African Women At The Forefront of Intra-African Trade

Almost 20 years ago whilst travelling in South America, I witnessed a strange and unusual sight for me:

I was waiting to catch a flight from São Paulo in Brazil to Cape Town, when suddenly there were scores of African women in the airport. From the way they were dressed I knew they were from West Africa. And they had lots and lots of goods.

Those who know me will always tell you I’m a very curious person; I always want answers:

Who were these women?
Where were they going?

Soon I engaged a cheerful middle-aged woman from Ghana. She told me they were from different countries in West Africa, including Angola. They were traders, she explained. They brought goods from Africa on a circuit that took them from West Africa, to Angola and onto Brazil. Then they travelled from Brazil to South Korea and other places in Asia, from where they emerged with cheap electronics goods, and then headed back to Africa!

It was a truly amazing journey of thousands of kilometres, by women who did not have much academic education, and yet they were highly sophisticated entrepreneurs at the cutting edge of international trade.

Many had regular customers on both ends of the supply chain, who placed orders with them, including highly bespoke requirements.

They understood currencies and knew everything you need to know about inflation and exchange rates!

As more women joined in our conversation some even told me they had sons and daughters studying in places like Harvard!

“So you make money?!” I asked.
“Yes!” They chorused back, laughing cheerfully.

They told me that they also did regional trade between African countries.
“We supply all the goods in our countries!” one boasted.

By now I was enjoying some wonderful food, which they had gladly offered… Apart from being curious, I also enjoy good African food!

“Wow!” I kept repeating to myself, even as I imagined the true possibilities of the future.

If you speak to any serious economist today, they will tell you that one of the most urgent development issues in Africa is “intra-African trade”. Africa as a continent has the lowest intra-regional trade flows in the world. Just look at these figures from the WTO on official merchandise trade (2013):

1. Trade between Asian nations: $3,1Tn and accounts for 53% of their total trade;
2. Trade between European nations: $4,6Tn which is 69% of their total trade;
3. Trade between the U.S. and its closest neighbours (Canada, Mexico): $1,2Tn and 49% of their total trade;
4. Trade between African nations? $97B and 16% of their total trade. We trade more with European nations (over 35%) and with Asian nations (over 27%) than among ourselves.

Unless we increase trade between African countries, the development we all want to see will never happen.

When we talk about trade between African nations, you may have an image of men in smart suits selling manufactured goods and services. This is not really the case.

In fact, regional integration on the continent is being led by resourceful African women crossing the borders in droves to open up trade routes for their products – in East Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa. Some of these trade routes are generations old!

Just imagine what would happen if we recognized intra-African trade as a major priority, and acknowledged the vital role that is played by tens of thousands of lionesses of Africa who trade in agricultural products, textiles and consumables as micro-entrepreneurs! Yet they are generally invisible to our policy-makers, and are often even derided and harassed. As with the informal sector in general, there is more substance there than we often want to accept.

What if, instead of harassment, these intrepid women were given market training, and even financial support and guidance to formalise and grow their businesses? This is starting to happen but much more is needed, especially at the policy level to harmonize taxes and make it easier for African businesses at all levels to work with each other.

One regional expert has called cross-border traders “the ignition key to transform our communities”! If these traders are the ignition key, can you name a few other parts required to spark prosperity through intra-regional trade on the African continent?

#AfricanLionessRoar!
#Respect for all women traders across Africa!

(c) 2015 Strive Masiyiwa

The inevitable Key For Success

“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Proverbs 22:29).

The opening verse shows us a key ingredient for a successful and prosperous life – diligence! Some people find themselves in a regrettable state in life due to their inability to apply diligence in their lives, and in the things that God has called them to do.

The Lord Jesus was humbly diligent; He said in John 4:34, “…my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work”. He recognized that His success was in doing the work of the Father, and finishing it. He knew the importance and eternal significance of His assignment, and committed Himself to it with extraordinary discipline and diligence.

There’re people who never finish or complete anything that’s committed to them; and there’re others who are perpetually late to their workplace or come up with excuses for non-performance. Yet, such people wonder why things aren’t working out right for them, or why they aren’t being promoted. The reason for their predicament is simple: they slothfully ignore the application of diligence in their everyday life. Diligence is a key factor that sparks off true success in you. I’m talking about the God-kind of success; not the world’s definition of success.

