The Biggest Failure Of All? Never Trying

 

 

 

 

How to beat belly fat for good

on November 30, 2013   /   in Health 12:20 am   /   Comments

ONE often wonders why so many people in this day and age tend to have excess abdominal fat. The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.However, what most people don’t realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous health risk factor.

Research has clearly demonstrated that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout the body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.If you care to know, there are two types of fat a man or woman could have in the abdominal area. The first type that covers up the abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.

The second type of fat is the visceral fat. This lies deeper in the abdomen beneath muscle and surrounding organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.

Dangerous fat

Subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases. Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into the body on a consistent basis.

No quick fix

The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely no quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicks will help get rid of abdominal fat either. You can’t spot reduce your stomach fat by using any contraption. It simply doesn’t work that way.

The only solution to consistently lose abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet with a properly designed strategic exercise programme.Excess abdominal fat is not only ugly, but also dangerous. Don’t waste another day allowing nasty abdominal fat to kill your confidence as well as contribute to your risk for major diseases. Get the solution to rid yourself for life of this problem. But even if you’re thin, you can still have too much visceral fat. It’s partly about your genes.

Get active

Some people have a genetic tendency to store visceral fat. It’s also about physical activity. Visceral fat likes inactivity. Thin people who maintain their weight through diet alone, skipping exercise, are more likely to have unhealthy levels of visceral fat. So the message is get active, no matter what size you are.Thy these tips for beating belly fat for good

Exercise

Vigorous exercise trims fat, including visceral fat. It can also slow down the build-up of visceral fat that tends to happen over the years. But forget spot-reducing. There aren’t any moves you can do that specifically target visceral fat. Half an hour of vigorous aerobic exercise, done four times a week is ideal.  Moderate activity — raising your heart rate for 30 minutes at least three times per week —also helps. It slows down how much visceral fat you gain. But to burn visceral fat, your workouts may need to be stepped up.

Diet

Photo credit: Wikipedia

I have written a lot about failure.  I am in favor of it.
Not the kind of failure where you bet everything on one roll of the dice and lose. That kind of failure is devastating because you have used up all your resources and you don’t get to try again.
No, the kind of failure I am talking about is when you take a small step toward your goal and find it doesn’t work.
That kind of failure is far from fatal, and in fact can be helpful if you learn from it and put that learning to use with the next small step you take. (It’s part of the Act. Learn. Build. Repeat. model we have talked about throughout.)

ew Currency of Growth Mike Maddock Contributor

So, small setbacks = Good.
Large scale failures = Bad
But there is one thing worse than large scale failures–and that is not starting anything new at all.
People can be extremely risk adverse and the idea of a venture not working out can scare them to the point where they never get underway.  They keep thinking about the idea and/or maybe doing more and more research, and they never pull the trigger.
Or they don’t start because their advisors are very conservative and keep pointing out reasons why they should delay and so they wait and think and refine and tweak and refine some more.

Or they take too long to test the market, putting off actually beginning to the point where the competition has passed them by
All these situations are sad.
As we have said before, if you think you have a good idea, get into the marketplace as quickly as you can, using as little money as possible, and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, you can always regroup.
But if you don’t try, you’ll never know.
###
Paul B. Brown is co-author of Just Start  published by Harvard Business Review Press.

 

How to beat belly fat for good

on November 30, 2013   /   in Health 12:20 am   /   Comments

ONE often wonders why so many people in this day and age tend to have excess abdominal fat. The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.However, what most people don’t realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous health risk factor.
Research has clearly demonstrated that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout the body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.If you care to know, there are two types of fat a man or woman could have in the abdominal area. The first type that covers up the abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.
The second type of fat is the visceral fat. This lies deeper in the abdomen beneath muscle and surrounding organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.
Dangerous fat
Subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases. Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into the body on a consistent basis.
No quick fix
The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely no quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicks will help get rid of abdominal fat either. You can’t spot reduce your stomach fat by using any contraption. It simply doesn’t work that way.
The only solution to consistently lose abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet with a properly designed strategic exercise programme.Excess abdominal fat is not only ugly, but also dangerous. Don’t waste another day allowing nasty abdominal fat to kill your confidence as well as contribute to your risk for major diseases. Get the solution to rid yourself for life of this problem. But even if you’re thin, you can still have too much visceral fat. It’s partly about your genes.
Get active
Some people have a genetic tendency to store visceral fat. It’s also about physical activity. Visceral fat likes inactivity. Thin people who maintain their weight through diet alone, skipping exercise, are more likely to have unhealthy levels of visceral fat. So the message is get active, no matter what size you are.Thy these tips for beating belly fat for good
Exercise
Vigorous exercise trims fat, including visceral fat. It can also slow down the build-up of visceral fat that tends to happen over the years. But forget spot-reducing. There aren’t any moves you can do that specifically target visceral fat. Half an hour of vigorous aerobic exercise, done four times a week is ideal.  Moderate activity — raising your heart rate for 30 minutes at least three times per week —also helps. It slows down how much visceral fat you gain. But to burn visceral fat, your workouts may need to be stepped up.
Diet

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/beat-belly-fat-good/#sthash.wJLaWkUy.dpuf

 

 

