3D SUCCESS

I recently visited two greenfield projects in the Luapula province of Zambia. These were the Kawambwa Tea and Mununshi Banana estates. These were fledging industries established during 1970's but had been shut down. However, these plantations are being revamped under Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) Ltd and are currently at different stages of progression. I had the privilege of talking to the people who were working hard to turn these institutions around. I was impressed with how systematic things were being done and I thought about how this could be applied more especially when starting a business or project. Seeing the two industries at different levels of growth (banana plantation in 2nd year and tea plantation in its 5th year) helped me have better understanding of what this transition involved. This started with the conversation I had with the Project Coordinator for Banana plantation who gave me a general outline of what their intentions where: "We wan...

I recently had a work encounter which unfortunately didn't go as planned. I had done the groundwork for this project up to a certain point then waited for the perfect time to start working on it. And the perfect time I thought to myself at the time was when the client would officially communicate to us (Contractors) to confirm on some of the requirements of the work. However, by the time  feedback was provided, little did I know that there wasn't going to be enough time to work on it and submit the proposal by the set deadline. In the end, it was a lost opportunity and one which I would like to learn from going forward. I was waiting for information (official communication) from the client which I didn't even need in the first place to start working on the proposal. I thought later, "Everything was set, why was I waiting for information from client? " What areas of your life might you be waiting for a "nod" from someone before you can begin to wo...

On 6th October 2021, I undertook a company sales visit to Luapula province of Zambia in which among other places, I visited Mununshi Banana Estate in Mwense district and Kawambwa Tea Plantation in Kawambwa district. At the banana estate, I noticed that the plants were growing in clusters. Each cluster had one fully grown plant with fruits and another plant from same root which was cut off at the main stem 1m from the ground. I became curious and asked why this was the case and the Estates coordinator explained to me that the one which was cut was the 1st plant and immediately its fruits were harvested, it was cut off. This is because banana plants become barren (die) after they give fruit. Around the same time the first plant starts producing fruits, a second plant shoots up from the same root which takes over the production of fruits in the next cycle and this process repeats itself from one season to the next.    After this encounter, I proceeded to Kawambwa Tea Plantation a...

Last month, I attended the company's annual management conference and during the last day, the company's CEO was making his usual presentation. In what would be his last company conference before he retires next year, his presentation shifted from the usual spreadsheets, graphs, company plan, etc. This time, he decided to take us through his personal journey and plan in life.  His presentation stole the hearts of those in attendance including mine. As he openly shared his heart, he mentioned of a time in which things weren't going so well in his personal life despite initial career success and when things hit rock bottom, he turned his life around by making a decision to model the life of David in the bible (his first name is David). He quoted the bible books of Acts 13:22 and Acts 13:36 as one of his favorite scriptures which speaks of David as a man after Gods heart.  He credits this single decision as one which transformed his life forever. When I heard this, I remember ...

Last Sunday, I listened to a bible talk on zoom whose theme was as above and it had a profound effect on me. Not only did I feel comforted but it helped me gain a better understanding of this subject  as I have personally struggled with comforting others. It is one of the most uncomfortable things for me to do .  The speaker of the talk, who happened to be my uncle was more or less grieving as he had lost his wife of 36 years less than 3 months ago.  His bible talk helped me to see this subject in a different light and I felt compelled to share the lessons I learnt from his heartfelt talk. The following are my key takeaways as given by the speaker: What does comfort mean?   It has a dual meaning: 1st definition:  The Greek word translated comfort is else where in scripture translated as "Encourage". Therefore the words "comfort" and "encourage" are interchangeable. This means to comfort means to put courage in another person. The second definition :  The E...

I attended a company conference  which was held online over a 2 week period with over 200 presentations made by 100 speakers from both within and outside the company. It was truly a banquet as we were well fed with ideas, inspiration and encouragement. There is so much that I learnt from this event that I do not even know were to start from in terms of the key ideas. I summarize the main lessons which have stuck to me up to this day: 1. Exposure! Exposure! Exposure! If there is one thing which kept coming up more especially from the external speakers who were invited to speak, it was there level of exposure in life. This is in relation to the areas they were invited to make a presentation on be it on compliance, leadership, marketing, specialty in a field. They all had great experience gotten through the early years in their careers. They didn't work for one company but had stints at various institutions which sort of galvanized their experience as they couldn't...