Once upon a time, taking photos using rolls of photographic film was the done thing, as were using keypads that took up 40 percent of the front of your mobile phone and having to return a rented DVD by 11 a.m. the following day. What is meaningful today can become meaningless tomorrow, not because it…

When we were young we used to make paper planes. There is something magical about the experience of taking a blank sheet of paper and being able to make it take flight with just a few careful, strategic folds. There is something special about moving from an idea to a prototype within a minute. The…

Life has a way of making sure we face a continuous stream of ups and downs. It is akin to mountain climbing. If you are on top of the mountain right now, you have probably endured a lot of hardship as you made your way uphill these last weeks. And, if you are currently enduring hardship, you’ll…

Every once a while, I think of a wonderful passage from Eric Weiner’s "Geography of Bliss" on attention. __________________________________________ “Attention’ is an underrated word. It doesn’t get the… well, the attention it deserves. We pay homage to love, and happiness, and, God knows, productivity, but rarely do we have anything good to say about attention.…

Every decision you have ever made was influenced by a story, every single one. From the decision about whether to wear a mask during a pandemic, to the clothes you choose to wear. A story you heard, the story you believed or that story you told yourself, had an impact on those choices. The most…

Growing up I used to think Bayede meant a salutation, relating to the king, 'Hail the King! Only recently I learned that Bayede is the royal salute originally "Bayethe' meaning 'bring them [enemies], we are ready to fight them.' The complete form is often used, 'Bayede weZulu or UyiZulu' meaning: Bring them, you who are…

The Our World in Data team had a fascinating chart visualising who we spend time with, by age. Summary of the research reads as follows: ______________________________________________________ Who we spend time with evolves across our lifetimes. In adolescence we spend the most time with our parents, siblings, and friends; as we enter adulthood we spend more time with…

A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success: Never leave that till tomorrow, he said, which you can do today. This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more people would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things…

They are so big, they are not very good at hiding. If you see an elephant in the room, it is possible that other people do too. When you ignore the elephant in the room, it stays there, making it difficult for us to move. The best way to get it to leave is to…

There have been many outstanding leaders and generals in the African continent, but none captures the imagination as Shaka of Senzangakhona. He was one of the remarkable army generals who managed to grow his army of about 200 to about 60,000 to 70,000 highly trained men in a space of about ten years. One of…

Is there something you do every day that builds an asset for you? Every single day? Something that creates another bit of intellectual property that belongs to you? Something that makes an asset you own more valuable? Something that you learn? Every single day is a lot of days. It is easy to look at…

Intellectual property protection is important. But I have learned that what is even more important is the product-market fit of your innovation. An idea that is protected but not embraced by the market is not valuable. As a startup, there is more value in iterating your product to fit with the market. Yes, protect your…