The Importance of Diversity

I am back to The Apprentice today. After seeing the show a couple of weeks ago, I thought I could catch up with BBC iPlayer. Wonderful invention by the way and it's free! Last night's episode was a good example of why companies need diversity, why people should be forced to learn other languages in school and also why people should be taught about cultural diversity.
The candidates were taken to Marrakesh in Morocco, a mostly Arabic and French-speaking Muslim country. Firstly, most of them had no knowledge of Morocco, not an iota of French or Arabic and there were a number of them swearing their way around the city. What I was amazed by was that some didn't even know the difference between kosher and halal. And one of them claims to be Jewish! (When pressed by Sir Alan who is Jewish, Michael suddenly became half-Jewish). It is crazy that these are supposed to be a few of the best people in corporate Britain.
Lee had the best team for this task because he had the most culturally diverse team. Raef and Sara knew how to deal with traders in the souks because of their backgrounds. Consider how many companies would do better if they would only take advantage of the diversity of cultures and people in this country. Britain is in a better position than any other country to take advantage of the human resources it has but many companies fail to take advantage of that. There are companies who employ the bare minimum of ethnic minorities because the law says they should. Even when they employ ethnic minorities they prefer to treat them like the plague. Imagine a lance corporal in the British Army being allowed to call another soldier 'a black bastard' or 'nigger' without any consequences. How desperate, how sad.
Until Britain starts to make full use of its culturally diverse workforce and companies stop employing people based on the colour of their skin or which school they went to or because they see certain people as cheap labour, Britain will continue to lose out in this global economy.

Business and Pleasure

The early stages of business can be difficult. I earn a lot less than I would be earning had I stayed in my job as a Senior Scientist for a major pharma. However, there a lots and lots of perks of working for a company I own. I am doing what I love and I am fully motivated to make it successful.
I now like business trips because they give me a break from the routine. This week I went to the beautiful spa town of Harrogate. Harrogate reminds me very much of Bath but of course it is not as beautiful as Bath. It is difficult to beat Bath. I stayed at the Crown Hotel in the centre of town and it is a lovely hotel. My room was huge. It had a double bed, a sofa, a coffee table, a work desk and a very large bathroom and still there was so much space to move around. The service wasn't bad either although they had no bagels to make me my smoked salmon bagel I ordered from the menu. The girl at reception (I won't name her here) was a little stroppy probably because she doesn't sleep much. She was at reception when I arrived at 5pm and was still there when I came back from the theatre at 10pm. 8am the next morning, I came down to breakfast and there she was again. The worst bit was that she was with another colleague moaning about guests even though I was sitting in the lobby. Sadly, these are things often missed by businesses especially those in hospitality and leisure. Your staff are only going to give as good a service as they receive as employees. You cannot expect an overworked person (and often also underpaid) to treat your customers well. They probably don't even treat their children well. The other thing is that staff may have no genuine way of voicing their opinions and grievances. And if you don't give them a forum wherein they can talk about things that are bothering them without fear of reprisals, they will air them in public.
Its not about your equal opportunities policy, it is usually the little things that make a big difference.

Amie

The Apprentice

The beautiful one has been fired! I can't believe that you can't go far in business just because you are good looking. It just doesn't seen fair. I think beauty and grooming should count.
I hadn't been watching the new season of Sir Alan's The Apprentice. I am never at home when its on and when I am at home I am on the computer. Just as an aside, people are definitely spending more time using their computers than they are watching TV. At least I am. Anyway back to Siralan (as he is called). The task: two pubs for two teams to create theme nights. Make some profit, he who has the most money wins. Simple, yes? No, not quite. There is the small matter of 'the team'. These are not really teams because they are competing for a job. Everyone wants to look good. So when your idea seems better than mine and you are in charge, I will do my best to undermine you. This is the philosophy of the apprentices. Anyway, no matter. The girls won and the boys had to deal with Siralan. Sir Alan fired the good looking one. Now there is no point in me watching because the majority of those people are there because they want to be on TV not because they are capable of running anything more than a bath. I am more upset because I later found out that the boy fired lived in a pub from age 14 and his dad still runs the kitchen in the pub. Oh the irony!

Not laughing, Amiex

Farmers Market Here I Come

I didn't realise that starting a new food brand was going to be as tough as this. Most of my problems stem from the fact that this is not the only thing I do. I currently run a catering company which always requires my attention. I am also working on an online portal, SAFARAMagazine.com which will have recipes, travel news and interviews from Africa and Africans. So perhaps I have taken on much too much. But I am coping. The effect has been that I have had less and less time to work on my spices. I still haven't chosen the recipes I like and the one I am going to use but I am determined to start selling my spice blends at the end of February. I have got a name, which is a step forward. I have also decided that I will take my wares to a couple of farmers markets near me, which would serve as market research anyway. Even going to the local market requires a lot of preparation. Thankfully, my kitchen has been registered by the local authority and it is easy to get insurance for selling at the market. I still need to choose packaging, choose the logo I intend on using and print the labels. But not to worry...I like the pressure. I will get it all done by the end of Feb.
Look out for a range of African spice blends, next time you are at the farmers market.

