This week has been a bit more mundane.
At work I have spent a lot of time on the telephone trying to agree the terms of the savings voucher for farmers. This has led to a couple of interesting meetings at the Soviet sounding Industrial Area of Lusaka.
It’s about as picturesque as it sounds. A maze of un-named undulating dirt tracks littered with car carcasses link up scrap yards, breweries and a Parmalat. Most of the traffic is from enormous trucks and brave taxis with soon to be broken suspensions. Finding a particular office is nearly impossible and for that reason I was almost an hour late for my meetings at Battery Express, Zambian Educational Publishing and Export Fertilisers. (It didn’t help that I thought that the former place was actually called “Patrick’s Place.”)
At the publishers I met some Zambian civil servants from the Education department and discovered that Zambia has Permanent Secretaries too. Whilst the building itself was dilapidated, the boardroom table was regal. To the table’s credit, by the end of the meeting it was pretty much agreed that vouchers for discounted school books would help to solve poor attainment in rural areas. Excellent.
The week’s exhausting conversations made me very glad of the opportunity to get out into the outskirts of Lusaka on Saturday to join the HASH House Harriers. HASH is a running (and drinking) club that seems to be a relic of ex-pat life. Everyone is given an odd pseudonym after attending a few times – this week “Bo Peep” was christened. We ran around a farm, watched by nonplussed Zebras and Donkeys, occasionally stopping to relocate the trail – part of the fun is apparently to attempt to throw you off track. When the run finishes there is a strange sunset ceremony where rugby club esque drinking songs are sung and various indiscretions punished with beer related fines. If this sounds strange, the reality was possibly a bit stranger.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Negotiations
Two days of intensive meeting with 16 of Eastern Province's most entrepreneurial retailers over. The Righteous 5am bus has delivered me to Lusaka. So what did I learn?
Firstly, that going to alone without Alex and Kenan would have been pretty much impossible. They, like all the other Zambians I've met to date, bent over backwards to help me out.
Shops in Katete and Chipata are painted concrete rectangles with painted on signs, set about 10 meters of orange dust and gravel away from the road. Some are treasure troves of pots and pans, toasted sandwich makers and watering cans, hand labelled with prices. Others contain very little at all, perhaps a big stack of fertiliser or a few pots of chemicals and seeds.
The people who own the shops fall largely into two categories; (a) quiet men, teens or early twenties, understandably tentative at diminishing their seemingly already tiny margins (they often had seemingly very little stock) and (b) assertive, bearded, second generation Zambian chaps of Indian origin who seemed established and successful.
My pitch seemed to go down relatively well and most seemed keen to be involved in the voucher scheme. I'll call them back on Thursday, which given my language barrier could be tricky. If this was a task on the Apprentice I might have been fired for not pushing hard enough for the deal by now, but somehow that didn't seem right in rural Zambia.
I visited a School to ask whether the voucher could also be used to cover fees and the idea received a relatively warm reception. The inner playground was piled high well yellow sweetcorn drying out in the sun - surely the kids get sick of eating that after a couple of weeks? Still, the well dressed children at the school seemed better off than those I saw rolling tyres barefoot down a rocky hill in one part of Chipata. I still can't work out why, but it seemed pretty purposeful. Maybe it was for the buses.
My own culinary experience was a bit better as I had my first taste of nshima, Zambians' staple dish. It's a white, 'stodgy' (is that a word? if so is that how it's spelt?) rice-like oatmeal and it comes with chicken, pumpkin leaves and various gravies. You eat with your hands, which for me turned into a bit of a shambolic mess on my plate but it was welcome after trooping around shop after shop.
Firstly, that going to alone without Alex and Kenan would have been pretty much impossible. They, like all the other Zambians I've met to date, bent over backwards to help me out.
Shops in Katete and Chipata are painted concrete rectangles with painted on signs, set about 10 meters of orange dust and gravel away from the road. Some are treasure troves of pots and pans, toasted sandwich makers and watering cans, hand labelled with prices. Others contain very little at all, perhaps a big stack of fertiliser or a few pots of chemicals and seeds.
