TP has made it into the Destiny man magazine. And Rachel did some awesome work researching and putting the thoughts together with him.

Human Resource departments are aften seen as cost-centres and are not always seen as adding real strategic value to the business.  TP gives us some hints and tips on how HR can be utilized correctly within your organization.

Read the scanned article from Destiny man here.

BEE has incredible opportunities in this country and in your business, but only if it’s being used effectively.

So how exactly does one use it effectively you ask?  BEE doesn’t have to have the negative connotations that it has been given, Jules chats about this in today’s Star Workplace.

Read the scanned version here for more information.

Telesales call-centres are the main contact point between most major corporations and their clients or at least their prospective clients.  Therefore it is imperative to make sure you know the game and your actual objectives.  This article applies sales principles to the telesales market, however anyone can benefit from the tips.

Raelene’s new article, which was published this month in Sales Guru, tells you just how to lift your game as a telesales agent.

Find out Rae’s tips ‘n tricks here. 

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.

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.

We go live next week in Bronkhorstspruit with four trainers training Money Fo’ Sho’ under the PostBank and Wizzit Bank banners, sponsored by the Financial Education Fund in the UK.

We are proud to be part of a great experiment, a test case to see which financial literacy model works best in the African context. FEF is running 9 projects across the continent, and the ones that yield the best results will become models for future investment in the upliftment and poverty alleviation in Africa.

Footprint’s peer-trainer model is being put to the test, and we already know it works well. In addition, though, we are seeing our entrepreneurial model taking flight. We have made some strides in understanding how to ignite and support our trainers in starting training SMEs of their own with whom we can walk in sustainable partnership. Already in all the regions targeted for this project our trainers have been pro-actively activating their community networks, plugging in to local business development and seeing returns on their efforts.

Good luck, Footprint trainers: we wish you all the success you’ve worked so hard for! And know, you are making a real difference to the people who carry this country.