Diligence brings you before kings and into honour, while slothfulness leads to poverty and obscurity. Diligent people make their organizations more successful and prosperous than the way they met it. That’s one of the hallmarks of truly successful people. Become diligent in anything and everything that’s committed to your trust.

A close look at the lives of successful men and women around the world, no matter what field of endeavour they belong to, will reveal one common factor in their lives – diligence. The same thing applies to things of the Spirit. As you diligently study the Word of God and apply it, it enriches your spirit; you become successful in your spirit, and your fellowship with the Lord is enhanced.

CONFESSION 

I function with the ability of the Spirit always, not just in my desire and readiness to start up any endeavour, but also in bringing them to excellent fruition. I’m assured of a life of honour, dignity, and glory, because I apply diligence in every area of life. Halleluiah!

FURTHER STUDY 

Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NKJV) “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.”

Proverbs 10:4 (NKJV) “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.” 

Proverbs 14:23 (NKJV) “In all labor there is profit, But idle chatter leads only to poverty.”

For more inspiring articles, visit Rhapsody Of Realities.

Life Thoughts

The law of attraction says like attracts like, and so as you think a thought, you are also attracting like thoughts to you. Your life right now is a reflection of your past thoughts. That includes all the great things, and all the things you consider not so great. Since you attract to you what you think about most, it is easy to see what your dominant thoughts have been on every subject of your life, because that is what you have experienced.  Until now! If you can think about what you want in your mind, and make that your dominant thought, you will bring it into your life…

Thoughts are magnetic, and thoughts have a frequency.  As you think, those thoughts are sent out into the Universe, and they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency.  Everything sent out returns to the source.  And that source is you.

Think of it this way:  we understand that a television station’s transmission tower broadcasts via a frequency, which is transformed into pictures on your television.  Most of us don’t really understand how it works, but we know that each channel has a frequency and when we tune into that frequency we see the picture on our television.  We choose the frequency by selecting the channel, and we then receive the pictures broadcast in that channel.  If we want to see different pictures on our television, we change the channel and tune into a new frequency…

The pictures you receive from the transmission of your thoughts are not on a television screen in your living room, they are the pictures of your life!  Your thoughts create the frequency, they attract like things on that frequency, and then they are broadcast back to you as your life pictures.  If you want to change anything in your life, change the channel and change the frequency by changing your thoughts.

As you think of yourself living in abundance, you are powerfully and consciously determining your life through the law of attraction.  It’s that easy.  But then the most obvious question becomes, “Why isn’t everybody living the life of their dreams?” The only reason why people don’t have what they want is because they are thinking more about what they don’t want than what they do want.  Listen to your thoughts, and listen to the words you are saying.  The law is absolute and there are no mistakes.

An epidemic worse than any plague that humankind has ever seen has been raging for centuries.  It is the “don’t want” epidemic.  People keep this epidemic alive when they predominantly think, speak, act, and focus on what they “don’t want.”  But this is the generation that will change history, because we are receiving the knowledge that can free us of this epidemic!  It begins with you, and you can become a pioneer of this new thought movement by simply thinking and speaking about what you want. The law of attraction is a law of nature.  It is impersonal and it does not see good things or bad things.  It is receiving your thoughts and reflecting back to you those thoughts as your life experience.  The law of attraction simply gives you whatever it is you are thinking about. The law of attraction doesn’t care whether you perceive something to be good or bad, or whether you don’t want it or whether you do want it.  It’s responding to your thoughts.  So if you’re looking at a mountain of debt, feeling terrible about it, that’s the signal you’re putting out into the Universe.  “I feel really bad because of all this debt I’ve got.”  You’re just affirming it to yourself.  You feel it on every level of your being.  That’s what you’re going to get more of.

 

(c) Bob Dyle & Rhonda Byrne

Doing What You’ve Never Done

 

Twenty-four years ago I sold water filters door to door.

Twenty-two years ago I had a real estate franchise.

Eighteen years ago I built an international distribution company.

Twelve years ago I led a turnaround for an educational software company.

Nine years ago I was president of a TV network.

Six years ago I became publisher of this magazine.

Three years ago I wrote a New York Times best-selling book.

Each venture was something I had never done before.

Every time I started something new, I had no prior education, experience or training. Every endeavor was a complete invention or required a massive reinvention.