The people who own the shops fall largely into two categories; (a) quiet men, teens or early twenties, understandably tentative at diminishing their seemingly already tiny margins (they often had seemingly very little stock) and (b) assertive, bearded, second generation Zambian chaps of Indian origin who seemed established and successful.
My pitch seemed to go down relatively well and most seemed keen to be involved in the voucher scheme. I'll call them back on Thursday, which given my language barrier could be tricky. If this was a task on the Apprentice I might have been fired for not pushing hard enough for the deal by now, but somehow that didn't seem right in rural Zambia.
I visited a School to ask whether the voucher could also be used to cover fees and the idea received a relatively warm reception. The inner playground was piled high well yellow sweetcorn drying out in the sun - surely the kids get sick of eating that after a couple of weeks? Still, the well dressed children at the school seemed better off than those I saw rolling tyres barefoot down a rocky hill in one part of Chipata. I still can't work out why, but it seemed pretty purposeful. Maybe it was for the buses.
My own culinary experience was a bit better as I had my first taste of nshima, Zambians' staple dish. It's a white, 'stodgy' (is that a word? if so is that how it's spelt?) rice-like oatmeal and it comes with chicken, pumpkin leaves and various gravies. You eat with your hands, which for me turned into a bit of a shambolic mess on my plate but it was welcome after trooping around shop after shop.
Monday, 9 May 2011
The Katete Challenge
Catching a bus at 5am on a Sunday morning is not my idea of fun. Neither is sitting 5 per aisle or having gospel music powered down at me almost unabated for the duration of a 6 and a half hour trip. I say almost because occasionally the television would switch to a bizaare scene where a man appeared to be being attacked by an invisible deity in the middle of the bush.
The bus was insanely driven for good measure, but the wild open spaces, small thatched houses and great green forests of the Great East Road are beautiful. In the little town of Katete where I arrived, there are more cyclists than cars, so they get right of way.
My job for MTZL is to prove the concept that Zambian cotton farmers could potentially be paid using a voucher system rather than cash. Vouchers linked to farmers would be more secure for our client, who spend a lot of money insuring and physically protecting cash and should also enable us to harness the collective buying power of farmers so that they are offered discounts when they use them.
The objective for my first trip to Zambia's Eastern Province is to negotiate with Agricultural and other retailers to offer discounts if Cotton farmers accept vouchers for their cotton rather than cash. I'm also on the look out for staff to help with the electronic voucher transactions when they start.
Not easy, especially suffering from mild gospel bus trauma.
Kenan and Alex, two people who are key this work have sorted me out with a room and some food. Over chicken and mashed potatoes I thought about Kenan's suggestion of a Farmer focus group - very Civil Service.
The bus was insanely driven for good measure, but the wild open spaces, small thatched houses and great green forests of the Great East Road are beautiful. In the little town of Katete where I arrived, there are more cyclists than cars, so they get right of way.
My job for MTZL is to prove the concept that Zambian cotton farmers could potentially be paid using a voucher system rather than cash. Vouchers linked to farmers would be more secure for our client, who spend a lot of money insuring and physically protecting cash and should also enable us to harness the collective buying power of farmers so that they are offered discounts when they use them.
The objective for my first trip to Zambia's Eastern Province is to negotiate with Agricultural and other retailers to offer discounts if Cotton farmers accept vouchers for their cotton rather than cash. I'm also on the look out for staff to help with the electronic voucher transactions when they start.
Not easy, especially suffering from mild gospel bus trauma.
Kenan and Alex, two people who are key this work have sorted me out with a room and some food. Over chicken and mashed potatoes I thought about Kenan's suggestion of a Farmer focus group - very Civil Service.
Monday, 2 May 2011
A castle and two lions
My last few days has been in a number of ways similar to being at home. I wake up earlier than I'd like and I go to work. I come home, send some emails and maybe read. On the weekends I play football and do some grocery shopping and then watch some football on TV.
And there the similarities end. My new living arrangement is somewhat like a castle. It's behind the double padlocked iron gates and locked doors of a house within a 'compound' behind a wall and a 'guarded' gate, (the guard is not of the 'active guarding' school.) Perhaps surprisingly (surprising that I got this far) on Friday evening I found myself locked in the lounge - as a final precaution my new house mates had locked the internal doors. It was a new experience to be locked in to a part of my own house until 2 in the morning.
