Ideas should be treated as destinations. If you are to move from point A to B, you need to plan well. Get the appropriate means of transport, make the necessary plans then, start the journey. Before the journey starts, one is in a better position to change things. Assuming you are to travel with your friend, you just need a car with say 2 seats and luggage space. However when you decide to get a pick up, and travel with your friend, but on the day you are to travel someone decides to tag along, it will a little too late to make that change. What I am trying to drive at here is before one implements an idea they can do whatever they wish to do with the idea, but when the idea is all set and on the move, the freedom to play around with the idea is somehow limited.

If you were to travel and you were requested to set aside Kshs.1,000/- then while traveling someone decides that what you were to get for Kshs.1,000/- is not good enough and that people should top up with another Kshs.1,000/- , this may find some people unprepared, and not be in the best position to do the needful. However, if the communication of adding another Kshs.1,000/- was made prior to traveling one would be in a better position to do the top up.

Everything boils down to to perfect timing. From business ideas, to employment, to life in general.

The Wanadamu idea came out of the blues. The gap between those in need of blood and blood is evident to all but I chose to bridge that gap not knowing one day, the gap I would be bridging would be right outside my doorstep. I have come across brilliant ideas that start with such steam and conviction, but along the way, as the sun sets, it sets with it the idea, never to be heard of again.

I read somewhere sometime back that an average mind can think of 3 brilliant ideas in 1 year. How many years since you were say 16? How many of the 3 ideas annually have you implemented? Assuming I ignored the Wanadamu idea, picture what I would be going through at that crucial moment when my mum needed blood!

If we all played our role by implementing some of the ideas that we trivialize or assume they are too big for us, the world would be a better place. Look over what you have, make it happen, regardless of the support you get or resources within your reach just do it. You never know. Just do it.

It is said, one should never dwell on the past if you are to move steadily towards the future. Some call it bad karma but kindly take a minute to reflect;

• Out of all the times you have gone out to vote, how many of those are you happy about? How many of those do you believe you made a mistake?

• Your vote, is your voice they say, how many times has your vote gotten some of your issues attended to?

After what happened in 2007, some people swore they will never go out to vote again. Question – what good does not going out to vote accomplish? In my opinion I think not voting is like you being very sick and choosing to not only refuse to take medicine but also stay out in the cold without clothes on.

Why is the person who has shown interest in a certain seat interested in the seat should be the question we first ask ourselves. The answer may help in establishing the right path to take, as far as voting is concerned. I will not mention names but I know of people who are vying just because the office promises a steady flow of income. Some have money problems, loans to service, etc and just need a ‘proper’ source of income. Others have selfish interests. This ultimately becomes evidence when the said individuals start using the office to protect or expand their business interests or unjustly improve the lives of family and friends.

Why should someone vie? At the very least, one should vie because they have the skill, passion and interest to he/she will represent, hopefully leaving the community better than the way he found it. It is all about serving the people. In my humble opinion, politicians should not even be on a payroll. They are like school prefects. Without school prefects, business is not as usual in schools. The do not get paid but get motivated through titles and privileges. The only way a school management can get to pupils and vice versa is via prefects. Why then can’t that same model be used in Bunge?

On 17th of January 2013, some parties will be holding party nominations. I know you are busy, you have work to go to or school or something better to do but if someone without the peoples interests at heart wins, it means he/she will be a step closer towards making your life a grand nightmare. Think of it this way, if the wrong person gets a party ticket, it will be like you are standing on a stool with a noose around your neck. There is no problem in that right? If the wrong person proceeds and wins March 4th, the stool you were comfortably standing on gets kicked and we all know what happens after that.

There are people out there who are willing and passionate about transforming out nation but they may not have a bigger mouth or resources to help them get the votes they need. Let us keep the dream of those who want to lead us and transform us alive by using our constitutional right to vote and most importantly securing our tomorrow, the tomorrow your kids will be enjoying fruits of the seeds you planted today by voting or not.

If you can, go out there tomorrow, support the person you think is worth your vote. Come March do the same and that is the only way you will be afford to sleep with no worries and with hope for a better tomorrow.

Every adult was either your mum or dad. The children we associated with were your brothers or sisters. Regardless of one’s religious or ethnic background, we all lived like one happy family. Seeing what has been happening of late in Eastleigh breaks my heart.

