Excellent McKinsey article on retail

There is an insightful article on the emerging market and retail that uses excellent exampes from South Africa, as a mixture of Mom & Pop retail and multinationals. Read the article here http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/From_oxcart_to_Wal-Mart_Four_keys_to_reaching_emerging-market_consumers_3020

Song for the victims of Marikana mine

The very talented Gareth Smit, a photographer, UCT student and musician wrote a haunting song about the Marikana massacre. While his parents dined with us on Friday night (17 August 2012), Gareth wrote this song, which his father sent this morning. Gareth is 23, the conscience of South Africa's young generation.

 You can download it at http://soundcloud.com/gareth-smit/marikana or check it out on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ENZr_b5q4 - I think you absolutely have to listen to it.

Here are the lyrics:

What would you say if I said
they left thirty-four dead?
Say: I haven't got an answer
why we shoot one another.
They promised us freedom,
they promised us grace.
All we got was a reason
to repeat past mistakes.

A sister lost a brother, and a mother lost a son.
Marikana, please remember how your metal's won.
Children lost a father, further down the road.
Father please forgive us, we know not what is owed.

I didn't feel the deadweight
but I heard the noise made.
I didn't feel the dirt-road
but I saw how the blood stains.
It's written on the headlines,
repeated: "Hold your fire"
I didn't hear the outcry -- did you even feel it pass you by?

The miners dug the same ground
upon which dead they were later found.
The gunman shot the rattle rounds
Count the shells on the same ground.
Today we saw the outcome
of fear being outrun.
Tomorrow we'll realise, and history will criticize.

After Nelson I remember,
before, I can't recall.
But if it was anything like this
I'd rather never been born.

Creative ideas

Two excellent links to creative ideas.

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_91.htm#np

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/productive-thinking-model.htm#np

Thiinking is one excercise we can practice until the grave!

What A Wonderful World With David Attenborough -- BBC One [FULL HD]

Airport Junction ups the ante in Gaborone

Retailing in Gaborone just took another upswing with the opening of the Airport Junction, within the newly developed precinct in which Builders Warehouse opened last year.

Built as a joint venture between Eris Property Group and local partner Botswana Insurance Fund Management (Bifm), the 50 000 m² shopping centre will offer 72 new stores for shoppers in the north of Gaborone, particularly the new housing developments planned around the precinct and the nearby Phakalane Golf Estate, which has lacked an upmarket retail destination.

The big opening, which took place this past holiday weekend of 28 April to 1 May, attracted lots of eager buyers and browsers, as this mall is on the scale and attractiveness of modern international centres, with its high ceilings, natural light and A-grade finishes.

Anchored at each end by a SuperSpar and a Checkers, the centre offers some retailing firsts for Botswana.

House & Home, a trading division of Shoprite Checkers, and Mr Price Home, complements my favourite, @Home, which has at last arrived in Botswana, with a wonderful selection of homeware but it does lack a little colour. Botswana people love colourful fabrics and ornaments, so it needs to brighten up its offerings.  Stuttafords and Edgars have opened large stores and niche boutiques, Foschini, Truworths and Miladys round off the South African fashion scene.

Botswana’s own economic success story, Mafia Soul, opens soon with its hip-hop young US fashion. (Johannesburg shoppers wanting to see what is on offer can visit the Milpark Shopping Centre and get a warm Gaborone welcome.)

Clicks, CNA, Musica, Cellphone Warehouse and a computer store add value and on the cards is the Wine Shop, hopefully a spot to get good wines, which are in short supply in Gabs. Restaurants abound, with play areas for kids, so the centre could become a major attraction for residents.

It will be interesting to see the effect the new centre has on Sebele Centre, which opened in June last year on the next door stand; it offers a Pick n Pay and a Woolworths as its anchor tenants.

Affecting both precincts is the poor traffic access and this could become a major stumbling block, as only one road has traffic lights and both roads exit onto main arterial roads – the A1 to Francistown and the airport road.

