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Learn how to knit a decorative stitch that unravels a stitch for several rows and then reknit. It sounds scary but in reality, it isnt and at the end of the day, one gets a beautiful pattern Click to watch the video Video by Joan Muganzi… Click to access Joans’ Playlist

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson, commonly known as “Mr Bean” is an English actor, comedian, and writer from the United Kingdom. His first prominent work was in the BBC sketch comedy show “Not the Nine O’Clock News.” Rowan earned BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance award in 1981. One of his most renowned works are; sitcoms:  Blackadder and Mr. Bean, films: Never say Never again, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and The Thin Blue Line. His journey from being bullied for his looks to becoming one of the most significant faces in the world is worth knowing. Early Life Born on the 6th of January 1955 in Consett, United Kingdom, Rowan Atkinson is the youngest son of Eric Atkinson, a farmer and company director, Ella May. Born in a small, middle-class family of six, Rowan lived with his parents and three elder brothers. Soon after his birth, he and his family moved from Consett to Anglican. Rowan gained education at Durham Chorister School at an introductory level. Following that, he enrolled at St. Bees School for higher education. Being reasonably intelligent in Science, Rowan secured a place at Newcastle University. He enlisted himself for an undergraduate course in Electrical Engineering. Later, he decided to […]

This report focuses on micro and small entrepreneurial activity among women in Uganda. We present and discuss findings that were adduced on the entrepreneurial environment, motivations, aspirations and challenges of women entrepreneurs. The report also shows that the younger women entrepreneurs had the highest number of startup and infant businesses while their older counterparts had the majority of established businesses. Most women entrepreneurs are engaged in trade with the majority not employing anyone. The majority had been home makers before starting their current ventures. For those who had previously been in business almost all had previously closed a business. Most of these women entrepreneurs said their businesses were registered in some form, with those that were not registered blaming it on cost and the perception of the irrelevance of registration. The majority of the respondents had never received entrepreneurial training. Of those who had, apprenticeship was the most common type of training. …click to read the book

You’ve just come back from a sales meeting with a high-profile prospect, and you’ve absolutely nailed it. The prospect was blown away by your industry knowledge and how you understood his business needs. The deal is almost sealed. All that is left is for the decision-makers to have a consultation meeting and then go ahead with your proposal. But now you’re confused because you’re not sure how to follow up on this meeting. You’re afraid you might mess up the deal. But you so badly want this company on board.If the above sounds like you, you’re not alone. Studies indicate that almost 80% of sales leads require at least 5 follow-ups after the initial sales meeting. But nearly 44% of salespeople give up after just 1 follow-up or forget to follow up altogether. On the other hand, there are sales reps who bombard their prospects with follow-up emails and calls. Most of them never manage to seal the deal. You need to approach sales like real-life relationships. How would it feel if you got a daily reminder email from your better half asking if you still valued this relationship? Or a “just checking” call every other day? Annoyed, of course. You can’t be too pushy, […]

COMMUNICATION IS THE transfer of information from one mind to another mind, or to a group of other minds. It can be in the form of an idea, a fact, an image, an emotion, or a story. It can bewritten, spoken, drawn, danced, sung, or mimed. Whatever the medium, if the message doesn’t reach the other person, there’s no communication, or there’s miscommunication. The simple premise of this book is that every time you open your mouth, in order for communication to happen, you have to sell yourself. If you don’t sell yourself, communication is nearly impossible. If you do, your message will get across. We think of selling as being product-oriented. But that’s only one aspect of selling. In the case of product sales, the governing factors are usually the salesperson and the price. Even when there’s a slight price difference, we rarely buy any big-ticket item from someone we really dislike. Ideas aren’t much different. The only time we pay close attention to an idea being communicated by someone we don’t like is when we have a heavy personal or emotional investment in the subject. I grew up in prehistoric times when ice was delivered by a man […]

A dropped stitch looks like this: a loose stitch with strands of yarn above it.  When you think you’ve dropped a stitch, the first thing to do is find and secure the dropped stitch. When you drop a stitch, it’ll cause your knitting to unravel, so find and secure it immediately. Paying attention to your work as you knit will prevent you from dropping stitches and allow you to spot any dropped stitches sooner rather than later. Additionally, using the correct needle size for the yarn you are using will help decrease the number of stitches dropped while also keeping your tension more even. Click to learn how to fis a single dropped stitch right away Video by Joan Muganzi… Click to access Joans’ Playlist

Africa is the only region in the world where more women than men choose to become entrepreneurs, a phenomenon that is not the subject of adequate discussion. Expanding the opportunities for female entrepreneurs through policies that foster gender equality would have a tremendous impact on Africa’s growth. Simple and inexpensive solutions have been proven effective and should be adopted on a wider scale. While both male and female entrepreneurs face such constraints as a lack of capital, women are specifically impacted by a number of obstacles, such as discrimination and the dearth of collateral. As a result, female-owned enterprises post monthly profits that are on average 38 percent lower than those of male-owned enterprises. Three factors account in part for this underperformance: the lack of capital, the choice of business sector, and commercial practices. Conditions governing access to capital Data collected in ten African countries indicate that on average, male-owned enterprises have six times more capital than female-owned enterprises. The fact that women have less access to assets affects their ability to obtain medium-sized loans and, in turn, impacts the growth of their enterprises. This problem can be counteracted in two ways: by giving women more control over assets through, for example, […]

