Brisker Magazine - 1st Issue

Brisker Magazine: What motivates you every day?

Rachel Amina: As for me and my business UNDP motivates me. When I was starting RAC, I did an entrepreneurship program training with UNDP which informed a lot of business and they keep on reminding me and believe in me from time to time. I couldn’t have participated in Made in South Sudan Exhibition if not for them. And even though they don’t give me cash, what they did and are doing is great for me. So UNDP inspired me a lot and made me known out there. I just thank God for them and hope it will be continuously. I believe with God all things are possible.

Brisker Magazine: What Message or word of advice do you want to send to the entrepreneurs out there?

Rachel Amina: To my fellow entrepreneurs or those who are yet to get into the boat of business, my advice is that, first and most importantly, they should believe in themselves (have a self-esteem) on what they want to do or are doing. Secondly, to start your own business you don’t need a lump sum of money; just start with the little earnings and savings you have. Just like planting a seed and it germinates into a tree with a lot of fruits. Your small money is your seed and the profit is the fruits. And in your techniques to make profit, do not think of big profit, ensure customer satisfaction first by providing them quality products with affordable prices so as to keep them. Also for those who buy a lot from you, give them discounts or be flexible on the means of how they can pay like paying on installment depending on what they will like to buy. Do not put pressure on them. And that’s how you can also build good customer relationship and retain your customers.

If you own a Zain line, you must have been receiving messages from a Dance competition called Lugara urging you to vote for your favorite dance team. Brisker Magazine got in touch with the man behind what is now being termed as a dance revolution in Juba. Having successfully organized two major dance contests, Hakim Richard is not just a man with a passion for dance, but also a visionary and initiator whose track record clearly speaks for itself. Following is an interview Brisker magazine’s Kayanga Nelson carried out with him.

Brisker Magazine: Thank you so much for allowing us conduct this interview with you. First begin by introducing yourself.

Richard Hakim: I’m the founder and trainer of South Sudan Dancers (SSD). I started dancing when I was still young around 9 to 10 years and took it professionally in 2009 after my high school. I danced for about 12 Kenyan teams. After having danced and trained in most of these groups, one guy came and advised me to start a dance group for my country South Sudan. I sat down and took that word seriously and so begun by doing solo dances at South Sudan events. Then later, a Kenyan friend joined me in these dances and as time went by, we were joined by some other South Sudanese youth.

Brisker Magazine: Did you come with your group to South Sudan?

Richard Hakim: I only came alone; the others are still in Kenya and one is in Ethiopia doing the same thing I am doing.

Brisker Magazine: How many members do you have in your dance group?

Richard Hakim: We have around 17 members in SSD South Sudan and 6 members in Kenya, making a total of 23.

Brisker Magazine: What are some of the challenges you have faced?

Richard Hakim: People do not still see the importance of dance in soci¬ety, saying it’s just a waste of time. Secondly is the issue of finance, get¬ting enough money for our activities is really difficult. We also face lack of a place for training. Security situation also hinders some of our activities because sometimes we need to train till late at night but we can’t.

Brisker Magazine: So how do you finance the group’s activities?

Richard Hakim: How we finance the group is through the shows we make and sometimes we are hired to perform in events. The little money we get from these, we invest in the group.

Brisker Magazine: Your major achievements include organizing two successful dance competitions. One is the Alabu dance contest which was held in partnership with Kili kili ana Comedy group and the Lugara dance contest. Tell us briefly about these two competitions.

Richard Hakim: Alabu Dance Contest was a peace promoting dance contest where a number of dance groups had to compete for a prize. My group, SSD, emerged the winner. Lugara is the second born of Alabu dance but it’s almost the same initiative. The only difference is that Lugara focuses more on seeing Number of teams Hakim has danced in the level of dance in South Sudan. We wanted to see if we can be able toget a good number of South Sudanese dancers who can represent the country at a higher level.

Brisker Magazine: Any last message to young entrepreneurs?

Richard Hakim: Yes. In South Sudan currently, the entertainment industry has no money, many people think if you are an artist you are not an entrepreneur. For a young person out there planning to start something positive, do not listen to those who discourage you. If dance is in your heart, keep it in your heart and follow your passion. You do not need to get a lot of money to achieve your dream, just use what you have and work hard.

It was on Friday, a day characterized with calmness and heavy rain in the afternoon, when we got in touch with Rev. John Chol Daau. An Anglican priest, Rev. Daau founded the Good Shepherd Academy in Juba to educate the next generation of South Sudanese Christian leaders. Good Shepherd Academy, along with its subsidiary college and seminary, is a pre- and primary school operating in a simple compound. The subsidiary college and seminary offer vocational training in leadership development, management, counseling, reconciliation and biblical studies. Located in Sherikat and adjacent to the western side of Don Bosco compound in Gumbo South, the Academy section opened its doors to over 117 children of three to fourteen years in 2016.