When I was in St. Nicholas School, I would get dropped home by the school bus. The house girl had to come pick up from the drop off point. We would then cross the road and head home. One day, when we (my small sister and I) got to the drop off point, there was no one to pick us up. Our house help always kept time. A vendor known to us decided to let us stay at his shop as we waited for the house girl. Our house was directly opposite the drop off point. We lived on the top floor. When I looked up towards the direction of our house, I froze in horror! Smoke was coming out of the kitchen. I don’t recall the exact flow of events but I found myself in a house filled with smoke. Thanks to the help of our neighbours, the fire was contained and the only notable damage was a black wall in the kitchen. No one asked them to help. They willingly came together and did everything to contain the situation the same way they would if it was their house. Nothing was stolen. Fast forward to today – fastforward to today. Would the situation have been handled the same way? The house would probably have burnt down since the neighbours would be less bothered. After all, it is not their property. Others would perhaps not help because those affected are of a certain religious background or ethnic community.

One of my immediate neighbors would come home very late and very drunk. He would for reasons not termed as valid shower the wife with blows and insults. No single time did the neighbors fail to come out in the middle of the night to help one of their own. No one was asked to sacrifice the warmth of their beds but they all came out. I recall one lady saying the reason she is always there is because she doesn’t want our children to pick up bad behaviors.

In the apartments we lived, some ‘walalos’ as they are mostly referred to as opened a restaurant on the ground floor. It was all fine, until the hygiene of the apartments were greatly compromised. The environment was no longer conducive for living or even for kids to plays around. Some neighbours came together, met the management, talked about the issue at hand and believe it on not, the environment went back to the way we were used to having it. No body insulted or attacked the other, they just sat down together, talked about the problems and drew a solution.

Years later, things have changed. It is so bad that in an event someone is mugged in broad day light, one will make way for the thief to escape and will not attempt to bring them down. When your children get dropped and no one is there to receive them, only God will look after them, the rest not bothered. When a someone is subjected to violence, no body cares. Every one minds their own business and this is what is fast killing the society. People no longer see others for who they are but what tribe or religious background one belongs too.

If we could all look at others not based on things like tribe or religion which none of them was given a choice and relate as brothers and sisters who both come from mothers who carried them for 9 months, as brothers and sisters who are more likely to be experiencing the same challenges as you in life then the world would be a better place for ourselves, our children and their children.

1 bad tomato can MAKE other tomatoes in the same sack to go bad. It does not mean that because one tomato is bad, all tomatoes are bad. If you however think that all tomatoes are bad, you will throw away the entire sack, tomatoes will finally go bad and it will be your loss. If a certain group of people are known to take part in some activities it doesn’t mean all of them are bad. Apply the same to the example above, where tomatoes are fellow human beings. If for whatever reason you feel you do not like someone from a certain tribe or religion, sit them down, attempt to talk through the situation.

God bless Kenya, May peace prevail in Kenya so that we can all have a piece of the cake bough out from Peace.

Thank you again for whatever capacity you have played in my personal and professional life as an individual or a company. This is to a great Nov 2012 – Nov 2013. Let us talk business, let us do business.

It is important to look ahead, regardless of where you sit (or stand). You may not have all the details right but having a sketchy plan in your head keeps you focused. Education, health and security sectors in our country are some of the areas that continue to lag behind in terms of service delivery because someone somewhere thought that what worked in the ‘60s was good enough to run with for years to date. It is like someone burning down trees, because they needed warmth for the night. It is after burning down the tree that one realizes the benefits it brought will never be experienced again. That is what I call applying ‘stone age, not well thought out solutions to modern problems’ If we cannot solve our problems using current solutions, how do we expect to be competitive among other ‘modern’ nations?

Back then the education system in place worked and it got people where they wanted to be. Today, the same education system cannot be implemented as is and expected to be of use. How many subjects did you end up doing that were directly linked to your career? I’m still looking for where the sciences I took (Chemistry and Physics) in my life apply. I did not take biology but I understand some modules are applicable.  For health and education, the model currently in place worked when the population was not as big as it is today. As the population increased, it called for new models to be implemented, if only to enhance the old ones which by themselves tend toward irrelevance. The sad thing is those in power are not attempting to apply modern solutions for modern problems. They insist for one to do something in a sector, one has to be in the system and to be in the system, one has to do things as they have always been done. Question then remains, how exactly will an individual or organisation, who are genuinely interested in bringing about transformation do it? Those who attempt to bring change or give ‘authorities’ competition by showing the public how the said authority is engaging in wastefulness are usually dealt with accordingly. It starts with threats then ends up physical.

Aren’t ‘copy-pasters’ the most annoying people you know? People justify their existence and say they contribute towards opening up ‘markets’. To an extent, I don’t really blame them. They are governed by ‘copy-pasted’ laws which are only revised to suit selfish interests of those in power. The MP send off package and even elements of the new proposed education bill are evident of this.

