Born and raised in West Africa, In a cotton-producing region where most people are self-employed. They farm during the rainy season and engage in various commercial activities in the dry season.
These commercial activities are small in scale, though. Entrepreneurs who want to expand come up against two daunting challenges: poor or absent energy supply and inadequate infrastructure, especially a lack of roads. These two challenges are found everywhere in Africa. Many rural areas do not have electricity and most cities cannot afford constant power. Power shortages are common even in big cities that are industrial centres. On August 4-6, 50 African leaders will join President Barack Obama in Washington for the first US-African Leaders Summit, which will focus on “Investing in the next generation.” If they are to truly lay the groundwork for the next generation’s prosperity, they must pay attention to the urgent need to invest in energy and infrastructure. I saw for myself how infrastructure can unlock entrepreneurial potential when I spent five years living and studying in South-East Asia. Where roads are good and electricity abounds, commercial activities flourish, from retail stores at local “night markets”, to family-owned businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises, and big corporations. The result is a dynamic private sector that creates jobs. South-East Asia – where in the 1970s many countries were at a similar level of development to African countries – is now home to some of the world’s leading technology companies. Africa can learn from South-East Asia’s experience. The entrepreneurial potential of the upcoming generation of Africans is immense. The richness of that entrepreneurial potential is being demonstrated by Africa’s technological innovators who are using mobile technology to increase agricultural productivity. Even the opportunities offered by mobile technology are constrained, however, as people in rural areas still need to travel long distances to get their mobile phones recharged because they have no electricity. Governments, the private sector and international partners should target investments at improving the infrastructure and energy shortages that are impeding progress in Africa. At the US–Africa Leaders’ Summit, African leaders should seize the opportunity to negotiate a new partnership with the United States aimed at fostering entrepreneurial skills among its young generation and unlocking their potential by providing them with the infrastructure and energy supplies they need. Africa has a competitive advantage as the world’s youngest region: 60 per cent of the population is under the age of 35. I am part of this generation. We need investments that give us a fair chance of using our full potential to develop our continent.
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There are so many great ways to learn and sharpen your skills these days: you can read blogs, listen to podcasts, watch how-to videos on YouTube, and attend webinars, just to name a few. Why bother with the time and expense of an in-person conference or workshop?
If that’s your attitude, then you may be missing out on one of the best opportunities to take your game to the next level. Live events—conferences, workshops, lunch & learns–provide unique learning and career building opportunities that you just can’t find anywhere else. Below you’ll find 12 reasons why you should attend live events and consider sending your employees to conferences as well. 1. Sharpen the SawWhile the “sharpen the saw” idea certainly pre-dates Stephen Covey, he lists it as his seventh habit of highly effective people. The idea is that sometimes you have to take a break from the “work” of your work to sharpen your skills. A dull axe won’t cut a tree nearly as effectively as a sharp one. I always return from a conference with new ideas and approaches that make me more effective and efficient at work. Don’t be the woodcutter hacking away at the tree with a dull ax while your competition cuts it down in half the time with a sharp one. Or uses a chainsaw she saw demonstrated at a conference. 2. Meet Experts & Influencers Face to FaceWhile not all conferences offer you the opportunity to meet your business idols, your chances are greatly improved when you’re sharing the same space. Sometimes it’s about taking a selfie with someone who’s influenced you or sharing a business idea with someone you admire, or making a connection that can lead to finding your next mentor. I remember at a Social Media Marketing World when I got a few minutes to speak one-on-one to Sally Hogshead, author of Fascinate and How the World Sees You, and ask her for some feedback on a new business venture I had launched. That could never have happened from an online success summit. 3. Networking OpportunitiesSocial media keeps me connected to my peers who are both local and “from away.” However, there’s no substitution for meeting someone IRL (in real life). Good conferences have opportunities for attendees to mix and mingle, form new relationships, and strengthen existing ones. Over coffee, lunch, or cocktails, you may make a connection with the perfect provider or prospect. At a breakout session, you may find yourself sitting next to your next customer or mentor. Or, if you don’t go, maybe your toughest competitor will be sitting in your seat. 4. New Tools Whether there’s an expo floor, or just a few tables near the coffee and muffins, companies often have tools to display that we haven’t seen yet. Apps that make us faster, less prone to costly mistakes, or give us some other sort of edge. While undoubtedly these products can be found at their websites, it’s great to get a hands-on demonstration or be able to ask questions that are specific to your business struggles from the company itself. 