On the 18th of January our precious Ev gave birth to a healthy baby girl at 3:30 in the morning. 

About a year before Ev’s little bundle of joy was even thought of, I was working quietly in our offices when Donald (Ev’s 6 year old son) came back from school.  He was doing his homework when he found a picture of a little baby girl in a magazine.  He proceded to cut it out and brought it to show Evelyn.  He said with a smile on his face, “this is the next baby you must buy mom, we can call her Lerato”…

He somehow knew what the future held for the Mahasha family.

Congrats to Ev, Eric and Donny and welcome little Lerato to our big scary world!

Hey Blog-readers.  This week we have had a great media week with two Avo articles published in the Star.  Double Whammy!

:)

The first is an interview of our very own Sandi, she tells about the unfortunate failure of her last business.  The article focuses on what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening to your business.  Although it was a very sore spot for Sands, her strength has enabled thousands of others to hopefully not get caught in the same situation.  Well done Sands, it must have been difficult for you but it was a bold move to share your past experience with South Africa.

Check Sandi’s article out here.

Our second article was written by Jules ‘BossChick’ Newton.  Her optimistic view on the recession really comes through in her latest article describing how to bounce back this year.  So let’s start fresh this year and take the proverbial bull by the horns.  There is no reason for 2010 to be a year of downers, so let the storm of last year bring forth the opportunity for growth.

Check Jules’ article out here.

Well, I just teared up. We sent one of our Footprint training mentors, Jill Wellbeloved, out into the field in Bronkhorstspruit to do some interviews and write an article about the entrepreneurial spirit of one of our trainers, Tshepo Malibe.

Shew! She brought back such a touching article that gave us exactly the feelgood fix we all chase in Footprint, and I wanted to share some poignant extracts from Jill’s article…

Tshepo said that learning to be a financial literacy trainer had “changed my life”. Now after having trained 379 learners he says “To see other people changing is a wonderful thing - especially that everything revolves around money. You can see it in their eyes during the workshop - a light goes on! As a trainer I feel as if I’m contributing to the community and making a difference. This work also helps my entrepreneurial spirit, not only by seeing training as a business, but I am now seeing opportunities all around me. Kwaggafontein is growing and I can be part of that.”

And…

Annah was really excited that she had attended the course before Christmas. “I spent wisely this Christmas. This course helped me make my Christmas grocery list. I worked out my budget and looked at my needs and wants, so was able to see what was important and what was not. I stuck to my list so didn’t spend money on unimportant things. This made me happy.”

Also…

Grace … added, “Tshepo managed to be patient with us older people when trying to teach us. This is unusual for young people who are always impatient. And because of this, I have managed to save for school fees for my young ones this year. I didn’t punch my money away in December and so I can pay for school fees. So my young ones also benefited from the workshop.” 

And then…

Busisiwe grabbed Tshepo’s attention and told him, “You must get the young people to come to your workshop. If I had known this information when I was young I would have been a rich woman now!”

You see, this is the kind of thing we dreamed of when Footprint was conceived in our hearts – helping South Africans become empowered, one person at a time.

2010 is officially here, most of the Avo’s are back at work, and the hustle and bustle of activity has returned to not just the city of Jo’burg, but the Avo premises too. Part of the activity that was in action this week was the running of an in-house training session of our Let’s Talk Program (previously called Persuasive Conversations).

The Creative Forces at Avo (I affectionately call them the Avo Grocers ) have been hard at work these holidays on “Project Fresh” – an initiative to come up with ways to update and innovate our products so that we do indeed stand true to our promise of Fresh Learning Solutions (Now wouldn’t you want your grocer to have the freshest produce for you?)

The training we had at Avo this week, while being a session on one of our most successful programs, was also a test run of some of the new fresher concepts and tools which we are currently developing (People! Words can not explain, you’ll just have to attend one of our courses to sample the new flavours on offer – That goes to you Avo’s too! Our Grocer’s make us proud!)…

However…

I can tell you this! Let’s Talk is our Communication Course which provides folk (like me) with huge insights as to the tools and concepts which one must use and engage to be a successful communicator. On the program one is taught to identify within yourself and others the obstacles which cause breaks in communication, what this means is that once identified you are able to overcome these barriers and walk out of conversations with the confidence that your message has been successfully delivered. For me in my position, this is of utmost importance, my team requires that I represent them at all times efficiently and effectively – and while I like to imagine that I do, there is always room for improvement, and the learnings I have gathered over the past two days will enable me to up my game – Is that ever a bad thing?

As always, the sessions are awesome – you learn so much, while actually having a good time! Well done Grant for the facillitaion, armed with your Avo Magic you guide us through the arena with discussions and debates that really make for a truly interactive learning experience – could one really ask for anything more than to communicate in a communication course? I have been at Avo for nearly a year, this is the third time I have been on one of our courses and there is clearly a reason as to why we are Trusted Suppliers to our clients – It makes one proud when you know that the company you work for puts a standard of product out there that is not only tried and tested, but actually works! Insightful, Exciting, Challenging, Thought-Provoking, Engaging – an Avo product never lectures! And this is how we lucky Avo’s who attended got to start our year…

(Smile…)

Its the weirdest thing - every person I have spoken to this year has felt as if they’re dragging themselves back to work, almost as if the holiday wasn’t long enough for us. The first few days back have felt a bit like walking in a haze of lethargy.  I’ve never seen it quite like this before, or felt it myself so much….weird!