How to beat belly fat for good

on November 30, 2013   /   in Health 12:20 am   /   Comments

ONE often wonders why so many people in this day and age tend to have excess abdominal fat. The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.However, what most people don’t realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous health risk factor.
Research has clearly demonstrated that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout the body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.If you care to know, there are two types of fat a man or woman could have in the abdominal area. The first type that covers up the abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.
The second type of fat is the visceral fat. This lies deeper in the abdomen beneath muscle and surrounding organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.
Dangerous fat
Subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases. Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into the body on a consistent basis.
No quick fix
The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely no quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicks will help get rid of abdominal fat either. You can’t spot reduce your stomach fat by using any contraption. It simply doesn’t work that way.
The only solution to consistently lose abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet with a properly designed strategic exercise programme.Excess abdominal fat is not only ugly, but also dangerous. Don’t waste another day allowing nasty abdominal fat to kill your confidence as well as contribute to your risk for major diseases. Get the solution to rid yourself for life of this problem. But even if you’re thin, you can still have too much visceral fat. It’s partly about your genes.
Get active
Some people have a genetic tendency to store visceral fat. It’s also about physical activity. Visceral fat likes inactivity. Thin people who maintain their weight through diet alone, skipping exercise, are more likely to have unhealthy levels of visceral fat. So the message is get active, no matter what size you are.Thy these tips for beating belly fat for good
Exercise
Vigorous exercise trims fat, including visceral fat. It can also slow down the build-up of visceral fat that tends to happen over the years. But forget spot-reducing. There aren’t any moves you can do that specifically target visceral fat. Half an hour of vigorous aerobic exercise, done four times a week is ideal.  Moderate activity — raising your heart rate for 30 minutes at least three times per week —also helps. It slows down how much visceral fat you gain. But to burn visceral fat, your workouts may need to be stepped up.
Diet

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/beat-belly-fat-good/#sthash.wJLaWkUy.dpuf

How to beat belly fat for good

on November 30, 2013   /   in Health 12:20 am   /   Comments

ONE often wonders why so many people in this day and age tend to have excess abdominal fat. The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.However, what most people don’t realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous health risk factor.
Research has clearly demonstrated that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout the body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.If you care to know, there are two types of fat a man or woman could have in the abdominal area. The first type that covers up the abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.
The second type of fat is the visceral fat. This lies deeper in the abdomen beneath muscle and surrounding organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.
Dangerous fat
Subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases. Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into the body on a consistent basis.
No quick fix
The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely no quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicks will help get rid of abdominal fat either. You can’t spot reduce your stomach fat by using any contraption. It simply doesn’t work that way.
The only solution to consistently lose abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet with a properly designed strategic exercise programme.Excess abdominal fat is not only ugly, but also dangerous. Don’t waste another day allowing nasty abdominal fat to kill your confidence as well as contribute to your risk for major diseases. Get the solution to rid yourself for life of this problem. But even if you’re thin, you can still have too much visceral fat. It’s partly about your genes.
Get active
Some people have a genetic tendency to store visceral fat. It’s also about physical activity. Visceral fat likes inactivity. Thin people who maintain their weight through diet alone, skipping exercise, are more likely to have unhealthy levels of visceral fat. So the message is get active, no matter what size you are.Thy these tips for beating belly fat for good
Exercise
Vigorous exercise trims fat, including visceral fat. It can also slow down the build-up of visceral fat that tends to happen over the years. But forget spot-reducing. There aren’t any moves you can do that specifically target visceral fat. Half an hour of vigorous aerobic exercise, done four times a week is ideal.  Moderate activity — raising your heart rate for 30 minutes at least three times per week —also helps. It slows down how much visceral fat you gain. But to burn visceral fat, your workouts may need to be stepped up.
Diet

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/beat-belly-fat-good/#sthash.wJLaWkUy.dpuf

Meet Zuriel Oduwole, the youngest Most Influential Person in Africa

1. 
   11-year old Miss Zuriel Oduwole was listed recently in New African Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Africans list, and that piqued our curiosity about her. We have decided to bring to you all we know about her, and here goes:
   
   Zuriel Oduwole is officially the first Nigerian African Girl-Child educational campaigner, and she was recently became the Global Ambassador for the Ethiopian Airlines. Imagine that for a minute…
   
   The airline, as part of her ambassadorial agreement, will be Zuriel’s official carrier to her various engagements across three continents (including Africa and South America), where she will be continuing her cause for the education of the Girl Child with world leaders.
   
   That is not all. Zuriel, at age ten, became the first ten year old to interview eight incumbent heads of State. She is also the first (and only, we might add) ten year old to interview Aliko Dangote, and she has been compared with Larry King and Oprah Winfrey several times because of her remarkable interviewing abilities.
   
   
   Zuriel is also the first ten-year old to be accredited to a World Press conference, where she competed with correspondents from CNN, CNBC and Reuters).
   
   She is the first ten year old to interview Venus and Serena Williams, the first ten-year old to feature in the prestigious Forbes magazine and also the first African child to be appointed honorary ambassador by a foreign government.
   
   The name “Zuriel” is of Hebrew origin and it means “God is my Rock”. She believes that if she can walk a mile, there are girls who can draw inspiration from her and walk a mile and half.