Signing out, It's Amie

Meeting Suppliers

I haven't written in a while. For two reasons: one is that my catering business has picked up and two is because I am just plain lazy. Anyway, I am back now and I think I will try and make at least a couple of posts a month. I think a post a fortnight is not a bad idea and won't kill me. Lots has happened since I last posted,but I will concentrate on a couple of biggies.
I met one of the possible suppliers earlier this week. It was a wonderful and productive meeting. We spoke for three hours with me telling him about what I wanted to achieve and him giving me advice on how best to proceed. It did require me going back to the drawing board on some counts but I am pleased about the changes he proposed.
I also know now that I will need about £35,000 a month for the amount of stock I want to buy and for warehousing and salary costs.
I am also starting an African food magazine, so that people who currently don't know much about African food will have a portal where they can download recipes and also read fabulous travel reports. It is a good way for me to introduce people to African food and also my products. It isn't up yet, but when it is (which I hope will happen later on this month)you will find it at http://www.safaramagazine.com.
Let me know what you think about the magazine.
I'll write soon.

Amiexx

Networking

I having posted in over a month and I don't even have a good enough excuse as to why I haven't done so. I have been busy is just not good enough as I am always busy and it just requires me setting aside time to do the things which matter. I am learning so much about business and how juggling, especially at this early stage, is one of the techniques to master.
Yesterday, I went on a fantastic marketing course put on by Business Link in London. It was also a wonderful place to meet different types of people some who have already started trading and who have been trading for a while and others who are just at the ideas stage. As you get to talking to people you realise that you are the same in some things and different in others. Funnily, I have never met anyone who wants to do the same thing I want to do since I have been going on these courses.
One of the things I learnt at this course was the importance of networking. Your success or failure in life and business can be influenced by who you choose to associate yourself with. When we talk about networking people suddenly think of the best way to meet customers. But networking events can also be good places to meet suppliers, new friends or just someone who can lead you into another business. Talking to some of the people at this course, I realised that there a few other businesses I could try and get into once I have got this one up and running.
I also learnt yesterday to make use of all these email addresses I get. I work with a couple of charities as a volunteer and I know that some of these people I have met will be able and willing to either give their time or effort to these charities.
I used to think that networking was a cheesy thing but I am learning that networking is a useful thing and the more you go to these events, the better. One caveat - there are now a number of organistaions that charge you to go to these networking events. Go easy, if you are a start up with very little money. Business Link and GLE oneLondon and people like that will bring you together with even more contacts for free. Try them first.

Amiex

Bookkeeping and Accounting

Do you know the difference between bookkeeping and accounting? Do you know what depreciation is? As an NES scholar, I am lucky to have a number of free business courses available to me. I spent this week at a marketing and finance course and the finance part was just brilliant. Firstly, I learnt that bookkeeping is the day to day log of money coming in and going out of the business and accounting is the year end look at how much money was spent and how much money was made. In short, bookeeping deals with the minutiae and accounting deals with the big picture. So the accountant can show that the business is profitable whilst the bookkeeper knows that there is no money to pay anyone.
It is a funny thing when your father is an accountant and your brother is also and you cannot do a cashflow forecast to save your life. Actually, I can do a cashflow forecast, I just don't like doing it. I am a trained scientist and we like precision. There is no such thing as guessing. When you guess as a scientist, it is called a hypothesis and people do not take it as gospel. What you do with that hypothesis is continue to work on it until you can prove that it is correct. What I have been told by many people is that when you do a cashflow forecast, you are guessing pretty much everything especially if you have never had a similar business and there isn't someone close by who is doing what you do. The guessing is not as bad as people telling you that whatever your forecast, remember that it will cost a third more, and you will sell a third less and it will take a third longer. Well why don't we just put those assumptions into the cashflow forecast? Well if you do the proposition might not look so good for a bank or an investor. Anyway, I'd given up with the whole thing.
Now, however, I know the difference between a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement. I also know not to buy any equipment which depreciates, i.e. loses it value. So if you can lease things like kitchen equipment, photocopiers, printers, computers, pretty much everything. Not only is there a tax benefit to doing it but you can avoid the depreciation which can be up to 40% of the initial value in 3-5 years. I know how the difference between costing and pricing and how my competitors price their products. So now I am ready to roll. All I need to do now is to find out how much everything costs!

Amiex