But I have also felt an awakening of the old energies as I start going through the reconnections with my Avo and Footprint teams, and am now just feeling really energised by the opportunities we are being presented with for this year!

Some Avos didn’t even leave Joburg, and have had their heads in our exciting ‘Project Fresh’ game-lifting initiative - we’re currently uplifting, recrafting, refreshing, greening and energising all of our offerings to meet a new world that’s shaking off the dust from last year’s carnage!  I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished product in March this year.

We’ve also done some overdue restructuring of the business, and realigned it to be leaner and more effective than before: Footprint will definitely be pulling its own weight in 2010, and we had to make sure we had the company structure set up to support the increased volume of work.

We had 4 Avo babies last year, and our 5th is imminent: most of the moms are back in the saddle for now - I’m tempted to put a moratorium on procreation for at least one year so we can catch up…… but I suppose we wouldn’t be Avo if we did that, now would we…..?

Avo’s, clients, friends…. there are so many unknowns for us all this year, but I’m confident we’ve got what it takes to make it a successful year where we reap the rewards of the serious graft we put in last year. 

Here’s to the year we deserve!

Avocado Vision is a company with a strong family culture…
While we all work together as colleagues, we do so as members of a team which genuinely cares for each other, because we are after all not just cogs in a wheel, but first and foremost people, who by the opportunity of our work spend alot of time together. This week we celebrated the victory of the matriculants who are part of the extended Avo family, we share their success with their loved ones with a sense of pride, because their victory is the victory of lives we directly or indirectly (but existentially) participate in.

The nature of life and family is that with the good we enjoy, comes the unfortunate low moments we endure. For those who are members, associates, clients and folk like you who follow the blog of Avocado Vision, it was with sadness that we reported towards the end of last year on the unexpected passing of our dear Anabela’s father - Avocado Vision sincerely thanks you for your support and concern during what is usually a Festive time.

Sadly, we learned today that Clay (Our Resident Marketing Wiz, Technical Genius, Design Doctor and Usual Blogger) and his family, have unfortunately lost their beloved grandfather.
Clay, the whole of the Avo Family sends our condolences, thoughts and prayers to You and Yours during this time. We wish you strength and support, and remember! that if there is anything any of us can do you need just let us know…

We are delighted to announce that all of our Avo matrics made it through thier final exams with sparkling results!!  Nqobi Malinga passed with a university entrance, Jono van Rensburg with 3 distinctions, and Kayla Roux with an incredible result of 8 distinctions!!!!!

We are so proud of all of you , and can only attribute your magnificent performance to the exceptionally good genes of your parents……!!!

Although we are supposed to be entering the festive season with cheer and happiness, it is with a heavy heart that I bring sad news today…

This morning after our Kudos meeting we received the shocking news that our dear Anabela’s father passed away.  For those of you who don’t know, and for those of you who do, Anabela is one of our cherished Avo family members. While we all know Anabela to be a strong girl, someone who can always be depended on, we now ask of you to please send her and her family more strength, love and light over this trying time.

Our hearts go out to you and your family today Anabela…

Every Friday at Avocado Vision, the Avo’s begin the day (and end our week) with a compulsory meeting called Kudo’s and Cock-Up’s. The purpose of K&C is to reflect over the learnings we have experienced over the past week – we lay it on the table… What was your Cock-Up of the week (because nobody’s perfect), and what was your Kudo’s (to celebrate those moments when we were able to rise to the occasion)?

Today it was decided we would end our week with a difference – over a glass of champagne and croissants, we abandoned the Cock-Up’s and used our morning to celebrate our Kudo’s for the year (we were told it could be anything: personal or business-related,) just bring all your good of 2009, and let’s use our last Friday of the year, to end in good cheer.

Around the table we went, one by one talking about the good fortune of 2009 – and let me tell you this… 2009 has been great! It has been a year of growth and development for all the Avo’s – it hasn’t been easy sailing, we have soldiered on through a recession and we have all had a few bumpy moments on both the personal and business front, BUT(!), we have made it to the end – the interesting thing is that, while we have all had personal challenges and triumphs, all the Avo’s have had the blessing of living 2009 as a part of this space.

Being a part of the Avo family (squish!) has been a blessing personally for me this year, and for all (as for me), personal challenges have been lightened by the knowledge that I work for such a great company (and all that that means) – the one sad thing we realized during our moments of reflection is that our Head Girl, The Chick In Charge, our Leader and Mentor Jules Newton (I only use the surname for those of you who don’t know), could not be with us (Hope you are enjoying your hols Jules!) to share in the fruit of her Vision – The abundance of life and light that this space provides for all privileged enough to belong and hold a space in this office, and the profound impact that Avocado Vision in 2009 has had on the lives of those who are fortunate enough to participate, is a blessing we hope you know and own.

To Jules, we raise our glasses for you!

And…

To our clients and associates, we realize, of course, that there would be no Avocado Vision without you too! We thank you for what you bring to Avo, the opportunity you provide to us on a daily basis – to deliver and better our game. We Thank You for the support and business, and we look forward to continuing our work together in 2010.

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year! 

Destiny mag has included Jules’ thoughts in an article entitled The Time of Your Life.  How much time would you say you waste per day? I’m sure some days are worse than others; deadlines, meetings, parenting, stress… These all contribute to a loss in productivity.  In today’s society, women are expected to do it all - but how can we fit “it all” in and still find time to live?

Jules gives is some invaluable tips on what we can do to balance the work / life paradigm.

Click here to read the scanned article.