the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
by Ronel Jooste
December is time for fun, relaxation and spending time with loved ones. It is school holidays and the children need to be entertained for an extended period. Many people go away to a holiday destination while other people stay at home and do day trips. December is associated with entertainment, activities and gifts.
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by Anja van Beek, Talent Strategist, Leadership and Executive Coach
Over the years, the role of a leader and manager of teams have evolved. It is no longer a command and control scenario, where you give instructions and your team will follow. The pandemic has fast-tracked an agile and empowerment approach. Leaders need to be adaptive problem-solvers. This is due to the uncertainty and pressure over the past couple of weeks and months – there were no clear and obvious answers to issues and challenges and leaders did not have the luxury of telling their teams what to do. They had to be adaptive and guide them to figure it out for themselves.
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by Lori Milner
We all experience the typical daily dose of circling thoughts – like a recorder going off in our heads reminding us of what needs to happen in the day from who needs what books for school to what projects and tasks need to get done for work.
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by Josefa Massinga
I have been an entrepreneurial woman for five years. In my opinion, I think it is very important that women develop their own businesses. I am not saying it is easy because until each one of us is sure that she is capable and that she will succeed, it will continue to be challenging.
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by Kathy Mann
Perhaps you have heard of the 10-year rule or the 10 000 hours that are required to become a master at something. This is known as deliberate practice, a concept made famous by Anders Ericsson, a Swedish Psychologist who conducted significant research on the subject. He studied what makes people world-class in their area of expertise, be it violin, ballet or chess.
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by Ashika Pillay
Our worlds are in a state of flux and change and we simply cannot control what’s going to happen around us. This is the nature of the uncertainty in the world and in our worlds. We can make plans for the future to some extent, and even that is somewhat filled with a sense of what might “not happen”. Are we going on holiday? What will happen next year? Will we have a second wave?
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Lori Milner
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
— Ernest Hemingway
Working from home has brought up many challenges - the main one being a pandemic within the pandemic namely ‘performance anxiety’. It’s this need to be constantly on for dread of appearing like you aren’t doing what you need to. Never mind absenteeism, we have gone to the other extreme to overdo presenteeism.
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by Mbaliyethu( Lisa) Mthethwa, co-founder of Frutee Belliez
When we started our journey in 2009, my sister Lona and I just wanted to sell fresh fruit salads to students in school, so we could promote a healthier lifestyle. We are meant to have a minimum of five fruits and veggies a day but some of us don't even have one. Growing up, fruit salads were always perceived as a dessert. Veggies were always seen as something that is nasty.
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by Lufuno Khorommbi
Understanding cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and data from cyber-attacks. It is important to note that the word practice means that cybersecurity should be embedded in the organisational day to day functions. Thus, it is not an event.
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by Pam Snyman, founder of REDZetc
In order to address the challenges in our specific countries in a true and authentic way, it is imperative that we recognize the essence of social entrepreneurship and take advantage of the opportunities that it offers in real life.
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by Eldari Visser
In South Africa, the northern side of the country is going into its rainy season and that is always known for big thunderstorms, heavy winds and heavy rain, whereas in the southern parts you get the “non-stop for days” rain mostly during winter. Each of these natural occurrences has a mesmerizing effect. Just watch a thunderstorm with all the lightning and you will understand.
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by Anja van Beek, Talent Strategist, Leadership Expert and Executive Coach
Missing that ‘happy feeling’? This article focuses on why your mental wellbeing matters. How would you rate your current mental wellbeing? We all have been challenged over the past few months and have experienced how our mental health (our emotional, psychological, and social well-being) can impact and affect our thoughts, feelings and actions.
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by Lori Milner
Writing is my passion, but it wasn’t appearing in my calendar as regularly as I would have liked and I wanted to start dedicating a daily space for it. I looked to other professional authors on how they wrote their books and what tips of the trade I could implement. What do they know what I didn’t get the memo on?
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by Phindile Ndlovu–Tapula
When we switch on our phones and open our social media applications we are bombarded with many people who seem to just always get it right. We often feel the pressure to act as though we have cracked the code, our businesses are booming, and we are eating healthily.
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by Elizabeth Otieno
It’s a difficult time for many business owners and employees. The handful of us who have managed to keep our jobs are grateful and ensure to work diligently to keep it that way. We either occasionally visit the office or permanently work from home, until this pandemic is over that is. Now that our safe haven, our home, has become our workplace as well, will our work efficiency rise or fall?
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by Lori Milner
“All of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.” — Tom Peters
A brand is a promise and ultimately a sorting device. If I offered you two bottles of Cola, one being a no name brand and the other a bottle of Coca-Cola – naturally, you will go for the Coca-Cola.
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by Sylvia Walker
To say that it’s a tough business environment right now is an understatement. While many of us are trying to put food on the table, others simply have no income. Adaptability is key and we have to rethink how we operate our personal as well as business finances. New circumstances are creating a new normal for us. Some tips and pointers as to how to adapt and switch our thinking.
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by Dr Ashika Pillay
I have written previously about stress and there’s a lot that is known about what causes it, how we sense it in our bodies and that chronic stress can lead to downstream chronic disease and poor health. However, how do we shift the paradigm rather from managing stress, to optimizing wellbeing - so we can be healthier, live longer more fulfilling lives, perform at our best, have wholesome family and social relationships that support us, make a difference in the world and in this way - become true leaders - of ourselves, our families, and our communities.
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by Kathy Mann
I am fascinated by stress. One of the favourite parts of my work is interviewing people about how they engage with stress. In writing my second book, Harnessing Stress, I found that many people have developed habits to prevent stress. Through experience and in knowing themselves well, they have created rules to ensure they keep their stress levels low.
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by Usha Maharaj
“Happiness comes from aligning what you do to who you are”
It is said that happiness is a choice, but what if you are struggling to find your happiness, or you are feeling out of balance and stressed? This could be a sign that your outer reality and inner world are not totally in alignment. Perhaps the way you spend your time and live your days is not entirely consistent with the way the real you would want to invest that time to bring you happiness in life.
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