work.

Oh - and the CEO gave them a gift. He painted the couple holidaying together in Mozambique. Framed it, and also gave them a fully paid weekend to Mozambique, in their own time.

Not that we can expect the same for our commitment to our work. But maybe we should re-think the degree to which we are prepared to compromise and commit. Maybe we should think differently about things like workplace ‘dead’- lines, because when you’ve handed in a piece of work, or when you sit down right after you have given a presentation, you have created the potential for exciting, life-changing things to start happening. Maybe that’s how workplace deadlines are different to deadlines for academic work.

So when you’re offered a deadline (perhaps as part of an interview process) that has you in a corner, grab it with enthusiasm and energy, even while your heart sinks. Late nights, red-eyes, working under pressure will pay off in the end.

On the subject of what to do and what not to do in an interview: here’s a fun article, a collection of weird stories from employers – the worst experiences they ever had with a candidate in an interview or in the hiring process.
http://www.vault.com/surveys/manners/comments6b.jsp

Lesley Emanuel

War is a destroying force that has been hindering prospects of development in many African countries and over the world. It has taken hope away from our countries by recruiting young teenage soldiers just like these two pictures.

If yesterday only dictators were spending billions for war-related needs, the current trend is that developed countries have taken the shift. I am not the right person to tell how much Bush spent in Afghanistan and Iraq ($ 45.3 billions were budgeted for 2006! http://www.clubconspiracy.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1445) .

Most of African leaders that invested much in military spending have passed away, but as if history teaches nothing, some current presidents are following the very same path. The motives behind their behavior are always greed, gluttony, megalomania, and delusions of grandeur. Mobutu (find his profile on http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578969/Mobutu_Sese_Seko.html) is one of them, at least the one that I know better since he ruled my country for 32 years. The guy always argued that ‘Zairians (Congolese) owe me everything’. He instituted the law of jungle and ruled by force.

On the other hand, being endowed with natural resources brought misfortunes on certain countries. Liberian and Sierra Leonean diamond, Iraqi gas, Angolan diamond, as well as Congolese diverse wealth are roots of what we coin in civilized words civilian wars and genocide.

When coming to colonize DRC, Belgians for instance clearly stated ‘this is a geological scandal’. And for 5 decades, the Belgian King had DRC (a country 80 times bigger than his) as his own property. Unfortunately after the colonial looting citizens did worse.

What most of them forget is that, there is no harmful situation as feeling that you are missing your family or you will never see them anymore. Some finally came to understand only after a coup was inflicted to them. They never cope with exile.

Just like a plant, human beings seeking for asylum or refuge as well as displaced need their homeland to blossom. Being uprooted from homeland where one belongs has turned to a nightmare for some.
The wealth that was supposed to help us build Africa serves to oppose brothers. As a result, African diamonds and gold end up in Beyrouth, Tel Aviv, or Brussels at the expense of African sons and daughters that are buried. (http://mondediplo.com/2000/06/02sierraleone http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html).

Genocide and atrocities (such as disemboweling pregnant women, crushing living babies, raping women, and burning villages) have affected young generations by leaving indelible traumas. Most of these scenes were kept far from media broadcasting, but the wounds they caused are very alive in many and tough to tell.

This is a painful and terrifying experience no one wishes to revive. What Africa needs today is ‘ubuntu’, that consciousness that we are humans, and as such we need to unite and care for each other. That is the basis for building a sustained ‘amani’ (peace) and secure development for next generations.

Contradictory, when diamond fuels wars elsewhere in Africa, Botswana the world’s largest producer of diamond is a very good example stability, peace and growth (http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/courses/306/africa_diamond_wars1.htm).

Rich...! is a dude you can learn from. His company -- Missing Link -- walks the talk. When you leave their premises, if you're not wild about that company, it's probably cos you're a walking dead person.

I first came across them when I was directing a tv series about the Open Source movement (you can download the series via bit-torrent). At that time, they had skateboard ramps all over their offices, with okes actually skateboarding on them. And because of that first impression, I've been yearning to work with them for ages (and we have indeed done some work together), and I've been spreading their name far and wide.

Here is some core thinking from Rich...! on using excellence as your starting point, adding uniqueness and memorability as your differentiator. Pay attention to this post. It'll make you rich. (Or Rich...!)

How to differentiate your company.

by Rich...! at Missing Link

So here's the trick as I see it. People need to stop trying to differentiate simply on the product alone. They should just differentiate (like these guys).