Once upon a time people worked for one company and then retired with a pension. Later the strategy was to beef up their resumes by climbing the ladder of an industry, working for a few companies and then retiring on stock options.

Those success paths are gone.

If you want to thrive (heck, survive!) in the 21st century, you’ll need to repeatedly reinvent yourself. Let me offer field-tested advice about how to do it successfully.

Five Keys to Reinventing Yourself

1. Leverage your strengths. While each of my endeavors was unique, they had one thing in common—they needed the strengths I had to be successful. We are ALL born with unique gifts, talents and advantages. You do things that most people can’t do (or can’t do as well as you). Identifying these special strengths is the first, most important key to your reinvention.

2. Identify what exhilarates you. Have you asked yourself, What is my passion? The answer doesn’t have to be grandiose, Earth-saving, life-changing or revolutionary. What are the subjects, products, markets, people, activities you really enjoy? What things do you find interesting and stimulating? What fills you with energy just thinking about it? The answers will usually lead toward a rewarding profession.

3. Be willing to step back. To leap into a new industry, you may need to take a step back to learn and study. Be willing to be an apprentice for a while. Find someone who has the success you aspire to and seek his or her mentorship and counsel. Be flexible, patient and teachable. Nothing worthwhile comes without effort and paying the price of  tuition.

4. Be wary of the naysayers. Your friends, family and peers have known you as you have been. Change frightens most people. To many, it is especially frightening to watch someone else have the courage to radically reinvent themselves and chase their dreams. Why? Because it eliminates their excuse for not doing so. It is much easier to try to talk you out of your reinvention rather than act on theirs.

5. Build your support team. Find models, mentors and a peer group who share your ambition and will be allies in your new adventure. Also, indoctrinate yourself with supportive books, magazines (like SUCCESS!), audio programs and seminars as you develop skills, attitudes and knowledge in your new adventure.

Wait no longer: Reinvent yourself into the person you were always meant to be.
Live the life of your grandest vision!

Your friend and SUCCESS mentor, Darren Hardy

Dare To Go Forward!

Most people never achieve their dreams and purposes in life because of fear. They are always afraid of what’s ‘behind the curtain’.

“What if I start a business and don’t get enough capital to sustain it?” “What if I start a business and nobody eventually wants my products or services?” “What if I get stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no one to lend a hand?” “Isn’t it better for me to just keep my job than take the risk of starting a business with no guarantee of success?” “What will my friends say if I fail”?

 With so many questions begging answers, and seeming gloom and doom about the economies of the world, coupled with stories of past failures even by people you know and thought they were the ‘best men for the job’, there seems to be no hope in sight for a beginner like you. But, you know what? That someone else failed is not proof that everyone has to. In fact, success in whatever field of endeavor can start with you! You can be the FIRST; only BELIEVE and take your steps. I learnt from the legendary motivational speaker, Les Brown, that the best time to start something new, maybe a business, is when you are actually afraid to do it.

Dare to go forward. Practice audacity in all things, and the world would be too small for you to conquer!

(c) Prosperity Times

8 Qualities of a Successful Person

All truly successful people have similar traits such as these…

Burning Desire

The motivation to succeed comes from the burning desire to achieve a purpose. Napoleon Hill wrote, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” A burning desire is the starting point of all accomplishment. Just like a small fire cannot give much heat, a weak desire cannot produce great results.

Commitment

Integrity and wisdom are the two pillars on which to build and keep commitments. This point is best illustrated by the manager who told one of his staff members, “Integrity is keeping your commitment even if you lose money and wisdom is not to make such foolish commitments.”

Responsibility

People with character accept responsibilities. They make decisions and determine their own destiny in life. Accepting responsibilities involves taking risks and being accountable which is sometimes uncomfortable. Responsible people don’t think that the world owes them a living.

Hard work

Success is not something that you run into by accident. It takes a lot of preparation and character. Everyone likes to win but how many are willing to put in the effort and time to prepare to win? It takes sacrifice and self-discipline. There is no substitute for hard work.

Character

Character is the sum total of a person’s values, beliefs and personality. It is reflected in our behavior, in our actions. It needs to be preserved more than the richest jewel in the world. To be a winner takes character. George Washington said, “I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most valuable of all titles, the character of an honest man.”