5. Learning In a New SpaceRemember that scene in Dead Poet’s Society when Robin Williams made his students stand on a desk to get a fresh perspective? Or consider why so many businesses have meetings off site. It’s because it’s easy to find ourselves in a rut. Sitting in the same chair, in the same office (or cubicle,) or in the same coffee house, can keep us from fresh thinking and new ideas. Breaking out of the office, sitting in a new space (even if it’s a tired old Holiday Inn conference room), can spark us to new approaches that will grow our businesses. 6. Break Out of Your Comfort ZoneGoing hand-in-hand with the previous reason, live events force you to break out of your comfort zone. It’s easy to read a blog post from the privacy of your own office. You won’t break a sweat listening to a podcast (unless you’re on the treadmill.) You don’t have to make small talk while your YouTube video loads up. While there are those among us who are born networkers, for many of us live events, and other people can be a challenge. But breaking out of our comfort zones is just the type of action we need to take to break out of old ways of thinking that have got us in a rut in our businesses. If you’re absolutely terrified of the idea of going to a conference, bring a wingman (or wingwoman) so you won’t feel completely on your own. 7. New Tips & TacticsThe problem with the web is we believe that everything is at our fingertips. And maybe it is. But it’s an overwhelming amount of data that we often can’t crack, or keeps us from the best material. A well run conference will help curate new ideas to help us improve our approach. I remember watching someone create a Facebook app in front of me at a session just to show what was possible. I remember hearing about YouTube cards for the first time from a presentation by Steve Dotto, and explaining how they would change online videos forever. I’m sure that information was already somewhere on the web, but the conference helped cut through the clutter to deliver the best content for me possible. 8. Greater FocusThe flip side of learning new things is relearning classic techniques. A few years ago at Agents of Change, John Lee Dumas talked about the importance of creating an avatar for your business, and how it streamlined his thinking. Hearing how important a mastermind group was to Pat Flynn’s success, and how to set one up. (I’ve since started my own mastermind and just recently joined another.) Napoleon Hill wrote about masterminds in Think and Grow Rich, but the concept has been around forever. However, it wasn’t until a series of events, culminating in Pat Flynn’s presentation, that I realized that they could help me take my business to the next level. 9. The Energy of Like-Minded Individuals There’s nothing like being in a room of like-minded people. Other people who are willing to take time away from the office to learn something new. Other people who want to “better” themselves. When you sit in a classroom or auditorium, you discover that you’re not alone in wanting to improve your skills and bring something back to your office or organization. That energy is lacking in all online learning channels, regardless of how much chatter there may be around a hashtag. 10. The Serendipity of the Random WorkshopSome of the best workshops and presentations I’ve seen have been ones I had no idea about before the conference. At TCI Africa, Zimbabwe we attended a workshop on improving our memory. (It didn’t take, but we still found it fascinating.) At BlogWorld we attended a session on YouTube only because we were guilted into it. (In my mind, YouTube was for cat videos.) It’s not a stretch to say that it changed the way we marketed our business. In fact, we did our own presentation on YouTube marketing at the following year’s Social Media FTW, the conference we put on before Agents of Change. We never would have sought out those learning opportunities online…they had to be discovered through the serendipity of a live event. 11. Invest In YourselfPerhaps this one is self-evident. Or perhaps we’ve already covered it in whole or in part above. But leaving the office and “sharpening the saw” is investing in yourself. It’s admitting that you’re worth it. It’s admitting that you still have things to learn. That you can get better. It’s an investment in yourself, your career, and even your company. When you purchase that conference ticket and when you walk up to the registration desk, you’re saying that you’re investing in your own growth. 12. Have Fun!I’m not sure this is the most important of all these eleven reasons, but I didn’t want to leave it off the list. Conferences are fun! Live events with other people are fun! (The introverts reading this may be rolling their eyes or going to their happy places right now.) I’m not a master networker. I struggle with finding the right way to break into a conversation with people I don’t know. But I’ve gotten better by attending conferences. By sitting at lunch tables with people I don’t (yet) know. I’ve made some amazing connections and even more amazing friends from going to live events. Don’t miss out on these opportunities. TakeawaysI get it. Conferences can be expensive. From the conference ticket to the plane ticket, from the meals to the bar tab. And that doesn’t even include the time away from the office where you could be doing “work.” However, conference provide a unique convergence of networking, learning, and fun into a single package. A good conference forces you to grow and challenge yourself. And if you’re the boss, allowing your employees to get out of the office, gain confidence in their ability, and bring fresh ideas back to the business is just an investment in your own company. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
-Steve Jobs- Share more quotes of inspiration and motivation with us. Information technology (IT) benefits the business world by allowing organizations to work more efficiently and to maximize productivity. Faster communication, electronic storage and the protection of records are advantages that IT can have on your enterprise. Information technology has to do with computer applications, on which nearly every work environment is dependent. Since computerized systems are so widely used, it is advantageous to incorporate information technology into your organization.