See Why Psquare Peter Married Lola Who’s Older Than Him

REPORT CULLED FROM OLUFAMOUS
Probably, part of Jude Okoye and Peter Okoye’s problem is because Lola is older than him. Read this…
Each time I read the nasty comments about Lola Omotayo Okoye my heart gets heavy. I do not know her in person- just like most of you. She has been called “old”, “shameless” even a “gold digger”! Some “kind” people even empathize with her and “understand” that Peter married her because of her kids.
Let’s get a few things straight:
Nobody has the right to choose another person’s spouse
I was in school with Psquare, Peter had a girlfriend-Ada-whom he was crazy about. Ada is a splitting image of Lola…does that imply anything?
Age is not the determinant of a good marriage; either party could be older…
Prince Charles married “much younger” Diana, how did that go? How old is his present wife-whom he loved all along?
Prince Williams forsook all the “younger girls” in England and married an older bride
Sullivan Chime married a “much younger” Clara; again, how did that go
For those who went as far as calling Lola a runs girl, who sleeps with her “uncles”, do you know this lady? Do you know this for a fact or is it just hear say? Why defame an innocent lady who is minding her own business? Do you think Peter is a fool?
For those who justify these rumours with the story of her living in a “mansion” in Ikoyi – shebi you people say she is old? Do you know she has a career, did you expect that at her “old age” she wouldn’t have risen through the ranks?
For those of you who see only young brides as a wise choice, it is because you haven’t gotten married yet. There are some childish attributes the young wife will have that will make you almost regret the marriage – that is if you don’t do that eventually
Peter knew very well what he was doing. He wants peace, companionship and joy. A mature and experienced mother for his kids. He saw all the “young girls” world over before he made his beautiful choice.
Written by Deschil

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0: What You Need To Know Before Buying

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Tablets are a tough market.  Unless you are Apple, Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo, or ASUS, the tablet market hasn’t been very kind to you.  Just because you do well in smartphones or personal computers doesn’t guarantee you will do well in tablets, either.  Tablet makers will do everything to differentiate their tablets. Amazon subsidizes their cheap tablets with a proprietary app and media store and also has direct video chat with a “helper”.  Apple had first mover advantage and now differentiates on experience, quality, the biggest tablet app store, and brand.  Samsung has adopted the ” spray and pray” approach that actually works well for huge, 800 pound gorilla companies. Whatever the input method, screen size, or price, Samsung will have something to offer you.  One of Samsung’s biggest methods of differentiation is on input method, featured in the Samsung Galaxy Note product line with the S-Pen.
The Samsung Galaxy Note line of tablets use a pen, the “ S-Pen” to control the tablet, but also to draw with, take notes and annotate.  I had the chance to use the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 for a month and I wanted to share information that should help you decide whether you buy one or not.  This isn’t a comprehensive review.  You can find those all over the web.  This is is a list of important things based on my nearly 25 years strategizing, analyzing, planning, developing, launching and managing 100′s of products in my career.