Let me use our company as a case-study here. I own a presentation firm, our client's are big corporate companies, in theory they just come to us for presentations i.e. we're not a "creative" company as such. However when they come, we have a rule, and every employee knows it:

When someone visits our office we have to make such an impression that people talk about us at home later, not just at their office.

So we collect em in a stretch limo with hot-rod flames, we have no corporate ID, but collectable business cards (here's one). My desk is a queen-sized bed, D'ave has a coffin for his, we have a beach in the office, clients get doggy bags when they leave, and there are lots of other little things.

None of this has anything to do with our product though.

Here's the secret, the product rocks, it has to, but it doesn't matter if they talk about the product or not, as long as they talk about us.

The human brain likes to compartmentalise things, so we set out to make an impression, a big one. That big impression gets tagged "presentation guys" in our client's mind. Later when they chat to someone about presentations, that tag sets of an alarm and our guy will say, "You just have to chat to this crew, they're really good, and crazy too, they..."

So make sure your product is better than good enough, then differentiate on the simple day-to-day things that no-one else bothers with. Our visitors apologise that their business cards are so dull. That's a cool conversation to have.

This post is not about us though, promise. It's about you.

Change the mundane...!

Post inspired by Richard

Posted by Rich...! | Permalink

Roy Blumenthal blogs at Coffee-Shop Schmuck.

Technorati Tags: rich...!, missing link, presenting, marketing, differentiation

Garr Reynolds writes about delivering presentations on his blog, Presentation Zen. Here, he looks at how 'you can be like Steve Jobs' (the main honcho at Apple). His main point? When you're presenting, be more yourself and less the expectation of what a presenter should be. Being you is the key to conveying your passion.
Technorati Tags: garr reynolds, presentation zen, presentation, powerpoint, present

CHECKMATE!
Whenever I feel disoriented, a game of chess brings me back to my usual senses. As I pondered over my next move after a two game thrashing by my dear wife, I remembered the therapeutic session we had with Tracy Rowe of Investec before she gave us very useful tips on professionalism. This was a day after an enlightening and brilliant talk from robust Kuseni Dlamini.

Telling one’s story, what they call narrative therapy, is crucial in expunging pent up emotions. Colleagues went on about imprisonment, working as barmen, sad childhoods, exciting moments in life as well as embarrassing moments, shattered dreams and faded hopes(Joseph, I still hope that one day, I will be as prolific a striker as Samuel Eto’o). However, an aura of optimism amidst a dark past was enveloping throughout.

What struck me most was Pascalia’s story, which was my story, this time not in Zimbabwe but in Kenya. Interestingly though, these two countries share a common colonial legacy… settler colonies, armed resistance and suffered the direct rule under Her Majesty. It is no coincidence that both countries have produced leaders who leave a lot to be desired; Uncle Bob (Robert Mugabe) and Uncle Dan (Daniel arap Moi). The two leaders’ difference is only in academic qualifications with one being a man of letters while the other should have stuck to his initial calling…. goat herding (guys I have nothing against goats; the meat is quite tasty!!).

Sticking to the narrative therapy, I remember my other job (colleagues, forget about the barman story for now) as an intern when I was in my 2nd year at varsity at the premier human rights organization in Kenya. Brilliant boy, from the university, my first task was to type a letter. Had I seen computers…yes. Did I know how to use them…? Never. It took me a whole day to type a one page letter on MS Word (holy heavens, and here I am blogging!! Or is it bragging?!).

Sounds more like Pascalia’s story, not so? Over the three months, I was able to overcome challenges and when our university acquired Internet facilities, I was in the forefront of utilizing to the maximum the facility. Three years down the line, I was teaching Information Technology for the Humanities to undergraduate students at Wits University (yes, Wits, Johannesburg). Cutting a long story short, I think the computer challenges we faced just show how education systems can be inadequate, but again, computer facilities only held sway in Africa less than a decade ago (we were born at theh wrong time?!). It is encouraging that today’s kids are computer whiz- kids (I still learn a few computer tricks from my 14yr old nephew in Kenya). Given the life stories of the Zimbabwean and the Kenyan, (I’m sure there are worse stories we can get from both countries), we have endeavoured to overcome all these challenges, ranging from bad governance, to economic mismanagement, low levels of technological developments, etc. Surely, there is hope for Africa.

What is expected of us, as Kuseni Dlamini aptly puts it, is to transform from being consumers of knowledge to producers of knowledge. Experiencing life outside our depressing domains is a step towards embracing globalisation, a modern day reality; realizing the malfunctional systems which are our origins, embracing the fastidious life of more industrialized nations and producing knowledge which will uplift the horrible living conditions of our people is the important cycle of globalisation; local to regional to global to local…ad infinitum. We should think and act local, regional and global simultaneously.