Currently, the new business in town is stealing side mirrors from motorists. There are many theories as to how this became the business. Theories including ready market for second hand side mirrors, side lights etc others say the market was flooded with spare parts which did not have buyers so a market had to be created. Someone somewhere decided to reinforce their side mirrors with a chain, the first person did it in a very shoddy way but it served the purpose. Those who came after applied well thought of reinforcing models.  Thanks to the copy paste culture, a Tom, Dick or Harry somewhere will steal side mirrors from random cars, what they do not know is that only a selected models of cars apply. Now imagine if we could all just sit, wait for our side mirrors to be stolen so that we can replace them. Imagine if we attempted to have dialogue with those who steal the side mirrors. Picture private car owners telling side mirror thieves, we plan to use chains to make it harder for you people to steal and also save us money.

For us to become the change we want to see, we need to change how we do things and that is not going to be easy. It will actually be the hardest thing to do since there are people who make a living from non-progressive industries but if we do not step up, talk and DO, our future, that of our children and their children will be left to pigs (pun intended). If you are used to taking a certain chemical or drug every so often a time will come where you will need to up the dose to get the same effect. So a time will come when the blows, insults and threats which will come your way will be useless unless those administering up the dose and we both know they are too lazy to do so.

How is your body programmed to respond to certain events? What is your immediate reflex?

For example if someone accidentally steps on your shoe, what would be your first automatic reaction?

Maybe :

• say ‘watch where you are going’
• Insult the person who has stepped on your shoe.
• Punch the person who stepped on your shoe
• Step on their shoe  to be even
• Let the issue slide.

Now let us reverse roles and you are the one who stepped on someone’s shoe bearing in mind all the different reactions one may come across from a similar action in this case ‘stepping on a shoe.’ How will you expect the person you stepped on their shoes to react? The truth of the matter is your expectations mean and have zero effect on the actual actions and that ‘Do unto others what you want them to do to you’ is just a saying which if implemented should make the world a better place but doesn’t give a guarantee on the same. The person you stepped on will react in whatever manner he or she feels like and this maybe the very different from how you react if someone steps on your shoe.

Last week an incident happened that got me thinking. ‘Have people really embraced personal differences in how one does things in a bid to peacefully coexist?’ The reason many fail to succeed is because, they assume what works for Person A will work for them. It is this same mentality which has gotten people to assume how they do things is how the entire world does things. For instance, I eat dinner from 9pm. A majority of my friends eat dinner from 8pm and when I am in a hotel, dinner is served at 7.30pm

Someone was to come pick something from my office. We agreed to meet on a certain date at 3pm. At 3pm the person sent an SMS ‘I am held up somewhere I WILL CALL YOU WHEN I AM DONE’ I continued with my day as scheduled. At 5pm I left the office I had other engagements to attend to. As I drove out of town the person called and asked where I was. I told them I just left town. They hang up and seconds later they send a very rude text. According to them I should have called to inform them that I was leaving the town.

Back to the text sent ‘I WILL CALL YOU WHEN I AM DONE’ According to the little knowledge I have acquired over time, that statement means that the person will call you when they are done. If they have not called you after an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year it is safe to assume, they are still not done right? It will also be disrespectful and somewhat annoying to keep touching base with the person. As much as sometimes one is bound to genuinely forget, serving a reminder is not compulsory.

If the person could have said let us meet at 5pm and I do not inform them in advance of my absence that could be a different story but this here was a case of someone disrespecting my time to an extent they thought my work is just to seat and my time is to be dictated subject to the availability or engagements of the other persons.

In life especially the business scope things go wrong, relationships are broken and deals lost because someone somewhere couldn’t stick to their lane and assumed that how they operate as individuals is how the entire world should operate. If the above person chooses to inform people of their departure after a reschedule to no fixed time, then that is them, it works for them and the same may not work for others.  When transacting business promises are made ‘I will email you by C.O.B’ ‘I will do A B C by E F G’ If the validity of the promise is exceeded then there is a problem by if the promise is yet to expire people should stick to their lanes and RELAX.

In Kenya, we have 42 tribes, over 40 million people, from different backgrounds, in different industries, with different challenges and priorities and to succeed and move forward as a nation, the first thing is to acknowledge the fact that other people may be of different views and operations compared to you. Soon we will go into elections. With 6 elective posts and over 10 political parties it means that in a region one may have to choose from 60 people who have shown interest. I may opt to vote for person A for my own reasons. You many opt to vote for person B for your own reasons. Having different views is okay. Victimizing someone, subjecting them to violence or insults because they have different views or see things in a different manner compared to you is what got our country to its knees in 2007 and it can get friendships, businesses and so many other things on lower scales to its knees and unlike our beautiful nation, not all will have the chance to rise up and start again.