Yesterday, I got a call from a lady on this group of ours – WAAB. She has a problem and needs your advice ladies ….She owns a saloon that she says is not doing too well of late. She is looking for advise on how and what else she can do to make ends meet. Any investment suggested should be mindful that she will be pulling the money from her saloon … which is earning very little.I told her to get just 50,000shs and go to Owino market very early in the morning and buy shoes at 3,000shs max – that is 16 pairs of shoes. Go home, wash them, put them out to dry and sell them at 10,000shs each. When she sells them, from her 50k, she will have 160k as gross profit. These are the same second-hand shoes on sale on the streets at even much higher prices.Alternatively, I told her to go on Monday, Wednesday and/or Saturday to Owino, between 7am – 10am, and buy good and classic second-hand clothes at max 2,500shs – that is 20 dresses. On these days, they cut the ndibootas and sell the clothes at obscenely cheap prices. She then takes […]

THEY LIVE IN LOVELY HOMES LOCATED IN FINE neighborhoods. Balance is their approach to life. They are financially independent, yet they enjoy life—they are not “all work, no play” type of people. Most becamemillionaires in one generation. Neither their lifestyle nor their wealth was generated from being highly leveraged financially. They are not credit junkies. How did they accomplish this? How did they balancetheir need to become wealthy and economically productive with their need to enjoy life? They have the millionaire mind.Early in my career of studying wealthy people, I had a glimpse of this segment of the millionaire population. In 1983 I was asked to interview sixty millionaires from Oklahoma. What I learned from them was simple, yet the message had a lasting impact on me: You cannot enjoy life if you are addicted to consumption and the use of credit. These Oklahoma millionaires were just the opposite, as demonstrated by one focus group of ten. All ten were seasoned business owners, executives, or professionals. All were first-generation wealthy. Some were creditdependent earlier in their careers, but they eventually saw the light.They went cold turkey, breaking the cycle of borrowing to consume, earning to consume, and borrowing more and […]

FIVE REASONS THIS BOOK ROCKS: The truth is I do believe this book is a marvelous means by which to help someone understand how to build and sustain a meaningful network through the smart use of both online and in-person networking tools and opportunities. (And by “someone,” I mean practically anyone, from a teacher to a high-tech marketer, from a cook to a CEO to a candlestick maker.) But borrowing a page from Erik and Kyle’s book, I’d rather show you than simply tell you, so you can see for yourself what I mean. Online tools like Twitter, blogging, LinkedIn, Facebook, and so on have created an enormous opportunity for individuals to build their reputations and create networks with unprecedented reach. No longer are you confined to do business or create relationships with people you know in “carbon form,” as my friend Mitch Joel calls face-toface meetings. Instead, you can grow your network exponentially, with people from all around the globe. Yeah, but how? And what’s the bestway to connect? Well, that’s what this book tells you. Wait a sec…Twitter? Isn’t Twitter just a bunch of people talking about the burrito they just ate for lunch? Yes, Twitter. And umm, […]

This is not a book about telling your company’s story. A book like that would be a waste of time. Customers don’t generally care about your story; they care about their own. Your customer should be the hero of the story, not your brand. This is the secret every phenomenally successful business understands. What follows is a seven- part framework that will change the way you talk about your business and perhaps the way you do business. Each year we help more than three thousand businesses stop wasting money on marketing and get their company growing by helping them clarify their message. This framework will work for you, regardless of your industry. To get the most out of this book, I encourage you to do three things: 1. Read the book and understand the SB7 framework. 2. Filter your message through the framework. 3. Clarify your message so more customers listen. Marketing has changed. Businesses that invite their customers’ into a heroic story, grow. Businesses that don’t are forgotten. May we all be richly rewarded for putting our customers’ stories above our own. …. click to download the book

This born businesswoman has excelled in the promotion of natural African products in the food and cosmetics industry, mainly on the American market. At just 45, the Senegalese-born founder of Tiossan, an all-natural, artisan skin care brand inspired by the traditional Sufi healers of Senegal. At the heart of this growing global brand are the proud tradition of ancient Senegalese recipes  from which Tiossan draws inspiration. Magatte is a passionate champion of entrepreneurial education in Senegal and 50% of Tiossan profits are dedicated to the creation of innovative schools.  Magatte Wade creates jobs in Africa — and calls attention to the obstacles to job creation on the continent. Magatte Wade’s first company, Adina World Beverages, brought Senegalese bissap to US consumers through Whole Foods Market, Wegmans and United Natural Foods, Inc. Her second company, Tiossan, brought Senegalese skin care recipes to US consumers through Nordstrom and boutique beauty retailers. Her third company, SkinIsSkin, manufactures lip balms based on Senegalese ingredients in Senegal and markets them in the US to reduce racial bias. Based on her experiences creating consumer brands and building agricultural and manufacturing capacity in Senegal, Wade has spoken at dozens of universities including Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Columbia and MIT, […]