• Finicky Pen Interaction: The S-Pen isn’t as easy to use as pen and paper and takes some getting used to.  First, the “S-Pen” is tiny at 5.5mm.  It’s like writing with one of your kid’s broken pencils they use in kindergarten.  It’s short, skinny, and narrow. Secondly, only apps deigned to work with the S-Pen will work.  Standardized on Evernote or Microsoft OneNote?  You are out of luck as you cannot use the S-Pen do write notes or draw pictures.  Samsung does include apps with the Note, like aNote HD, S Note, and paper Artist, but they’re not best-of-breed apps.
• Feels Dated: As Apple, HTC and stock Google Android phones moved to more modern looking icons combined with the always-modern look of Windows Phone look and feel, the Samsung Galaxy Note did not.  But if you like the skeuomorphic look of the Apple of yore, you are in luck, all the way down to the feather screen background and leather-looking cover of aNote HD and S Note.  Heck, even the pen is brown and the packaging has wood grain as if it is inspired by wood.
• Feels Plasticky: Most tablets are made of some kind of plastic, but not all feel like it.  The Samsung Galaxy Note definitely feels plasticky.  Compare that with the Google Nexus 7 (2013) and the Nvidia Tegra Note that are both made from plastic, but have rubberized coatings so they are less slippery, more resistant to fingerprints, and don’t feel cheap.  iPads definitely don’t feel cheap as they are made from machined aluminum, not cheap-feeling plastic.
• Back Button Reversed: Most every new Android device has the back button on the left side of the tablet.  The Samsung Galaxy Note has it on the right. I cannot tell you how incredibly difficult this was to get used to given every single Android device I have has it on the other side.  Sometimes being different isn’t good.
• 8″ Display: The Galaxy Note has an 8″ screen like the iPad mini, but larger than both the Nexus 7 (7″) and Tegra Note (7″), giving it around 8 square inches or 37% more viewable image  area.  That should be balanced against the Note’s lower resolution and PPI.
• Low Resolution and PPI: Tablets priced between $399 and $349 have screen resolutions like 1,920×1,280 with the Nexus 7 or 2,048×1,536 with the iPad mini with Retina. The Samsung Galaxy Note operates at 1,280×800.  Why does this matter? Well, on the mini and Nexus 7, you will see between 2.4 -3X more detail, or pixels, on the display when compared to the Galaxy Note. There is a big pixel per inch difference, too as the mini (Retina) and Nexus 7 (2013) have between 72-75% higher PPI, meaning you will see more details and less pixels.
• Decent Camera: Most tablets have crummy cameras, particularly Android tablets, and  Apple and Nokia have really had the lock on decent tablet cameras.  The Samsung Galaxy Note has a pretty good camera.  It’s not great like the iPad, but it’s good, and certainly better than the Nexus 7.
• Cool Features:  If you are into exploring technology, the Samsung Galaxy Note is a great choice as it is a geeky Swiss Army Knife of geeky features you may, or may not ever use, but they are cool.  First, it has WiFi Direct, meaning you can connect to any other WiFi Direct device without the need for a router.  It also has Miracast screen sharing meaning you can show what is on the tablet on a TV that has Miracast.  The Note also has “Smart Screen” where as long as you look at the tablet, the screen will stay on.  You can even take a picture by saying, “Cheese”, “Capture”, “Smile” and “Shoot”.  It does work, for real.
• Pricey: The Galaxy Note is expensive and has a suggested retail price of $399, but you can find it at $349 at certain retail stores.  You can get an iPad mini for $299, and iPad mini with Retina for $399, and an Nvidia Tegra Note 7 for $199.  The Galaxy Note is overpriced, but if you can get it at $249, it would be a good deal.
• Slow Benchmark Performance: The Galaxy Note 8 is a very poor benchmark performer when compared to other products in its class like the iPad mini with Retina display, Nexus 7 (2013), and the Nvidia Tegra Note 7. This low benchmark performance plays out in benchmark after benchmark.  I attribute this to a very slow, home-grown, Samsung chip, the Samsung Exynos 4412, which uses an ARM Cortex A9, used primarily in mid-range phones, not premium-priced tablets. Other premium tablets use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 600, Nvidia Tegra 4, or ARM Cortex A15 based SoC.  I do want to add that the Note did have “snap” when opening folders and moving between panes, which I attribute to decent 2D graphics.
• Short Battery Life: I thought the battery life felt short when I used it.  Anand over at AnandTech pegged battery life pretty low with his benchmarks and reinforced my non-technical experiential perceptions.  The Note has particularly low battery life when hitting 3D functions that can be found in games.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 isn’t a bad product, it just isn’t remotely competitive where it is priced.  Priced between $399-349, if you are looking for pen interaction with really good performance at nearly half the price, you are better off with Nvidia’s Tegra Note 7.  If you are looking for the top of the line experience, great overall performance, the highest quality workmanship, you are better off going with the iPad mini with Retina at $399.  If you are looking for a very good balance of features and performance, you are better off getting the Nexus 7 (2013) at $249.  Let me know if you agree below.
NOTE: While most of my product evaluations go directly to my analyst client base, I will do some evaluations publicly for a broader audience like Forbes.  These public evaluations are for high-volume, well-distributed or unique products.
You can find Patrick Moorhead, President & Principal Analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google

TECNO deepens smartphone penetration with new Phantom AIII

November 27, 2013 | Filed under: Technology | Author: Editor

Mobile phone Company, TECNO Mobileis looking to further deepen smartphone penetration and expand its market share in Nigeria, with the launch of the latest addition smartphone to its phantom family, the Phantom AIII.

The highly anticipated smartphone was formally launched to the public at an elaborate ceremonyin Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island Lagos.

Speaking at the launch, Vice President, TECNO GROUP, Mr. Arif Chowdhury stated that the device was designed with a passion to give everybody access to innovation and its affordable for everybody. “It is part of TECNO’s unwavering effort in expanding its offering which can be seen in this superior, innovative phone” he said.

TECNO Phantom AIII

The Phantom AIII smartphone is an upgraded version of the TECNO Phantom A+, it has a sleeker body and bigger screen than that of its predecessor, it comes with 6.0” captivating HD touch screen, 4.2android operating system, it has3.75g network capability, with1.5 GHz quad core processor.

The Phantom AIII is equipped withmemory capacity of 16 GB rom plus 1 gb ram, 13megal pixels rear camera and 8megal pixel front camera. It also has social media application like Facebook, Whatsapp and Palmchat, applications. The Vice president added that he was very glad to announce a new collaboration with BlackBerry, whichallows customers to find,preloaded on TECNO devices, the famous and popular BBM™ application.

He further noted that the smartphone is the mobile device to watch in the years to come. The prices are coming down and the sales volumes will increase. This is driving mobile internet access, which then opens up a lot of doors for innovation.

“Studies indicate that most people now access the internet through their mobile phones as opposed to PCs, We will be launching more internet series mobile phones to serve the growing demand of our customers.

Our research from years back shows that the buyers of TECNO phones are mostly the youth and we have decided to focus on this market of people. This young people want to be unique, they want unique features that allow them to play and chat, and this is exactly what TECNO is giving them through our series of Smartphones that we have launched into the market so far” Arif added.

Also speaking at the launch, the Digital Marketing &Public Relation Manager West Africa, TECNO GROUP, Mr. Boukali Mounir lay emphasizes on the devices specifications, stressing that the Phantom AIII is a dual sim Smartphone beautifully design with an innovative package of 8.4mm slim body.

Speaking about the Phantom AIII camera, Mounir pointed out that the device has 8.0MP AF front camera, 13.0MP AF back camera with flash 5 high-precision optical lens,the blue glass filter of 5 layer glass lens that picks up all the details and help the camera to respond to light just like our eyes do. The device also has access to over 1,000,000 applications, he added.

