Let’s face it, soccer is becoming more and more unisexual… soccer knowledge I mean. It is no longer just the men who know what’s potting on the soccer field. Today, ladies are rattling off the names of English, French and Portuguese league soccer players, let’s just say we know who’s potting on the field. As of Friday 25th July, I know why !!! They are just so Gorge! Yummy! Bloody beautiful! I am talking from first hand experience! How? Ladies, listen and weep!

I spent Friday afternoon at a luncheon held by SABC1 and Budweiser Beer, official hosts of the Manchester United team while in South Africa, taking part in the Vodacom Challenge. The boys were so friendly and relaxed. It totally helped that we were in the VIP section, where we didn’t feel like fanatics from overseas rather friends of the boys hanging out and catching up (I promise, that’s how chilled it was). To the point that it felt weird to ask for an autograph and pic (friends don’t do that!) But, reality set in when the body guards and managers starting making themselves visible. It was time for the boys to go. I quickly got closer to the likes of Darren Fletcher (24), Cute Mr Vidic and few of the other players and they were happy to sign my t-shirt and pose for a pic-please see proof! 

Spoke to Jules today and she was telling me about the bad write up the boys had and how unfriendly they were. The truth is, they were such team players but only to people closer enough-you had t be in VIP! 

It is very rare in this life that you find someone who lives their life serving others so selflessly and faithfully.

Life, these days, is after all about me - what I can achieve my success, my prosperity, how clever I am, how much I can do.  Yet every now and then a person is born who is different, who understands that we are here to serve others, to give of ourselves unselfishly and continuously.

Katy Sibanda was such a person. A gentle soul, with a quiet spirit who lived quietly, serving others with a caring heart and a loving smile.  Katy has for years been part of the Newton family, the backbone, the Mommy and the Daddy when Grant and Jules were out working. Looking after Jono, David and Kevin, nursing their bruises, wiping their tears, feeding hungry tummies, loving them as if they were her own.  Jules and Grant knew that as long as Katy was there the world was all right.  Their home and their children were cared for and loved.

Now today Katy is no more, her quiet spirit, her gentle soul and her loving heart has moved on to peace.  The Newtons have lost a member of their family, Noma and Lesley have lost a Mom, and the world has lost a giver of love.

This morning Katy passed away. Noma, Lesley, Jules, Grant, Jono, David and Kevin we are sorry for your loss.  To the extended Sibanda family we mourn your loss with you; you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Hamba Kahle Mum Kate

This July, Raelene interviewed our call centre guru Sego; she speaks about top tips for call-centre managers and tells about how if they don’t shape up their best workers will ship out.

This is Rae’s first article to be published, and made it onto the front page of the Star Workplace. Well Done!

To read the article, please click on the picture to get a larger version (1.6MB PDF).

We had another cause for celebration last week!  We were given our new BEE accreditaion by Empowerdex.  And once again, we scored the very top numbers that a comapany can receive for BEE accredditation - a AAA+!

I am especially proud because we actually performed way over what is a requirement for acredditation - we received 102.5% for our audit!  What that means is that we are a company with purpose and integrity:  we are striving way beyond the ‘minimum requirement’ for BEE in South Africa because we really want to be part of the solution in this country that we love so much.

Well done to all the Avos who have worked together to make this possible.  And a particular thankyou to Jeanette: she worked like a demon to gather everything into 1 place to make it easy for the Empowerdex guys to assess.  It’s a tough job, and you really showed up strong on it!!

They’re back! Nomsa, Shirley and Evelyn are back in action after their first week out of Avo working on their new learnership!  They spent the whole week working on business communication skills, and then started on the maths stuff on Friday.

Well!  Nomsa hasn’t stopped grinning since she walked in.  She insists that she never listened to a thing her teacher said back in the day when she was at school.  As a result, she has avoided all things mathematical since high school.  So she was so delighted that, as the learnership facilitator began, she actually was able to follow the gist, and realised that she was actaully able to do maths!!

Shirley and Evelyn had similar experiences!  I believe there was great levels of pushing and shoving as they fought for possession of the calculator, and that Shirley actually missed lunch that day so she could make sure she got her work done! Nomsa says she thinks Evelyn is destinied to be the numbers guru on our team.