On Thursday I spent some time with colleagues negotiating a ludicrously high interest loan from a Micro Finance business in the middle of big, dusty, crowded Soweto market. This place has the dubious honour of the following description in my guide book, "notorious for robbery and pickpockets, if in a car, wind windows up and lock doors." I'm still planning my work here, but essentially I'll be proving the concept of paying cotton farmers with vouchers rather than cash; increasing security, reducing costs and hopefully increasing their buying power.
On the weekend I had the privelege of demonstrating my footballing prowess alongside some locals at the local Polo fields, where I hear Prince Harry's Zambian girlfriend can be found, (no further references to British Royalty will be made in this blog, but needless to say there was some interest in a wedding this week too.) On Sunday, Aaron Ramsey demonstrated how it's really done and gave me an excuse to describe where Wales was to amassed Arsenal and Manchester United Fans. Pretty passionate support here for both teams. One fan, who I named "Rooney" almost broke a table in anger.
The highlight came today however as I ventured slightly out of Lusaka city centre on the road for Kafue with some new friends. The best description I have for the farm we visited is 'shady' but after travelling along a track past discarded trucks, trailers and diggers you find yourself presented with a pinkish house with a back garden set against the backdrop of the bush, complete with Zebra, Buffalo and Impala.
Amongst the plastic dark green furniture in the back garden were two white Lion cubs. Beautiful. There are only 300 of these left in the World and I got to pat numbers 301 and 302. Needless to say I'm very pleased about this. There was one other Lion who was 9 months old in an enclosure and snacking on a chicken. Needless to say he was not so pattable.
The fabulous day ended with Ethiopian food and dicussion of cows and termites' contribution to global warming as well as the Crocodile that crashed a Congolese plane and the lady who, expecting to rescue a puppy from certain death in China, asked to buy it, which the retailer misunderstood...
A small note to end on place names that I have enjoyed so far: Wonga,(like the .com), and current no.1 Kalingalinga.
And there the similarities end. My new living arrangement is somewhat like a castle. It's behind the double padlocked iron gates and locked doors of a house within a 'compound' behind a wall and a 'guarded' gate, (the guard is not of the 'active guarding' school.) Perhaps surprisingly (surprising that I got this far) on Friday evening I found myself locked in the lounge - as a final precaution my new house mates had locked the internal doors. It was a new experience to be locked in to a part of my own house until 2 in the morning.
On Thursday I spent some time with colleagues negotiating a ludicrously high interest loan from a Micro Finance business in the middle of big, dusty, crowded Soweto market. This place has the dubious honour of the following description in my guide book, "notorious for robbery and pickpockets, if in a car, wind windows up and lock doors." I'm still planning my work here, but essentially I'll be proving the concept of paying cotton farmers with vouchers rather than cash; increasing security, reducing costs and hopefully increasing their buying power.
On the weekend I had the privelege of demonstrating my footballing prowess alongside some locals at the local Polo fields, where I hear Prince Harry's Zambian girlfriend can be found, (no further references to British Royalty will be made in this blog, but needless to say there was some interest in a wedding this week too.) On Sunday, Aaron Ramsey demonstrated how it's really done and gave me an excuse to describe where Wales was to amassed Arsenal and Manchester United Fans. Pretty passionate support here for both teams. One fan, who I named "Rooney" almost broke a table in anger.
The highlight came today however as I ventured slightly out of Lusaka city centre on the road for Kafue with some new friends. The best description I have for the farm we visited is 'shady' but after travelling along a track past discarded trucks, trailers and diggers you find yourself presented with a pinkish house with a back garden set against the backdrop of the bush, complete with Zebra, Buffalo and Impala.
Amongst the plastic dark green furniture in the back garden were two white Lion cubs. Beautiful. There are only 300 of these left in the World and I got to pat numbers 301 and 302. Needless to say I'm very pleased about this. There was one other Lion who was 9 months old in an enclosure and snacking on a chicken. Needless to say he was not so pattable.