Mounir also disclosed that the Phantom AIII comes with free monthly 500MB free data for 12 months from the Nigeria innovative network Etisalat

Mounir also announced that “TECNO is coming not only with the Phantom AIII, but with the TECNO Smart family including different smartphones created to meet all the customers needs: The M5, the M7, the P5, the A+, The Phantom Pad mini, the Phantom AIII all this family will bring Smart life to Nigerians.”

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Silly Mistakes Jobseekers Make During Application Or When Submitting Their CVs For Job Openings.

1. Sending mail without attachment: We sometimes make this mistake during our correspondences by sending mail and forgetting to attach the required documents, until the recipient of the mail call our attention to it. Unfortunately, Jobseekers don’t enjoy such luxury. No matter the number of applications you send without attaching your CV, be rest assured of not being shortlisted for interview.

2. Sending mail without content: This may look harmless but trust me, a recruiter won’t find it funny if he opens an application and the only message in the mail reads: “Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN” with the subject “my CV or my application”. This is exactly what some applicants do, yet they expect to be invited for interview.

3. Sending mail without cover letter: Most job seekers send out applications without cover letter. I personally don’t give too much weight to cover letters (especially if it is online application) because I hardly read them, and many HR professionals don’t either. You are however sending signal of an unserious job applicant if I open your mail and there is no form of introduction at least about yourself and what you are applying for (even if I did not read the content). I must quickly say most of us don’t read the cover letters because we want to access as many CV as possible and the time spent reading one cover letter is enough to read another CV. God help you if I have limited CVs and I am interested in reading your cover letter and you have none or you send hard copy of your CV without cover letter.

4. Group application: I have received applications from multiple candidates through a single source at once and I have also received applications that have been forwarded to many other companies before I received them and I kept asking myself if those applicants really wanted the job or they were just testing their skills on the usage of the internet. Yet they wanted me to invite them (as unserious as they were) for interview.

5. Not following instructions: Due to the volume of applications we receive, HR professionals device means of separating each of the advertised positions. In doing this, we either formulate code for each job or give each of the job a particular ‘subject of the mail’. But funny enough most jobseekers just ignore these instructions and follow their own regular way of applying for jobs. Little did they know that the complex application instructions are sometimes used to test their willingness to follow instruction and attend to details if employed.

6. Sending scanned CVs: Sometimes I find it hard to understand why applicants go the extra mile of scanning their CVs before attaching and sending it when no instruction told them to do so. And in most cases those scanned CVs were never well scanned; what I still do not understand is whether they were actually scanned or snapped with phones, and of course sent to a friend to help them apply for a job they know next to nothing about.



7. Inaccessible CVs: I sometimes wonder why, despite all the software on my system, I still cannot open some CV’s. I have not met any hiring manager who will go out of his way just to open a CV to enable him invite the candidate for interview. Simple MS word is enough, except otherwise instructed. I wonder where the complication is coming from.

8. Being Too eager for the job: There is no crime in contacting the hiring manager if you have his contact, but when your calls begin to distract/disturb him, he begins to have a rethink about you, if hiring you will not be a problem to the company. Except you have a personal relationship with him and that should not be abused either.

9. Not applying early: This is an aspect many jobseekers take for granted. By practice all advert should have at least a week window for application, but in reality, the CV’s of the first set of people who applied for the job are considered, except where the job attracts limited applications or CV’s sorted electronically. We can imagine how many cases of the exceptions abound.

Clearance Sale....

Fear is a Choice! Don’t Give in to It

Posted on Wednesday, November 27th, 2013 at 5:18 PM By Amarachi Alisiobi

‘Danger is real, but fear is a choice‘

These were the words of Will Smith’s character in the movie ‘After Earth’. It got me thinking about how true it is and how it affects our everyday lives. An incident that occurred came to my mind.  I would refer to the person involved as Mr. X.

About two months ago, Mr. X engraved the tomb of his four years old child who passed away sometime in the middle of the year. He went to inspect the engraving one afternoon. He decided to take pictures to show to family and friends. He captured photos and went home and rested. Later at night he decided to go through the pictures, and was shocked to see that all the pictures had very dark backgrounds, since it was on a bright sunny afternoon he took the photos. On closer look, the ghost of a young girl was seen hovering behind the tomb in all the pictures, especially very distinctly in one, which had the darkest background. Mr. X couldn’t sleep that night.

He came to work the next day and showed us all. People were bringing up theories, one of which stated that the girl probably had a message to pass across so he had to go figure it out. Another said his son probably knew the girl while alive and that she had died too so was just playing around her friend’s grave. Only one person kept hammering that it was just the devil’s ploy to make us doubt the word of God. Mr. X planned to go show his pastors the pictures so they could decipher whatever message was being passed across or whatever the girl symbolized.

I was terrified. I had never believed in the stories that ghosts could be seen walking around, and having the evidence right in front of me seemed scary. The image of the girl with the ayamatanga dangling braids, stuck in my head. I got home that evening and was scared to sleep in the dark. The next night was even worse. I could swear that in the midnight, she was in the room and tried touching me until I screamed ‘Jesus’. If it was a dream or real, then I could never tell, all I know was that it happened and I was freaked out. For the following nights to come, I never slept without sprinkling holy water all over the room, and rubbing olive oil over my forehead, for protection. After a week, other things were happening in my life and I forgot the story of the picture ghost and then never had a cause to be afraid at nights again.