So now we have a whole team of numerate chicks…hey…finance team - you okes better watch your back…

You’ve got to hand it to our Clint! He was Avo’s first ever official account manager, and has been perfecting his game over the past 5 years.  You know we’re a business that focusses on helping people work within their areas of strength, and Clint definitely has his strengths set firmly in the realm of interpersonal relationships and connecting people. He never professes to be a solutions guy: he’s much more comfortable with making friends with the people he meets in the accounts he looks after, and bringing in the specialists when his clients need that kind of help.

But he had the office in stitches last night when he took the connecting thing to a whole new level! One of our dear clients called him in a panic: they had been let down for a team building event this Friday, and suddenly were without resources to take care of their team on an important programme they were running.  All our Avo resources were committed for Friday, so he wasn’t able to pull an Avo solution out of his hat!  So while he got onto the phone to his client, I got onto the phone to one of our associates, Chris Vind, who runs a delightfull little team-building operation, Corporate Adventures.  Next thing, Clint asks me to hand him my phone as well, and ends up with Chris on his one ear, and our client on the other, with Clint trying to translate questons and answers between the two!

And then he gets that creative glint in his eye, switches on the loudspeaker on both the phones, and then holds them next to each other so the people can talk to each other, with him concentrating like anything in the middle!!  We had to take a quick pic of him doing it, or you never would have believed us….! Not quite sure what he would have done if he actually needed to use that pen…..?

Kind of sounds like the title of a bad movie; it’s a good thing I’m not in the movie industry then.  Yep marketing, branding and IT together is my game.  After I completed my Bachelors degree in Computer Science from UJ, I had a consuming urge to travel, so I packed my bags and jetted off to the Far East for two months.  I travelled alone to Japan through China, down to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand with a stop-over in Dubai… Six countries in the two months, a different guest house in a different city every two days and more memorable experiences to bring home with me than I could have ever imagined.

After settling back into my life in South Africa, I was contacted by a friend of mine Raelene.  She told me she was working at a company called Avocado Vision and one of their prize Avos was on her way out to taste new horizons, hence I was to be “the replacement” with big shoes to fill, at least that’s what everyone kept telling me.

I came in for my interview and just fell in love with the company; I loved everything it stood for, the people and their vision.  I can’t believe I’ve only been here for a month, I feel so settled and comfortable like I’ve been here for years already.  All I can say now is thank you Jules for taking me on board and thank you Avos for making me feel so at home.  Looking forward to the future.

Seven years ago it was declared that I would never have kids unless I have an operation to unblock my tubes, but after a lot of prayers and meditation, drinking some African herbs the miracle happened, I conceived. Then my bubble of joy was brutally burst when I miscarried at 4 and half weeks, yep, my miracle left my body on that dreadful Monday morning. Life for a moment became surreal, I just sat there bleeding… I knew I was losing my baby.

I just knew it. I did not want to believe it, I tried keep saying positive things to myself like “women bleed during pregnancy” or “I am a strong woman, I am keeping my baby”, think positive Sego, think positive! But I knew my baby was leaving my body and I went into deep pain.

It’s been two weeks now and when I reflect on it, I am still angry, still in pain, sad and feeling guilty, but I am also grateful to Avo…. Firstly for teaching me that being a Red personality I tend to hold back my pain and try and be strong even when I know I am feeling venerable, and that in my pain I might just shut some people out and not allow them to support me. So during this period I allowed people to support me which helped me recover quicker.

Secondly for all the SMS’s and phone calls from my colleagues, its amazing what words of support and wisdom can do for you when you are in this kind of state, it really brings light and love. I am grateful that courses we do at Avo do not only assist in enhancing working relationships in business but also powerfully impacts our personal lives.

To Vanessa and Jules (Training Manager and M.D.)… for such amazing support, and for all your phone calls and sms’s, my family is amazed that companies who offer emotional support to their staff members actually do exist. I felt loved and taken care of, and love coming from your bosses always feels far more amazing, as you know they are doing it not because they have to but because they choose to.

These really are two amazing woman I work for.

To My family and friends…..my husband rushed to me with his friend Boyo and my brother was there in less than 10 minutes. They drove me to the clinic and stayed there with me all the time. For a week I was surrounded by my mom, my sisters, my nephews and nieces. Friends prayed with me and sent me so much love, I was amazed.

I have two reasons why I am sharing my pain with the rest of the world : is that I would like to encourage you to work on your emotional intelligence by exploring Avo courses.
And also to remember that life sends us wonderful challenges for various reasons. For me this was to remind me that miracles do happen, that I have a very strong support system and that I am a very strong and powerful woman.

“Fear!!! do not even think of entering my mind, I conquer”