However, as an ardent shopper, I am well situated a kilometre from both vibrant centres, which are a testament to the high growth of Gaborone and Botswana.

Airport greetings

This week, I had to take my friend Sue to the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone to say goodbye as she returned to Australia, via Joburg. What a wonderful send off, courtesy the staff of the airport.

She checked in and the Air Botswana man responded to our greeting of ‘Dumela’ (hello) by adding ‘Le kae?’ (How are you?). I explained I didn’t know how to say ‘I am fine thank you and how are you?’ so, while my friend filled in her immigration form, he quickly wrote it down for us and how to say thank you. He then wished my friend a pleasant journey and (having overheard me say I hope it would be sooner that the last time of 7 years), added ‘come back soon’.

We then went to the café to have lunch and after Sue had complimented the chef on the beef dish, he came over, explained that it is a traditional dish in Botswana, known as seswaa and explained how to prepare it, when she got back to Australia. We didn’t have the heart to tell him that at the price of beef there, it wasn’t on the menu!

For me it was so heart-warming that once again the friendliness and courtesy of the Batswana people would leave a lasting memory across the world.

Sue and Charlotte at the airport

Ke a leboga (thank you)

Why I support Orange - because MTN sucks

When I arrived in Botswana in June last year, I had a choice of cellphone providers – Orange, Mascom or BT.

Having been a customer of MTN in South Africa for many years (around 14 years); you would think I would pick Mascom; however, the cracks in our relationship were already developing.

I cancelled my four accounts in writing on 31 March 2011 but that was entirely ignored because I foolishly believed the company actually read its emails. So, I went off to a ‘service centre’ – that only took two hours and twenty-five minutes waiting in the queue. In writing, (I still have copies of the paperwork) I cancelled three accounts with immediate effect because the contracts had expired. The fourth account was under contract until December 2011, so that was cancelled for December and the amount required to run the account paid in full in cash.

The company persisted in running debit orders against the closed accounts until 29 July 2011. Despite numerous emails, the attitude was ‘prove it’ – so I incurred more costs by asking the bank to produce ‘official’ bank statements, as the copies from the website were ‘unacceptable’.

It then took until 20 January 2012 to refund the amounts, plus costs.

But, oh what a surprise, I discover the company has decided to run the debit order on the fourth account that should have been closed in December 2011, as per its own written instructions. So here I sit again, two debit order runs on a dormant bank account, costs incurred and my good company banking record trashed consistently by a ‘service’ provider.

The response – “Thank you kindly for the cancellation request, kindly see attached I have logged a USD for the credit to be passed.”

It’s not a cancellation request, it’s a demand to return stolen money, as it is theft to take money from a bank account after an account is cancelled. As to my emails stating that the second debit order was run at the end of January 2012, the silence is deafening.  

In a recent article, MTN chairman Cyril Ramaphosa states, “MTN and the Board remain committed to providing the highest quality of services and products to our customers…” perhaps, he should check out the actual delivery of that statement, as it is not even close.

So ‘hello Orange’, go away Mascom, MTN and any of its subsidiaries.

Enough

It has finally dawned on me why Gaborone is so different to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg, everyone is part of the rat race, endlessly striving, buying, scheming, getting, without end. In Gaborone, most of the people understand the concept of enough – enough work to pay for life without killing yourself, enough to own without becoming a slave to your possessions, enough time to accomplish things or there is always tomorrow.

A hard concept for someone who has worked in Johannesburg since the age of 17 – I was trapped on the treadmill and it paid me generously but now, for the first time in my life, I contemplate a life less greedy. I don’t need more or much at all – I have shoes I have never worn, clothes I have forgotten about, books unread, movies unwatched, recipes uncooked and time enough to accomplish this. I can actually spend time contemplating my garden, the birds, read poetry and work enough to pay for this.

Ah, but there is retirement and the need to have money then to carry on a lifestyle engrained in my psyche. I don’t have a ‘home’ with cattle in some more remote and quiet part of Botswana, where my village will support me in my declining years. I come from a Western culture, where the aged are tossed aside, forgotten and demeaned.