A month and two weeks later, we were working in the office as usual, when Mr. X came in and went all, ‘yea do you guys remember those pictures of my son’s tomb, where a ghost was appearing in all? Well, yesterday when I was taking photos at home, the pictures were all having dark backgrounds and the ghost was appearing in them, so my older son took a look and saw that the camera had been on ghost mode along, thus the background and creepy girl‘.

You can imagine the look on my face and thoughts in my head. I went on laughing for a while, even as he went on to say how some pastors had talked about holding paid special prayers sessions so the ghost could stop tormenting the boy’s graveside. I was thinking about how much power fear could have over us once we let it. All we have to do is believe something, and that is it. It controls us and all we do, while it is still in our heads. I was amazed at how terrified I was over something unreal, and at the same time, made a note to be more careful in future, the things I let myself fear.
Because fear is like cancer…the more you feed it,the more it grows till you are left paralysed! It affects confidence and clouds your joy! Making you a prisoner of your own mind.

Photo Credit: 123rf.com

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RARE FACTS OF ALIKO MOHAMMED DANGOTE, World's Richest Black.

DEDICATION: This piece is written for and dedicated to all hardworking men and women across the globe. Those who toil day and night with the hope that tomorrow will be better than yesterday, those who fast today so that they can have their fill tomorrow, those who labour on in the face of the incredible hardships of life, those who struggle relentlessly despite the greatest travails and challenges thrown at them, those who manage to have a cheerful smile on a face full of sweat and tears, it is to those, Abiyamo dedicates this.
''Aliko Dangote deserves more honours than those of us holding political offices'.
-GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, Nigerian President.

‘I am close to the people in power because I am one of the big businessmen in Nigeria. If we have the wrong people there, then all the money I have is useless. I do not want Nigeria to become another Zimbabwe so I am concerned about the political direction of my country, because if bad and inexperienced politicians control power in Nigeria, my wealth may turn into poverty and I am not ready to become a poor man.’ -ALIKO DANGOTE.

See link for full details and more scintillating pictures: http://abiyamo.com/aliko-mohammed-dangote-worlds-richest-black/


A prodigiously wealthy and luxuriantly blessed human, Aliko Dangote said that it took him 30 tortuous years to become a billionaire but youths of today want to become a gazillionaire faster than Usain Bolt. Many Nigerian youths are bitter (like bitterness will make one better), pointing accusing fingers at people like Dangote, Adenuga and generally seeing nothing good in what others do, believing the world is against them. For those, I leave you with the immutable words of JK Rowling, writer of the Harry Potter series: “There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” That is not all. The legendary French writer and philosopher who rejected the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, Jean-Paul Sartre also said: “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. It is up to you to give life a meaning.” But perhaps, the most poignant advice of all is from the Wise One of China, Confucius, who stated thousands of years ago: “Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.”

In a nation like Nigeria where there is so much negativity emanating right from independence till date, Aliko Mohammad Dangote, the Kano-born billionaire with the Midas touch is a man who must be appreciated and celebrated -for good reasons.

You might well remember that nothing can bring you success but yourself.
-NAPOLEON HILL (1883-1970), American speaker and motivational speaker.

OVERVIEW
-ANCESTRY
-EARLY DAYS & GROWING UP/FAMILY
-SCHOOLING
-LOVE, HEARTBREAKS, CHILDREN, MARRIAGE & DIVORCES
-HOW HE STARTED
-ROMANCING POLITICIANS AND SUPPORTING GOVERNMENTS
-BECOMING A BILLIONAIRE
-THE PLANE CRASHES AND NEAR PLANE CRASH
-THE SECRETS OF DANGOTE'S SUCCESS
-INTERESTING AND FUN THINGS ABOUT DANGOTE
-CRITICISM
-THE DANGOTE GROUP
-APPOINTMENTS, AWARDS, LAURELS & HONOURS
-DANGOTE'S DONATIONS AND PHILANTHROPY
-REFERENCES

ANCESTRY
Young Aliko was born in the ancient city of Kano of the famed groundnut pyramids. Kano has been a commercial center for centuries with it being a focal point for all kinds of economic activities ranging from the sale of slaves in exchange for salt to the trade in spices, kolanuts, leather, cotton, sugar and gold. Alhassan Abdullahi Dantata (named for Tata, the nurse who raised him, Dantata means 'the son of Tata') was his maternal great grandfather and he also learnt the art of business and making money from his own father.

By 1913, he was the largest exporter of kolanuts in West Africa. The coming of the colonial masters with the railway was too good an opportunity for him as he took advantage of the rails to move his kolanuts along the Lagos-Kano route. With time, he became the sole distributor for the Lever Brothers (later Unilever) and add the profits of the groundnut boom, he was already super-rich, the richest in Nigeria, and by 1955 when he died, he was clearly the richest in West Africa.

The children of the late polygamous merchant swore to an oath by the Holy Qu'ran with their father on the deathbed to work together and not split the family's business empire. Till today, the Dantatas run things in Nigeria -without any noise. Groundnut trader, Sanusi Alhassan Dantata, Nigeria's first millionaire, was the eldest of the siblings and was the overseer of the family's business activities.

Dangote grew up in the loving care of his maternal grandfather, Sanusi who took Aliko, his first grandson, into his care after the untimely death of his father. Sanusi transformed the family business even beyond the wildest dreams of their late dad. This grand old rich man died in 1997, and left many children, one of whom is Mariya, his eldest daughter and Umm Aliko (the mother of Aliko).