The fabulous day ended with Ethiopian food and dicussion of cows and termites' contribution to global warming as well as the Crocodile that crashed a Congolese plane and the lady who, expecting to rescue a puppy from certain death in China, asked to buy it, which the retailer misunderstood...
A small note to end on place names that I have enjoyed so far: Wonga,(like the .com), and current no.1 Kalingalinga.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
The tallest building in Lusaka
I have arrived, and as expected, Lusaka is nothing like I expected. The first thing you notice is that Lusaka doesn't really feel much like a city. There's much more space so every building is single storey and is usually surrounded by bush, trees, gardens or plain scrubland. I have no idea where the 2 million people are hiding. It's also very hot.
I met Peter Manda at the airport and threw my rucksack into the back of his pick up before heading on a short journey along the straight road to Lusaka, cyclists balancing tomatoes and children either side of the carriageway. My lodge was on an untarmaced road, but had a lovely courtyard and garden. Not that I paid much attention - as soon as I saw a bed I crashed for a couple of hours.
I spent a very chilled afternoon and evening having a few beers in a couple of lodges and gardens in Lusaka with Peter and his friends and was entertained by tales about the various ways they had heard people had come to a premature demise at the hands of pythons, lions and buffalo. Particularly 'interesting' is the story of the python than jumped on the South African bus driver as he was relieving himself by the side of the road. Apparently these stories swept under the carpet as much as possible so as not to deter visitors...Following a quick sweep for snakes I enjoyed a pretty comfortable first night in the Executive Lodge.
The next day I met some of my new colleagues at Mobile Transactions, who I caught in the middle of an office move. Their main business is the transfer of money across the country using the mobile phone network and a network of agents. I spent the afternoon at their Green Kiosk in central Lusaka watching people make payments. The one time I tried to help out it pretty much seemed to go wrong immediately, to the obvious slight concern of the customers. I'd describe the work as hot and fragrant. The kiosk is opposite the tallest building in Zambia and therefore, if this is possible, the most derelict. It's a high rise office block from the 70s (I think) but was never finished - a relic, Hans (my new boss) informs me, of when the copper price was high and times were good in Zambia, before the price crashed.
The Chinese economy's demand for copper is however bringing new investment back into the country, so things seem to be on the up again. I spent the evening at an excellent Chinese restaurant which has a sign on the wall selling 'prospecting rights.' Not sure what that means but it sounds enterprising.
I met Peter Manda at the airport and threw my rucksack into the back of his pick up before heading on a short journey along the straight road to Lusaka, cyclists balancing tomatoes and children either side of the carriageway. My lodge was on an untarmaced road, but had a lovely courtyard and garden. Not that I paid much attention - as soon as I saw a bed I crashed for a couple of hours.
I spent a very chilled afternoon and evening having a few beers in a couple of lodges and gardens in Lusaka with Peter and his friends and was entertained by tales about the various ways they had heard people had come to a premature demise at the hands of pythons, lions and buffalo. Particularly 'interesting' is the story of the python than jumped on the South African bus driver as he was relieving himself by the side of the road. Apparently these stories swept under the carpet as much as possible so as not to deter visitors...Following a quick sweep for snakes I enjoyed a pretty comfortable first night in the Executive Lodge.
The next day I met some of my new colleagues at Mobile Transactions, who I caught in the middle of an office move. Their main business is the transfer of money across the country using the mobile phone network and a network of agents. I spent the afternoon at their Green Kiosk in central Lusaka watching people make payments. The one time I tried to help out it pretty much seemed to go wrong immediately, to the obvious slight concern of the customers. I'd describe the work as hot and fragrant. The kiosk is opposite the tallest building in Zambia and therefore, if this is possible, the most derelict. It's a high rise office block from the 70s (I think) but was never finished - a relic, Hans (my new boss) informs me, of when the copper price was high and times were good in Zambia, before the price crashed.
The Chinese economy's demand for copper is however bringing new investment back into the country, so things seem to be on the up again. I spent the evening at an excellent Chinese restaurant which has a sign on the wall selling 'prospecting rights.' Not sure what that means but it sounds enterprising.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Night before I go
Last Match of the Day before I leave. Pretty much packed...now to catch that plane.
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