Positive believing/Thinking

Positive believing is a lot more than positive thinking. It is having a reason to believe that positive thinking will work. Positive believing is an attitude of confidence that comes with preparation. Having a positive attitude without making the effort is nothing more than having a wishful dream.

The Power of persistence

The journey to being your best is not easy. It is full of setbacks. Winners have the ability to overcome. Persistence means commitment and determination. There is pleasure in endurance. Commitment and persistence is a decision. Athletes put in years of practice for a few seconds or minutes of performance.

Persistence is a decision. It is a commitment to finish what you start. When we are exhausted, quitting, looks good. But winners endure. Ask a winning athlete. He endures pain and finishes what he started. Lots of failures have begun well but have not concluded anything. Persistence comes from purpose. Life without purpose is drifting. A person who has no purpose will never persevere and will never be fulfilled.

Pride of performance

In today’s world, pride in performance has fallen by the wayside because it requires effort and hard work. However, nothing happens unless it is made to happen. When one is discouraged, it is easy to look for shortcuts. However these should be avoided no matter how great the temptation. Pride comes from within, which is what gives the winning edge.

Pride of performance does not represent ego. It represents pleasure with humility. The quality of the work and the quality and the worker are inseparable. Half-hearted effort does not produce half results; it produces no results.

Excellence comes when the performer takes pride in doing his best. Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it, regardless of what the job is, whether washing cars, sweeping the floor or painting a house.

How You Start Your Day Counts!

Whether or not we choose to believe it, for the most part you and I have a clean slate with each new sun rise. Whatever happened yesterday, good or bad is now rooted in the past.

In the moment in which we now find ourselves, we have the ability to focus in on and do the things which will serve us for the better, or we can give our attention to those things which will re-ignite whatever thoughts were causing us to remain stuck.

We have a choice, and fortunately, it isn’t all that difficult to set the tone early on in your day. Does that mean you’re guaranteed not to meet with a challenge early on that will knock you off course or throw you for a loop? Of course not, but in the event that something (or someone) shows up with such an agenda you’ll find yourself a lot more prepared to deal with it and be able to adjust course accordingly.

Here are some simple, but effective ideas you can use to start your day out on a positive note.

Upon waking up, name at least ten people you’re thankful for – recount those in your life who’ve had a positive impact on you. Think of those who have in some way helped to make you the unique person you are. Don’t sell yourself short here.

No matter what place you may find yourself in now, you’re still an amazing person, with unique gifts and talents. You don’t have to believe it, but it’s still the absolute truth! Practicing gratitude is a powerful thing that helps to reconnect us with our inner power, and the abilities which make up who we are.

 

Give thanks for your talents and skills – each of us has been blessed with special skills and talents. You may not feel as though you’ve completely developed all of yours up to this point in your life, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve got them.

Think through those things that others compliment you on, those are talents. Don’t underestimate all the amazing bits and pieces that go into making you the person you are. As you identify and give thanks for the talents that were bestowed upon you commit to develop them and become more proficient in their use.

 

Write down your days most important action steps the night before – The simple act of writing down the following days most important tasks will give you a plan to move on the next day. Keep in mind that you can get the most productive mileage if you’ll put your “super tasks” at the top, where you’ll complete them first.

For the purpose of this article consider Super Tasks as those things which upon their completion will give you the absolute most bang for your buck. Consider the difference between a “super task” and say one of lesser importance. A super task might be: Calling on a prospective client, while one that doesn’t quite hold such importance in the grand scheme of things might be: cut the grass.

While both are important, and you want to get both done, the simple fact is the first example is going to lead towards a greater reward then the latter. You see, it’s more a matter of separating items which fall into the category of “busy work” versus those which can move us forward at a maximum pace. Another such “super task” might be to spend time studying your industry or chosen profession.

 

Review the actions steps you wrote down the night before – As you are looking over the items you wrote down, close your eyes and see yourself completing them and experiencing the wonderful sense of accomplishment for having done so. After you have visualized yourself finishing the items on your daily action list take a deep breath and begin your day working on and completing them.

Keep in mind that each new day is just that — an opportunity to turn the page, and implement daily actions that can steer your life in the direction you wish it to go. You can sail your ship, or choose to remain mired in inaction and float aimlessly, dependent upon whatever life may throw your way. My sincere hope for you is that you will choose the first option.

And remember…it’s your life, LIVE BIG!

(c) Josh Hinds