Storing and Protecting InformationInformation technology creates electronic storage systems to protect your company's valuable records. According to the Graziadio Business Report, published by Pepperdine University, secure maintenance of customer and patient files is vital to business integrity. Storage systems, such as virtual vaults, keep information safe by only allowing certain users within your company to access, withdraw, add or change the documents. According to an article in Science Daily, IT security engineering systems protect your electronic information from being hacked, or wiped out during a technological disaster. Electronic security engineering means your valuable records will remain untouchable. Automated ProcessesIn business, people look for ways to do more work in a shorter amount of time. A November 2000 newsletter published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco explains that information technology improves your company's efficiency by developing automated processes to take burden off your staff. In turn, your employees are free to work on other things while the computer runs their reports, creates queries, tracks projects and monitors financials. TCI Africa, Zimbabwe Events Management Program Have you ever wondered how an Olympic Games Opening Ceremony comes to life? Did you join the millions of people across the world who watched as Kate Middleton said 'I do'? Or have you ever stood at, watched and loved a fireworks display? Behind all of these and more, event management professionals work tirelessly to create the best experience possible for the guests, the stars, the sponsors & stakeholders, and the spectators. Team work Event management is the co-ordination, running and planning of all the people, teams and features that come together to create every kind of event. Events usually require many different teams to come together, often including several external suppliers. Successful events depend on every team and every team member doing their job to a high standard, as well as flexibility and a commitment to good cross-team communication. If you love being part of a team and working with people to create something unique, events could well be the path for you. Needed everywhere Event managers are needed in almost any kind of business - entertainment, finance, government, retail, fashion, sport, music... and so their day to day job can be filled with a huge range of exciting challenges and unique situations. If you're interested in finding out whether events could be the career path for you, please enjoy reading our website, and take a look at our event management course to see how we might be able to help you break into this exciting industry. Creative thinking The event industry is all about exceeding the expectations of all parties involved in the events, and design is one of the key ways to impress. Event managers need to be real outside-the-box thinkers who have a dynamic approach to problem-solving. Design is essential to an event's success, whether you have the creative spark that can give event guests a memorable experience, or the perfectionist's streak that crafts brand awareness right down to the colour of name badges. Strong leadership An event management team needs strong leadership to be at its best -negotiations between clients, suppliers, company or venue staff require flexibility, quick thinking, buckets of initiative and exceptional decision making. A particular ability to spot good compromises and know what is essential to the success of the event marks out an excellent event team leader. Could you take on the challenge of directing a complicated event whilst managing the expectations of several different stakeholders? Get involved Event management is a fast-paced, varied, and highly employable field. Even in times of economic recession, events remain invaluable to companies as a sure way to build brand reputation, drive consumer confidence and give people experiences to remember. The event industry needs you - so what are you waiting for! If you'd like to learn more about events, and receive industry news, training opportunities and course preview videos, sign up for our newsletter using the short form to the right. If you have any questions about event management, or our training courses, then please get in touch on +263 77 5 978 204 | 73 4 829 225 email: [email protected] | [email protected] - we will be glad to help you with any queries. Web development is a broad term for the work involved in developing a web site for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, and social network services. A more comprehensive list of tasks to which web development commonly refers, may include web design, web content development, client liaison, client-side/server-side scripting,web server and network security configuration, and e-commerce development. Among web professionals, "web development" usually refers to the main non-design aspects of building web sites: writing markup and coding. Most recently Web development has come to mean the creation of content management systems or CMS. These CMS can be made from scratch, proprietary (such as Open Text) or open source (such as Drupal). In broad terms the CMS acts as middleware between the database and the user through the browser. A principle benefit of a CMS is that it allows non-technical people to make changes to their Web site without having technical knowledge.[1]
For larger organizations and businesses, web development teams can consist of hundreds of people (web developers) and follow standard methods like Agile methodologies while developing websites. Smaller organizations may only require a single permanent or contracting developer, or secondary assignment to related job positions such as agraphic designer and/or information systems technician. Web development may be a collaborative effort between departments rather than the domain of a designated department. |
AuthorT C I Africa is an entity that embodies a new generation of Entrepreneurial Development in Zimbabwe. We wish to build our society through learning and teaching what the world of Information Technology has to offer. Archives
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