This gentle culture, which sometimes infuriates me because of its alternative time stream, has almost no child headed households, beggars, street children and starving forgotten aged members of its society. This culture believes that ‘all for one and one for all’ is a true motto, that helping your neighbour, even the stranded woman with a flat tyre is part of who you are and what you are. That beggars, orphans and widows’ behaviour reflects on their ability to protect the weak and that it would disgrace the village, the people and the country, if they publicly starved.

Yes, there are the lazy, the drunkards, the flotsam of society but even they are tolerated, perhaps in the spirit of “there, but for the grace of God, go I.”

It’s not an ideal world but perhaps here in Botswana, I too can recapture some of the freshness of a life less active and more contemplative, more music and art, less technology and ‘must have’. Giving, rather than getting, laughing rather than scowling, living rather than surviving.

It more clearly captures the concept of ‘Ubuntu’, which in Tswana language is called botho. Botho is one of Botswana's five national principles (the others being Democracy, Development, Self Reliance and Unity).

The Botswana people use the term botho to describe a person who has a well-rounded character, who is well mannered, courteous and disciplined and realises his or her full potential both as an individual and as a part of the community to which he or she belongs. Botho is an example of a social contract of mutual respect, responsibility and accountability that members of society have toward each other.

Botswana's Vision 2016 states, “Botho defines a process for earning respect by first giving it and to gain empowerment by empowering others. It encourages people to applaud rather than resent those who succeed. It disapproves of anti-social, disgraceful, inhuman and criminal behaviour and encourages social justice for all.”

Botswana retail boom gets bigger

Since I arrived in Gaborone in June 2011, the retail environment has just been getting better. One of the initial reasons that I rented our house in this area, (Broadhurst Ext 44) was the large sign, less than a kilometre away, that read “Sebele Centre opening end June – Pick n Pay, Woolworths and many more shops”.

Sebele Centre duly opened and this was the beginning of a big push by South African retailers to take advantage of the rapidly growing city, said by some to be the fastest growing city in Africa (real growth, not slum development).

July saw Clicks debut in Game City and the big excitement, Builders Warehouse, which opened in September. Regarded as paradise by homeowners and builders alike, it also endeared itself to the area by contributing P20 000 each to Ikageng, Tswaragano and Moamogwe Primary Schools.

Now, a new, very large retail area, Rail Park Mall, has opened over the past two weeks, next to the old station in the city, the main site of the local, national and international taxi ranks.

It’s a well thought out design, adding a covered walkway over the railway line to capture both sides of the transit area. It is a covered mall, with natural lighting and fresh air offering a range of wonderful shops mixing Chinese and South African retailers in a colourful festival. However, the highlight of it is the Food Lovers’ Market from Fruit & Veg City.

Based on the South African model, it has been packed for the past two weekends and not just because of the specials but for its range and freshness, which is not equalled in Gaborone. I realise how much I took Sandton shopping for granted; I trawled up and down the aisles like a country bumpkin, going “Ooh look at that.” My husband is equally enthralled, coming home with delicacies for the freezer.  

So, I will happily drive the 7 kms, bypassing my local Woolworths, because in Gabs, Woolworths does not reach close to South African standards. Its range is limited, it is almost impossible to get any pork products, despite the ban having been lifted, the bread is often not as fresh as it should be and most irritating of all, my local store has not installed an electronic card reader that accepts pin codes, constantly necessitating cash.

In contrast, my local Pick n Pay is superb – staffed by pleasant friendly staff that actually do care if you have a nice day, a great management team and an excellent range. Note to ‘hard working’ staff in Johannesburg – the store trades 8am to 10pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 7pm, Saturdays, Sundays and Public holidays.

It also opened a bottle store but that is singularly unimaginative – Spar’s Tops is still the best bet in Gabs for wine. Would love to see a few barrows of Pick n Pay clothes – the climate is ideal for its summer range.

Believe there is another mall opening soon, so when it does, I will rush to shop and comment.

 October 2011