Rewind back to the 1950s and we meet a man named Mohammed Dangote, a businessman, fellow Qadirriya sect member and ally of Sanusi Dantata. This man would later ko-enu-ife-si ('toast') Mariya, the daughter of his friend, through her father and his business associate, Sanusi Dantata. Mohammed Dangote dabbled into politics and was even a Member, Northern House of Assembly and belonged to the Northern People's Congress (NPC) of the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. By the mid-50s, the two lovebirds were joined together in holy matrimony in Kano. That was the fusing point of the Dantatas and the Dangotes.

EARLY DAYS & GROWING UP
On the 10th of April, 1957, a bouncing baby boy weighing just a little above three kilogrammes was born in Kano. The radiant mother was Mariya and the small baby boy of that day is the reason you are reading this. A week after, he was named after his father while his overjoyed grandfather, Sanusi Dantata gave him the name 'Aliko' which means 'The Victorious One Who Defends Humanity'.

FAMILY

From his own mother’s side, Dangote has three siblings: Sani, Bello and a younger brother who died in an air crash in Kano with Ibrahim Abacha in 1996 (read more about the plane crash here: http://abiyamo.com/sani-abacha-nigerias-most-enigmatic-ruler/). Dangote’s mother, who became a widow in 1965 is still very much alive, was honoured with a degree by the Bayero University, Kano (BUK), runs one of the largest charities in Nigeria but is protected from the public eye. When Dangote bought his recreational boat, he named it after his Abiyamo (Mother), calling it Mariya.

SCHOOLING

For someone who grew up in Kano, a city of knowledge, it was no surprise that Dangote took to educating himself. Like many of his peers growing up under the great influence of Islamic scholars of the old city, he took off to one of the oldest universities on earth, Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

-1964: Kano Capital Elementary School (during break time in the high-brow primary school with other schoolkids who wanted sweets, Aliko would bring out a handful and told his jolly good friends that they could have one for a dime. He was that sharp.)

-1964: Sheikh Ali Kumasi Madrasa (Arabic School): He attended the Quranic school when he returned from the primary school, a pattern that is common with many Nigerian Muslims.

-1970s: Capital High School, Kano.

-1970s: School of Economics & Business, Al Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, where he bagged a degree in business studies and administration. In addition to all these forms of formal education, he also got a great deal of informal education from his grandfather, which he makes use of till this day. Hear him: ‘All my business acumen and instincts I inherited from my maternal grandfather. As his first grandson, he poured his business wizardry into me. I would not have been where I am today without him; a very great man, loving and caring.’

LOVE, HEARTBREAKS, CHILDREN, MARRIAGE & DIVORCES

In any continent of the world, there are some ladies who would dump their wretched husbands in a microsecond and follow a moneybag like billionaire Dangote without hesitation. The poor husband will only console himself with Chief Ebenezer Obey’s Sisi kojale, a lo ba millionaire lo…lol! Handsome, dashing, calm and stupendously wealthy, it is no surprise that not a few women cannot resist the charm of Dangote. Like other men on earth, he also has his own share of the romantic sagas and Cupid-induced high blood pressure..lol. A serial monogamist, Aliko Dangote has 15 children even though three from his current marriage (Halima, Fatima and Sadia) are officially listed. His children include:

HALIMA (F)


-ZAYNAB (F) -named for her mum.


-SALMA (F) (meaning peace).

-FATIMA (F)


-AISHA (F)

-SADIA (F)

Alhaji Aliko Dangote has been married and divorced three times before his current marriage. He was not engaged in polygamy at any point but took one wife at a time. In May 1977, his family selected his first wife for him and the union was consummated without delay. Aliko had just turned 20. Fast forward to 2009, Dangote fell in love with the young daughter of the late Nigerian President, Nafisat Yar’adua (now the wife of the Bauchi State Governor, Alhaji Isa Yuguda). Nafisat turned down Dangote’s advances for one reason: she was friends with Halima, Dangote’s daughter. Nafisat, at the age of 21, became Governor Yuguda’s fourth wife in 2009.


Like any other man, his ego was hurt. You will get a better picture of the scenario when you realize the fact that one of the former wives of Dangote (Hajia Mariya A.D Rufai, see below) was married to Governor Yuguda (although he later divorced her in June 2010 after 10 years of marriage over irreconcilable differences but some of the reasons alluded to was that she was absent at President Yar’adua’s (Yuguda’s in-law) burial, allegedly leaking sensitive state secrets to Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, then Secretary to the Federal Government and the final straw that enraged the Governor was the fact that she congratulated Alhaji Bala Mohammed, the new minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who was a bitter enemy of the Governor who was desperate to get a second term and felt he could spoil his chances). But calmly and gracefully, Dangote took all life threw at him and when you see his charming and disarming smiles, you’d never guess he was once heartbroken.

After he divorced his first wife that his family got for him, he married Mariya A. D Muhammad Rufai, a Senator’s daughter and former Bauchi State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Human Services (see pictures). After he divorced her, he married two other women but the marriages collapsed.