As the name suggests, the twin-schools promote and advocate for Christ-centered philosophy of leadership. Both the Good Shepherd Academy and seminary seek to instill Christian values and the personality of Jesus Christ as a good shepherd into the learning and lives of its students. Rev. Daau, whose calling is “leadership development,” founded the academy in 2014. The college and seminary started much earlier in 2004 in Kakuma Refugees Camp in Kenya. “When I was in college, I used to return to the refugee camp during holidays and share informally what I have learnt with my fellow pastors. Out of those occasions many people were interested in what I was sharing informally and later I started doing seminars and

short training to formalize it a little bit,” Rev Daau explains. “And that is how Good Shepherd College and Seminary came about,” he added. He said their focus is on pastors, community leaders and most precisely on topics of Christian leadership. Rev. Daau has organized and led teaching mission teams and trips to South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda since 2005 to help (South) Sudanese refugee leaders acquire skills in leadership, pastoral training, counseling, reconciliation and theology. Nearly 2,000 refugees and internally displaced were ordained as lay readers have received some different training we offered using our strategy of mobile training programs, he added.

Reverend John Chol Daau is originally from the Diocese of Bor (Episcopal Church of South Sudan). He is a teacher, preacher and writer. Ordained in 2004, Rev. Daau serves as an attached clergy at St. Paul’s Church Athi River (Machakos Diocese) in the Anglican Church of Kenya.

He is a graduate of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry where he earned his Master of Arts in Religion (Systematic Theology and Church History), and of Daystar University (Development and Communication). His interests include organizational leadership, Christian Education, and community development, advocacy and peacebuilding. Rev. Daau belongs to the “lost boys” generation of Sudan. He has lived for several years in various refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and

Uganda. But the Gospel of Christ and faith in Him has been his sustaining strength. Rev. Daau, 42, surrendered his life to Jesus when he was nine-years-old. In his early years, his late uncle, Rev. Elijah Deng Mabior, played a crucial role of mentorship and forming him in the Christian faith. His story is well stated in his book, God’s Refugee. He travels widely, sharing his story and vision for the future of South Sudan. His vision is to model Christian servant leadership, commitment to promotion of justice, peace and reconciliation in South Sudan and beyond. Rev. Daau seeks to use his knowledge and skills to follow Christ and promote transformation. He is married to Sarah Alek (a student of psychology at Daystar University) and both of them live in Nairobi with their sons Jacob, Abraham and Isaac.

In the midst of the ongoing economic crisis in South Sudan, many companies and businesses think of reducing their expenditures, layoff of employees, freezing other services that may not input directly into production of goods or services or basically adopting defensive/retrenchment strategies that may favour existence and operation of their businesses. These strategies could probably be your best response as an organization or business in such a period of recession and downturn. Nonetheless, such a situation can also be a period where management should become more strategic, observant and ready to review all its operations and assets (both tangible and intangible). Have you ever thought of your brand as one of those few strategic assets available in your company that can provide a long-lasting competitive advantage? It’s no surprise that most companies and businesses think of their brand merely as the name, term, logo/symbol,

design or combination of these. Well, a brand can have much deeper meaning to the success and failure of your business. Your brand is not the name of your product or services. The foundation of your brand is your logo, the website, packaging and promotional materials that communicate your brand. Now, what exactly is a brand? A brand is the vision that drives the creation of products and services under that name. For instance, your vision can be to offer affordable quality products or services, efficient door-to-door delivery, safety measures, or producing environmentally friendly goods. The key belief of brand and its core values is the brand identity. How, what, where, when and to whom you want to communicate and deliver your product or service or message is your brand strategy. Brands, along with Research & Development (R&D), a real consumer orientation, an efficiency culture (cost cutting),

employee involvement, and the capacity to change and react rapidly are the organization’s most valuable assets, according to Strategic Brand Management. A strong brand is key to commercial success by providing the following main advantages:

• High Brand Equity – Consumers prefer a particular brand over others, based primarily on their perception of the brand and the value. So does your brand stand for all the good reasons whether in terms of product or service in education or hospitality?

• Increased product/service awareness – One of the key roles of advertising is to build awareness, and an easily recognized brand makes that task much more achievable.

• Higher likelihood of repeat purchases – human beings instinctively avoid unnecessary risk. Buying things represents at least a financial risk in that money may be wasted if the product is not fit for purpose. Consequently, people tend to buy repeatedly from brand that they bought before and found to be satisfactory to reduce such risk.

• Retail leverage – consistent branding and high brand equity grants your brand a purchasing power to set prices and dictate terms of purchase and sales.