Why do you wake up/sleep when you wake up/sleep? Why do you work/study where/what you work/study? Why do you use social media? Why do you hang out with the people you hang out with? Why do you do the activities you enjoy doing also known as hobbies? Why do you drive/walk/jav/cycle to wherever? The ‘why do you?’ questions are many. The few examples above give you the picture. Ask your self why you do certain things and the answer will speak volumes on your perception and priorities in life. Same applies to other people too. Ask yourself why so and so does what they do and you never know, you might just learn the cost of friendship not the hard way like some of us have.  Perfect example is ‘why do politicians take Kenyans for a ride?’ answer: it is never about the people, always about themselves and their selfish interests. Granted, some things like doctors pay-rise and other terms promised years back have not yet been implemented, some people still say their salaries are peanuts.

During one of my night-shift while battling a combination of typhoid and malaria facing a nasty backlog of pending work, I came across a very vulgar statement which got me thinking and hence decided to write this post. I can’t write down the actual words because of some innocent souls who I mentor and who happen to read my posts. I am not trying to imply you are not innocent but …. Anywho, paraphrased the less naughty version reads, if it is not for the cooking, it is for the meal.

What the above simply means is that in life and in all that we do, we are driven by two things; the journey or the destination. On very rare occassions do we do it for both. What is the vision of the journey? What will really add value to your life? Is it by going through the journey or by getting to your destination? Is it about the piece of cake or the baking?

Personally as much as i have bills to pay and all, the meal is not as important as the cooking. Experience ‘the cooking’ which then determines how big your meal (riches) will be. I can buy a meal if i skip it, but i can never buy experience. Drawing the balance though is the tricky part since both are equally important in their specific timelines. Play safe. Make a safe investment. At the end of the day it is the Choices and Discipline that will get you the results you eagerly desire.

When one comes up with a unique concept, the ‘path’ seems impassable and in the quest of finding alternative routes to get to your desired destination, one ends up not only diluting the vision but also making it more complex and somewhat unachievable. On the short term, it may seem logical, but in the long term, it will screw you up.

Case in point. There is a campaign that was started not so long ago. The concept was amazing and if implemented to the letter the results would have been phenomenal. However just like the Late Samuel Wanjiru as brought out in the book ‘Running On Empty’ many are not able to handle success. When the said initiative became successful, those behind it were no longer following the original set out path, but instead, veered off course, ending up following paths, driven mainly by peer pressure collected along the way. End result? A confused initiative with those behind it not only filling their mouths with more than they can neither chew nor swallow! This has had a negative effect on the credibility of the initiative and those behind it.

Many would look at the above as a Subaru. It is however merely my point of view which said point of views vary based onmany factors such as the education, experience, exposure etc. To further elaborate the above I quickly came up with the following example.

Kamau starts a taxi business with a PROBOX in a region not yet exploited. It is the only car in the region and the public responds very well to it. Since a PROBOX is licensed to carry only 4 passengers, he thinks that by getting a vehicle with a larger capacity will increase his income. If Kamau would upgrade to a Noah (7 seater) or van ( 8 – 14 seater) then he would be on his way to realising his vision. However if he buys a 51 seater bus, then this would be overkill, resulting in under utilized resources. If he bought motorbikes (boda bodas) it would also be an unwise move since the PROBOX will not get business, given that a bike is faster and since costs of running it are on a minimum, charges will be equally low. Then there is the obvious, ‘copy pasters’. When they see a concept that works, they decide to hop on. Strategic thinking. Aimed at realising your vision. Bottom line, decisions made by self or others can make the vision journey achievable or not.

It is important to bring out that, the success of doing many things at once depends on the person doing it and the structures in place. There are those who can make it work and others who can’t. You need to assess yourself and decide where you lie. Check out Sunny Bindra’s post on running many businesses for you to ponder.

Living in a world where income earned never seems to be enough to meet the daily needs, many have resulted to investing not only in the stock market. The end result after an investment may be good or bad but most of the times the unexpected happens; predictions never come true.

Do not count your chicken before the eggs hatch they say. Others compliment the statement by saying ‘do not carry all your eggs in one basket’ so in relation to investment is it wise to have all your investments in one place? The spreading of investments on the other hand reduces your chances of getting a kill out of one venture. It also protects you in that you will have a fall back plan if things don’t seem to work. Same applies with business, it is good to concentrate on one business but when the roof comes falling you will not only see but appreciate a side business regardless of how small it is.

It is like having a block of houses in one area. The advantages are many however, the returns are amazing, costs incurred discounted, management easy but when a disaster just one, like fire strikes, you lose everything. If you had insured, you could salvage something.

My take, in all you do where ‘ALL’ being the key word, play safe. Have an exit strategy. Never fully relay on one source. They might screw up your life. It is always better to be safe than sorry, better to prevent than cure. Spread the risk, get the little returns from each but accumulated you may end up having consistent additional income maybe higher than what you could have gotten if you put all your investments in one place.