Some other women have also been romantically linked to the billionaire. These include the Director and Secretary of his United Kingdom subsidiary, Dangote Global Services, Miss Oluwatosin Coker while another is the late Ondo-born business executive, sugar merchant and reverend with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Rev. Chief (Mrs.) Josephine Oluwadamilola Kuteyi, with whom he dragged the purchase of the Bacita Sugar Factory. A divorcee mother of four sons (Saheed, Ganiyu, Ahmed and Rasaq), she died in a helicopter crash in Osun State in 2011 while on her way to her Bacita sugar company in Kwara State. The helicopter plunged from a height of 2,500 feet, killing all the occupants.

HOW HE STARTED
When he left for Lagos as a 20-year-old in 1977, Nigeria was enjoying stupendous oil profits and the military government of the day decided to ruin some of it on FESTAC’77. There was massive construction going on in various parts of the country and it was at that moment Dangote went to his beloved grandfather to ask for a loan so he could import cement which will be used for some of the FESTAC buildings. He narrates: ‘For me, I started small as a trader in cement. Then I left cement around 1978. Because there was this armada and cement was difficult to get at that time. I had my own money which my grandfather gave me free, but then he gave me also an additional loan of N500,000 (about $3,000) which was big money in those days. At that time (1978), you could purchase ten Mercedes Benz cars with that amount as each was sold for N5,000 while a Volkswagen Beetle went for N900 to N1,000. The money was quite a substantial amount then. The loan was supposed to be paid back whenever I was okay-maybe after three or four years. But I paid the loan back within six months.’

The real genius of Dangote is his ability to transform that seed money of yesterday into the billions of dollars today. The crux of the matter here is not that he got a helping hand from his rich grandfather but what he did with the assistance.

Throughout the Obasanjo regime down to Shagari, Buhari and IBB, there were vast construction projects: estates, federal universities (like UNILORIN) and so on. And cement was obviously needed. Obasanjo and Dangote, who was still working with his uncle, first met in the 1970s when he was the federal commissioner (minister) of transport. Also, while he was in Lagos, he learnt a lot from his uncle, Usman who had already formed solid ties with the military governments and got rice importation deals in 1970 at the end of the 30-month Nigerian Civil War. When their fellow Kano man, the late Murtala Mohammed came to power, his 27-year-old uncle was one of those contracted to decongest the Nigerian seaports in Lagos and made huge fortunes. With time, Aliko was brought on board, following them to business meetings in the dead of the night. It was during this time in Lagos he began to learn how to speak the Yoruba language.

While working with his uncle in Lagos, ‘squatting in his office’, he learnt a lot. He said of those times: ‘I started with the business of cement, which was giving us a lot of money because at that time, Nigeria was making so much money and we were doing a lot of constructions. On a vehicle which I normally get from my uncle, I was making about N1,350 to N1,400 per day, and I had an allocation of about 3-4 trucks including Saturdays and Sundays. Later , I realized I was making a lot of money though then I didn’t have a lot of ideas of what to do. It was only cement business that I knew and I was stuck to it up till 1980, when I started knowing Lagos, becoming a Lagosian, understanding where to go and finding people to buy import licenses from. Within three months, I paid my grandfather back because I had no further need of his money.’

BECOMING A BILLIONAIRE
It took Dangote three decades to amass one billion US dollars. His journey is a very interesting one, showing all the features of luck, opportunity, hardwork and divine providence. Under the Shagari regime, there was an unprecedented importation of essential commodities and products. Dangote’s company, then named Alco Company was one of the major importers. He also supplied huge tonnage of cement to the governments at different levels embarking on construction of vast housing projects.
When the Shagari government decided to also pay more attention to the construction of Abuja, the proposed new Federal Capital Territory, Dangote’s cement was also on point. When General Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 1983, he clamped down on all the importation and dirty deals of the Shagari regime.

Businessmen and tycoons like Dangote were not too happy with the new draconian regime but he played it calm and quickly adapted. If you cannot adapt to changes in this world and keep blaming all kinds of external forces, your chances of survival are seriously limited. Being the smart dude that he is, while other businessmen were complaining and groaning under the iron fists of Buhari and Idiagbon, his Ilorin-born no-nonsense deputy, Dangote veered and formed Dangote General Textiles Products Enterprises and focused on what the government of the day wanted: exportation of local products such as gum arabic, cotton, millet, cocoa, leather products, cotton and cashew nuts.

Amazing Quotes from Dangote:

‘I don’t like to boast, but let me tell you something. I was born into money. Both my father’s -from my mother’s side and also from father’s side -they have always had money. So, it’s not that I just came and picked up something from this thing. But it does not mean also in the family that everybody would be rich. I don’t know any of my family members -both from my mother’s side and my father’s side -that has ever had a deal with anybody in the government.’ (Not many people agree with this assertion).

How can agro-industrial businesses modernise?

Aliko Dangote: There is no way you can develop agriculture at 20% interest rates anywhere, even if you grow gold. So the government needs to bring interest rates down to single-digit figures for farmers….you also have to develop storage and give people guaranteed pricing. If there is no guaranteed pricing, you are not encouraging the farmer to grow. …..Dangote is trying to produce 700,000 tonnes of sugar annually over the next four years. We may employ at least 45,000 people to reach this target. That is the only way to create jobs.

-In 1978, before I started making money, the first car I bought was a Mercedes 200 for N5,100, and that time, there was no power steering (general laughter). -While giving a motivational lecture at the Pan African University, Lagos Business School (LBS).

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE MODS FOR HELPING OUT WITH UPLOADING MORE OF THE DETAILS! THANK YOU!

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