• Competitive edge – branding your product and service helps your brand have commercial advantages over other brands in your industry. In conclusion, when branding a product or service you should be tactical in selection of slogan and promotional materials. They should be consistent and complimenting the product, services or the industry you are operating in. Coca-Cola has been using consistent advertisement slogan and branding material over a century since its invention to sustain its brand identity in the mind of people. Coca Cola uses its iconic, timeless logo and focuses on coherent advertisement slogans in presenting Coke as having a refresher, happiness, good times and friends drink. Their latest campaign globally “Taste the Feeling” features happy people enjoying the simple joys of life with their significant others and friends. This is what an innovative advertisement and branding look like. It should be simple, easily recognized and speaks for itself. Today, Coca Cola has gained ultimate brand loyalty from many generations who have drunk, loved and shared their insights about Coke. The most effective way to brand you product or service is, first, through consistence in your theming of advertisement campaign and promotional materials. Give them a regular voice of what you stand for or what you are promoting. Secondly, consider getting your customers’ insight or feedback. If possible, let them have a say about your products or services and how they have transformed their lives or satisfied them. And these could increase your brand identity, gain customers or target audience loyalty and increase sales.

In our previous article, “Understanding Entrepreneurship,” we talked about how entrepreneurship has transformed countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong from the stage of underdevelopment to development through the informal sector: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s) created employment opportunities to new job market entrants who were not able to get a white collar job. Entrepreneurship brings to life new businesses and industries, hence creation of several SME’s. SME’s are the engines of economic growth and development of any nation that has developed or is still developing. SME’s play a great role in creating jobs, promoting equitable development and attract foreign investment in the country. All this may sound a nationwide impact and benefits of encouraging entrepreneurship. However, as for an entrepreneur or an individual who takes the risk or wants to take the risk of becoming an entrepreneur, here are the reasons why it’s worth taking that path of starting and steering a business:

1. Becoming your own Boss or Independent

As a business owner, you do not have to follow orders or observe working hours set by someone else. You work at your own suitable time.

2. Satisfaction

Doing what you love to do, or turning a skill, hobby or other interest into your own business can be highly satisfying.

3. Boosting your Self-esteem

Knowing that you created something valuable can give you a strong sense of accomplishment. It can help you feel good about yourself.

4. Leave a legacy

Being respected in the society and leave your legacy through your works of innovation and creativity.

5. Ability to improve living standards It’s evident an entrepreneur’s innovation in the health and communications sectors improves living standards and reduces the cost of living.

6. Financial Reward

Although income potential is generally capped for employees, entrepreneurs are limited only by their own imagination and tenacity.

7. Job Security

No worries or stress about losing your job or finding your next job, no retrenchment or redundancy. There are also costs, ups and downs of running your business which include business failure due to lack of proper trainings, obstacles and discouragement from your family and friends, loneliness, and long / hard hours of working.

25 http://ajimichael.com/10-tips-transition-employee-entrepreneur/

A cup of coffee every morning has more health implication than just an energy boost. Coffee is one of the world’s most trade and consumed commodity after crude oil and oil. Over 400 billion cups are consumed yearly. Coffee has enrich nutrition value highly in calories and protein and zero in fats and sugar which makes it very importance to your health. The following studies shows that coffee can help you minimize the risk of serious diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, liver cancer, heart failure among many others diseases.

Type 2 Diabetes According to a research conducted by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) reveal that drinking coffee increases plasma levels of the protein sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). SHBG controls the biological activities of the body’s sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) which play a role in the development of Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes AKA maturity onset diabetes is usually the result of poor lifestyle

choices, particularly eating a diet high in sugars and fats while getting little or no physical exercise. It’s most common among mid-aged individuals. Some of the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes include excessive amount of glucose in blood, excessive urination, presence of sugar in urine, weight loss, tiredness and weakness, non-healing wounds and recurrent bacterial infections. The researchers found that the participants who increased their coffee intake by more than one cup a day (on average, an increase of 1.69 cups per day) over a 4-year period had an 11% lower type 2 diabetes risk over the subsequent 4 years.

Liver Cancer Liver cancer AKA Hepatic Cancer, liver cancer is the ninth leading cause of cancer deaths in the US and the third leading cause of death from cancer in the world. Its symptoms are abdominal pain, fluid in the abdomen (ascites), jaundice, loss of appetite and weight loss.

A researchers conducted by Dr. Carlo La Vecchia, from Milan’s Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri confirm that coffee is good particularly to the liver. Coffee consumption reduces the risk of liver cancer by about 40%. And some of the results indicate that if one drinks three cups a day, the risks are reduced by more than 50%.

Heart Failure Heart failure are caused mostly by Coronary artery disease and heart attack, and high blood pressure or hypertension. Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard School of Public Health, concluded that drinking coffee in moderation protects against heart failure. People who drank four cups of coffee on a daily basis had an 11% lower risk of heart failure, compared to those who did not.

By Brisker Magazine Content Team Extracted from: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/