… and I made my next move, but was checkmated by the accomplished chess player, my lovely wife. I was to avenge for the defeat in a three game-win in a row the next day against some anonymous chess player (we are living in a global village, aren’t we?) on http://www.chessanytime.com/. The player might have been Garry Kasparov…who knows!!!

Now this post by Hugh Macleod of Gapingvoid is one mighty important post to bloggers. Very very important. Cos it's about HOW blogs work IN THE BACKGROUND.

Hugh's saying something vital.

I'll paraphrase him in my terms: 'If you have a very good blog, high quality, informative, and you post often, and you have a commitment to excellence, then there are three major consequences: (1) Your blog will display your skills to the world and show how good you are at what you do; (2) You become someone that other people can recommend; (3) You become someone who can recommend people to people.

Here's the post in HIS words:

on becoming more viral in the offline world...

Had an interesting conversation with Anu Gupta yesterday, all to do with how blogs make people more viral, even in the offline world.

Take HR, which is Anu's profession. I know very little about HR. What I know about HR could could probably be written on the back of a postcard.

So let's say I'm talking to some hotshot at a cocktail party, and he mentions he's looking to hire someone in HR.

As I know nothing about HR, nor do I know anyone in that profession very well, in the pre-blog world I would probably have just gone, "Sorry, can't help you", and quickly have changed the subject.

But with blogs I can tell the hotshot, "Well, there's this guy named Anu Gupta that works in HR. Don't know much about him. Met him once or twice before. Nice guy. Seems pretty bright. Here's his link. Maybe talk to him etc."

Suddenly a connection between the hotshot and Anu is made, without the bridge (i.e. me) having had to risk any of his (my) social capital, via making the recommendation.

In other words, the better your blog, the less qualified I have to be to recommend you. The easier and less socially risky it is for me to spread your story. Because all I have to do is give the guy your link, and hopefully your blog does the rest.

And if the same is true for everyone else who knows you, suddenly, like Anu, you've become a lot more viral.

Which surely is a good thing, right?

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/002610.html

Roy Blumenthal's blog is Coffee-Shop Schmuck

In my previous post on the World of Work Team blog, I wrote about the importance of South African business and their effects on the rest of Africa. The question that I raised was whether these companies are a force for good or bad. But you ask yourself, why should South Africa be the one to be a force for good in Africa? Let me briefly explain this:

• South Africa (SA) can unlock Africa’s vast economic potential.
  
• SA is the economic powerhouse of Africa - our economic and environmental infrastructure is much more sophisticated, advanced and diversified.
  
• We are not as reliant on commodities, and we’ve got a strong manufacturing and industrial base.
  
• European and American activities in Africa are mostly only limited to petroleum, mining and construction (SA can fill that gap).
  
• SA expands itself further into non-traditional sectors (unlike most African countries).
  SA’s good global reputation can rub off on Africa.

There are many aspects why Africa has found itself in this predicament of poor sustainable development and slow growth. These reasons differ from country to country, but overall, Africa needs this help because of the following reasons:

• Africa provides 1.5% to the global GDP, and 2.1% to global trade. But Africa makes up 13% of the world’s population.
  
• Some comparative examples: Spain’s GDP = $ 580 billion (Bigger than Africa’s GDP).
  Pentagon budget = $ 400 billion (Slightly smaller than Africa’s GDP).
  
• Africa is in a marginal position and has a pessimistic stance towards the rest of the world.
  
• World investment is weary (due to corruption, high business costs etc.).

Considering these impacts, it is obvious that South African businesses should get involved in the development of Africa. It will help liberalise their productive forces, SA business will put some profit into social investment, there will be a transfer of skills, improvement of quality, and most of all a increase in SA Foreign Direct Investment into Africa.

There are some areas where Africa has already shown improvement. These improvements are reason enough to not doubt the effect of business integration into Africa. These improvements are the following:

• Even though there is still high risks involved, returns are quite high.
  
• Sometimes returns on investment can be between 50-60 %.
  
• Policies and regulations are improving and countries are becoming more transparent and accountable.
  
• There is more privatisation.
  
• Two-thirds of African governments have been democratically elected and there are many anti-corruption committees.
  
• There are high returns on equity.
  
• There is a big move towards membership in international organisations. The WTO already has about 40 African members.

With the help of South African companies and the improvement Africa has shown in the past couple of years, its only a matter of time that Africa could become the ideal business-friendly environment. We’ll just have to wait and see.